Overnight on 30 May, Ukrainian naval drones, operated by special unit Group 13 of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR), hit two Russian patrol boats, tentatively KS-701 Tunets (“Tuna”), near Chornomorske in the west of occupied Crimea, using Magura V5 strike marine drones, HUR reported.
With Ukraine’s Navy virtually non-existent, Ukraine employs missiles and the newly-created fleet of various maritime suicide drones to counter Russia’s dominance in the Black Sea. These tactics led to the destruction or severe damage to at least 18 vessels of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, including the sinking of the Moskva, the Fleet’s flagship, early in the all-out war.
“In order to neutralize the attack marine drones on the approach to the Vuzka Bay (in Chornomorske, – Ed.), the Russian occupiers in Crimea took combat aircraft into the sky 32 times, including Su-27/30/35, MiG-29, Be-12, An-26 aircraft, and Ka-27/29 and Mi-8 helicopters. The invaders also chaotically used small arms and 30-mm cannons,” HUR wrote.
The video, shared by the HUR, shows drones evading Russia gunship helicopter fire during the daytime, and hitting one of the Russian patrol boats at night:
Ukrainian naval drones operated by intelligence forces struck and destroyed two Russian KS-701 Tunets patrol boats near occupied Crimea's Chornomorsk, HUR says.https://t.co/7O0HYqnYRh pic.twitter.com/ttf0WjgXhh
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) May 30, 2024
KS-701 Tunets
HUR wrote that despite Russian efforts to eliminate the threat, Group 13 completed the mission successfully, destroying two Russian navy’s boats, “according to preliminary data, high-speed amphibious transport and assault boats KS-701 Tunets.”
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet operates at least about 20 KS-701 Tunets boats. The Tunets is a Volvo-diesel-engine-powered boat with an aluminum hull, primarily used by Russian border guards and emergency services. Depending on the variant, it is designed for transportation tasks, patrol missions, or recreational water activities. The boat has a length of 8.8 meters and a width of 2.5 meters, and it can accommodate up to six people.
The HUR noted that the United24 fundraiser platform enabled the successful operation. Among the projects on United24 are the fundraisers for crowdfunding HUR’s Magura V5 drones and their major competitor, the Ukrainian Security Service’s Sea Baby maritime drones.
Russian Black Sea naval assets under pressure
Earlier this month, a HUR drone attacked a Russian patrol boat in the same Vuzka Bay.
Early last September, the Ukrainian Navy reported that its “maritime aviation” destroyed a Russian KS-701 Tunets-type boat in the northwestern Black Sea, resulting in six enemy fatalities and two injuries during a landing attempt. A video they shared showed a strike from a Bayraktar TB-2 drone. Later the same month, the Ukrainian Naval Forces reported the destruction of another KS-701 boat in the northwestern Black Sea, not specifying weaponry that was used.
Since the beginning of 2024, the HUR’s Group 13 special unit has already used the Magura V5 drones to destroy the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s ships, in particular, the Ivanovets missile ship, the Caesar Kunikov large amphibious assault ship, the Sergei Kotov corvette, and the Mangust high-speed patrol boat, and damaged the Ivan Khurs.
Ukrainian Defense Forces have disabled at least 1/3 of all combat ships in the Russian Black Sea Fleet, using missiles and maritime drones, since the start of the full-scale invasion, according to the Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian strikes forced Russia to withdraw most of the Black Sea Fleet’s ships from their home base in occupied Sevastopol to more remote ports in Crimea and to Russia’s Novorossiysk on the eastern coast of the Black Sea.
The most recent relocation of Russian naval assets from Sevastopol was spotted days ago, as two Tarantul-III-class missile corvettes of the Russian Black Sea Fleet moved south from Sevastopol.
On 19 May, Ukraine’s military reported the destruction of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet’s missile carrier Tsiklon in occupied Crimea on 19 May, which reportedly was the last surface carrier of the Kalibr cruise missiles in the area.
Read also:
- Ukraine’s Magura V5 drone destroys Russian fast attack craft in Black Sea
- Magura V5 naval drones to get anti-air and dive capabilities
- Media: Russia withdraws two Black Sea Fleet’s missile corvettes from Sevastopol (photos)
- UK intel: Successful Ukrainian strike removes Russian Kalibr missile threat in Black Sea
- Ukraine destroys Tsyklon, Russia’s last surface Kalibr missile ship in occupied Crimea
- UK intel: Russian Navy’s ships remain vulnerable in Black Sea, but can still conduct their major tasks
- UK intel: Russia improved naval infrastructure in Novorossiysk, where it relocated its ships from Sevastopol away from Ukraine’s strikes
- Intel chief: Ukraine used six Magura V5 surface drones to sink Russia’s Ivanovets missile corvette
