Ukraine’s armed forces on Monday destroyed one of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s patrol ships using homemade drones that cost a fraction of the vessel.
According to Ukrainian officials, Russia’s Sergei Kotov warship was attacked by five Magura V5 maritime drones. Maguras are unmanned surface vessels (USV), more commonly known as sea drones, and are said to carry a price tag of about $250,000 each. The Sergei Kotov reportedly cost about $65 million to build.
Ukraine’s latest tally of Moscow’s losses during the more than two years of war puts the number of destroyed Russian ships at 26. (The website Oryx, which uses open source intelligence to measure equipment losses on both sides, said the Sergei Kotov is the 22nd Russian ship destroyed.)
Maguras were also used in several recent successful attacks on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s navy.
Photo by STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images
Magura is an acronym for Maritime Autonomous Guard Unmanned Robotic Apparatus. The Kyiv Post recently noted that Magura is also a figure from Slavic mythology.
“Daughter of the thunder God Perun, she [Magura] was a cloud maiden considered to be beautiful, winged, and warlike—to many, the perfect personification of this USV,” the Kyiv Post wrote.
The Kyiv Post also published a photo of a Magura that was originally shared on Telegram. The Ukrainian newspaper posted the image on its X, formerly Twitter, account on Tuesday.
In a Monday story, the Associated Press said the Magura “wouldn’t look out of place in a James Bond movie.” It also detailed specifics about the construction of the craft, saying a Magura is 18 feet long, weighs 2,200 pounds and has a range of up to 500 miles with 60 hours of battery life.
“It also beams live video to operators,” AP wrote.
Ukraine’s military said the unmanned surface vessel is capable of a variety of operations, including surveillance, reconnaissance, patrol, search and rescue, mine countermeasures and marine protection. It is also used for combat missions.
Maguras were reportedly put into combat use sometime in 2023, and one of the first high-profile missions using the sea drones came in November, when Maguras destroyed a Serna-class landing craft and an Akula-class landing craft docked at a Russian base in western Crimea.
Months later, Ukrainian Intelligence Director Kyrylo Budanov credited several Magura drones for destroying the Russian Tarantul-III class missile corvette Ivanovets during a February 1 strike in Crimea. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry estimated the cost of the Ivanovets at about $60 million to $70 million.
Weeks later, Magura V5 drones were reportedly used during the February 14 attack that sank the large landing ship Caesar Kunikov near the Crimean city of Alupka.
Following the sinking of the Caesar Kunikov, the U.K. Ministry of Defense declared that the loss of the Russian vessel leaves the Black Sea Fleet “vulnerable to additional attacks.”
“Ukraine’s ingenuity has highly likely deterred Russia from operating freely in the western Black Sea and enabled Ukraine to seize the maritime momentum from Russia,” the ministry wrote.
Speaking to the outlet Ukrainska Pravda recently about Magura drones, Budanov said the weapon is only a part of the puzzle for Ukraine’s objective of reclaiming Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
“This is exclusively a way to speed up the withdrawal of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation from the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea,” he said.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense via email on Wednesday for comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.