Russian forces fought off a mass attack by Ukrainian high-speed marine drones on a Russian naval ship in the Black Sea, the defense ministry said on Sunday.
Ukrainian Armed Forces made an "an unsuccessful attempt" to attack the Priazovye ship, Russia's defense ministry wrote in a Telegram post, saying Ukraine had used six unmanned boats.
The warship was monitoring "the situation and ensuring security along the routes of the TurkStream and Blue Stream gas pipelines in the southeastern part of the Black Sea," the defense ministry said.
According to Russian sources, however, the Priazovye, launched in 1987, was purpose-built for intelligence collection. It is also armed with two automatic naval, AK-306 rotary cannons and surface-to-air missile launchers.
Russia said Ukraine attacked in the early hours of Sunday about 185 miles southeast of Sevastopol — a major port and headquarters of Russia's Black Sea fleet on the Crimean peninsula, per Reuters.
The Black Sea peninsula was invaded by Russian forces and illegally annexed by Putin in 2014.
At the time of Ukraine's attempted attack, an American RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft was in the central part of the Black Sea, the ministry's statement added.
All of Ukraine's boats were destroyed, and there were no casualties, Russia said. The Priazovye naval ship, guarding the two pipelines, "continues to carry out its assigned tasks," the ministry added.
The TurkStream pipeline, launched in 2020, carries Russian natural gas to southern Europe through the Black Sea and Turkey, while the Blue Stream pipeline brings Russian gas to Turkey, per Reuters.
This is the second attack by Ukrainian marine drones in recent weeks. In May, a Russian warship, the Ivan Khurs, was attacked by three unmanned speedboats in the Black Sea.
The raid failed to cause any damage, Russia claimed.
However, footage from a drone onboard camera shared on Telegram and pro-Ukrainian social media appeared to show that at least one Ukrainian uncrewed vessel did impact the Russian warship. Insider was not able to independently verify the footage.
Source: Business Insider Africa