On the night of March 5, Ukrainian naval drones attacked and destroyed the Russian patrol ship of project 22160 "Sergei Kotov" in the Black Sea.
This was reported in the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense.
According to the GUR, the ship attacked the "Group 13" special unit of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine with Magura V5 marine drones.
The ship suffered damage to the stern, right and left sides.
"The Main Directorate of Intelligence in cooperation with the naval forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine conducted a brilliant operation, and this time "Sergei Kotov" has already been destroyed for sure," said Andriy Yusov, a representative of the HUR, on Radio Svoboda.
This is not the first time that Ukraine has attacked this ship - in September of last year, during an attack on a ship of the Russian fleet, the "Sergei Kotov" was significantly damaged, the State Administration of Ukraine reported at the time.
"Sergei Kotov" is the newest patrol ship of project 22160, which was launched in 2021.
The ship joined the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in July 2022.
In total, there are four such ships in the Russian Federation - "Vasily Bykov", "Dmitry Rogachev", "Pavel Derzhavin" and "Sergei Kotov".
The ship's crew is up to 80 people.
According to Yusov, its value is more than 60 million dollars.
The representative of the GUR added that the Russians had plans to place anti-aircraft missile systems on the ship, and there had already been such attempts.
Yusov also said that "Sergei Kotov" is notable for the fact that, together with the cruiser "Moskva", it participated in the attack on Snake Island.
"Well, actually now I have joined the same cruiser "Moskva", - said Yusov.
According to him, the situation regarding the ship's crew is being clarified, but it is known that there are dead and wounded. At the same time, part of the crew could evacuate, he added.
The HUR representative also noted that the current attack on the ship was the result of a long-term operation.
"The result speaks for itself - conditionally five direct hits do not happen by chance," he said.
What the Black Sea Fleet of Russia had to experience
AUTHOR OF THE PHOTO, THE MINISTRY OF DEFENSE OF THE RUSSIA Caption of the photo, Sunken cruiser "Moscow"
"Sergei Kotov" is already the 25th Russian ship destroyed or damaged by Ukrainian forces since the beginning of the full-scale war.
On February 14, GUR drones sank the large Russian amphibious assault ship Caesar Kunikov.
Previously, the Russian fleet had already experienced:
- Strikes by unmanned drones at sea. For example, the destruction of the VDK "Olenegorsky Gornyak" during the Novorossiysk raid with severe damage (a ship from the Northern Fleet).
- Hits by "Points" on other VDK in Berdyansk: "Saratov" detonated due to a fire so that it overturned the aparel (A means of unloading landing equipment - Ed.), and the ship went to the bottom, and "Cesar Kunikov" was damaged so much that it had to be repaired for a year .
- First, the impression of the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation by drones in the center of Sevastopol, and later - the "arrival" of cruise missiles over it.
- Destruction of the largest oil storage at the main base.
- Explosives on mines in the open sea and on the Sevastopol raid.
- The tugboat "Vasily Bekh" was damaged by the "Harpoon" missiles, along with the "Tor" air defense system on board.
Finally, the most famous episode is the covering by a pair of Ukrainian anti-ship missiles "Neptune" of the flagship of the cruiser "Moskva" with a strong fire and flooding. The "killer of aircraft carriers" and "threat to NATO" was killed by classic subsonic missiles.
There was also a hit on the Kalibr carrier submarine and, at the same time, a hit on the VDK Minsk, which completely "cut off" the superstructures - this is a repair for several years, if it is possible at all.
On the night of December 26, 2023, in the city of Feodosiya, the Ukrainian army launched a missile strike and destroyed the large landing ship "Novocherkassk".
Missile ships also managed to get a small missile ship "Askold" right next to the mooring wall of the Kerch plant "Zaliv", and before that another missile carrier - "Veliky Ustyug" was disabled.
Thanks to the destruction of a number of Russian ships, Ukraine succeeded in displacing the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation from the western part of the Black Sea and unblocking the transport corridor to the ports of Greater Odessa.
