Illustrative image. (Ukrainian Ministry of Defense)
A Russian suicide drone boat struck the reconnaissance ship Simferopol, one of the largest and newest ships in service with the Ukrainian Navy, in the River Danube, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on August 28, in the first such announcement since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine.
“Using a high-speed uncrewed surface vehicle, the Ukrainian Navy’s Simferopol medium reconnaissance ship was defeated at the River Danube mouth. As a result of the attack, the Ukrainian ship sank,” the ministry said in its daily briefing.
Simferopol is one of the Ukrainian Navy’s newest vessels. She was launched back in 2019. With a displacement of 1,240 tons, it is also one of the largest vessels in the country’s fleet.
The reconnaissance ship is reportedly equipped with several signal intelligence systems, at the center of which is the little-known “Melchior” complex. She is also armed with a Soviet-era AK-630 fully-automatic, 30 mm rotary cannon, close-in weapon system, which can be used against low-flying aerial targets and smaller naval targets.
The Ukrainian Navy confirmed that Simferopol was struck, with spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk reporting that the ship was on fire. According to the spokesman, the Russian drone attack killed one of the ship’s crew and left several others wounded.
The Russian military deployed drone boats in the past, but the attack on Simferopol was the first known instance of such systems being used against a Ukrainian Navy ship since the start of the special military operation more than three years ago.
Earlier this month, Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, a Ukrainian specialist in communications, electronic warfare, and radar systems, warned that Russia could soon attack Ukraine with hundreds of suicide drone boats.
The warning came after Russia’s leading Rubikon advanced unmanned technology center revealed in a video released on the anniversary of its founding that it had been working on developing such boats. In fact, it is very likely that the center was behind the successful attack on Simferopol.
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more great news. ukraine don’t need a navy after russia takes odessa!
i agree donald, this is positive action that will resonate round the western world , russia taking a more firm stance –well done russia !!!
zelenskyy’s bragging about the might of ukraine has quickly muted.
wasn’t ukraine controlling black sea after sinking russian navy there? i remember some military specialist here telling so in reliable media…
nato defense has failed again. how much money will nato nations lose from trade when russia eventually controls the black sea ? turkey is israeli run so that trade will be gone too
boy, nato don’t has nations, nato it’s a cannibal hell.
glub glub glub glub glub glub glub
western mainstream media will translate that into bombed schools with dead women and children
fat mac terrified of houthi—loses 2 f-16 when lgbt us carriers try to hide
the next “ship” to sunk is england, that’s finnished in the hadrian wall.
ukraina – russia war will not finish soon, it will continue more 4 years.
putin will not stop until dnieper river be the new border between these countries.
putin can attact moldova soon,
the reason is moldova
will be european union member
and nato member soon
it will claim many more lives because the jews want europe and russia mutually destroyed. the only solution is to liberate us from their control over us and our countries.
sank, navy[‘s]