Crimea ‘Trap’ To Sink Russian Warship Revealed in Ukraine Sea Drones Video

Dramatic video footage released by Ukraine reveals a “trap” Kyiv’s forces set for a Russian warship during a stealth operation near annexed Crimea on Wednesday night, local media reported.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry published nighttime footage purportedly showing the moment six sea drones attacked the Russian missile-armed corvette Ivanovets in the harbor of Lake Donuzlav. Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, told The War Zone that the vessel was struck by six MAGURA V5 sea drones that “sent it to the bottom of the Black Sea.”

Kyiv said the operation was carried out by soldiers of Ukraine’s Group 13 special forces.

The two-minute-long footage appears to have been taken from different locations, suggesting multiple MAGURA drones were used by Ukraine in the attack.

During the course of operations from Jan. 31 to Feb. 1, the Group 13 special forces planned and carried out the destruction of the Ivanovets during a raid on Lake Donuzlav, Budanov told the publication.

“During the destruction of the specified ship, six direct hits by naval drones were made to the hull of the ship. As a result of the damage, the ship rolled astern and sank. According to preliminary data, the search and rescue operation conducted by the enemy was not successful,” he said.

Local media reports that the Ukrainian-developed MAGURA V5 drone is 5.5 meters long, 1.5 meters wide and can perform a variety of tasks. These include surveillance, reconnaissance, patrolling, search and rescue, mine countermeasures, maritime security and combat missions.

Newsweek could not independently verify the authenticity of the video or Kyiv’s claims and has contacted Russia’s Defense Ministry for comment by email.

The Black Sea Fleet has been targeted by Ukraine as it seeks to reverse Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. The region serves as Russia’s central logistics hub for its forces in southern Ukraine.

“The 56-meter-long vessel was caught in a trap 9 kilometers from the entrance to Lake Donuzlav, near the village of Okunevka, in the Black Sea region,” the VChK-OGPU outlet, which purports to have inside information from Russian security forces, reported on Thursday of the attack on the Ivanovets.

Yuri Kotenok, a Russian war correspondent, blogger and analyst who runs the Telegram channel Voenkor Kotenok Z, suggested that three naval drones struck the vessel.

Yuri Butusov, the editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian news outlet censor.Net, outlined Kyiv’s strategy for destroying the vessel in an opinion piece for local news publication NV.ua. He said Russian intelligence failed to detect the drones, at least five of which were used to attack the vessel.

“Judging by the video, a group of at least five naval drones…penetrated undetected to the Russian Black Sea Fleet base of [Lake] Donuzlav, and the drones successively attacked the missile boat, which was apparently carrying out combat patrols and defense of the base,” said Butusov.

He added that the vessel’s crew likely noticed the drones approaching and attempted evasive maneuvers. However, they didn’t have time to get away and Russian forces were unable to destroy the sea drones at close range, given their small size and speed.

“The well-chosen attack tactics of the Group 13 commanders is admirable—the first drone hit the stern of the boat from the starboard side in order to disable the propellers. The boat was unable to reach full speed, but did not stop. Then the second drone also hit the propellers, but from the left side. With these two blows, the boat was reliably deprived of movement and maneuver.”

After that strike, the vessel was “successfully finished off,” he wrote.

“The third drone struck the middle of the hull under the Mosquito missile launchers and created a large hole in the left side,” he said. “Video from this drone is not shown but the results of the hit are visible from the camera of the fourth drone, which the operator directed directly into the hole from the third drone in the same place.”

The explosion from the fourth drone was “fatal” for the warship, said Butusov, adding that it “literally broke into pieces, and the crew had almost no chance of salvation.”

“The brilliant success of the Ukrainian soldiers, command and operators of Group 13 Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense showed a high level of reconnaissance, planning, preparation and management of the operation,” Butusov added.

Independent Russian news outlet The Insider reported Friday that since Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, at least 26 Russian vessels have been attacked by Kyiv’s forces.

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