Black Sea Flagship Hit and Burning After Apparent Drone Attack: Reports
Unconfirmed reports indicate that Ukraine launched a major drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea fleet and its Sevastopol naval base on Saturday.
Sevastopol is part of Crimea, a region of Ukraine annexed by Russia in 2014.
Some Twitter users suggested that the Admiral Makarov frigate was damaged.
The frigate became the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet after Ukraine destroyed the Moskva in April, according to Naval News. Forbes reported that Admiral Makarov has been a top target because of its power and prestige.
Ukraine offered no official comment on the attack.
Multiple videos posted to Twitter made it clear that some form of attack took place, but the full scope of the damage was uncertain.
Ukraine released a video from today’s attack on Sevastopol. It shows a naval drone targeting the Black Sea Fleet’s Admiral Makarov Project 11356 frigate, which Russian sources said was damaged (it replaced the Moskva as the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship). https://t.co/zdAeWUvDrb pic.twitter.com/TNnIu4OIap
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) October 29, 2022
Mikhail Razvozhaev, governor of Sevastopol, called the attack the “most massive” since February, according to the BBC.
Although he claimed all drones were downed, Russia’s Ministry of Defense admitted at least one vessel was damaged.
Photos of a fire in Sevastopol. The Russian Forpost telegram channel (shared by other Russian channels) said that local sources said the Admiral Makarov frigate was damaged, though there is no evidence yet. 5/https://t.co/0YXQkJQjiRhttps://t.co/uY3eh4o5KZ pic.twitter.com/P5Hin1K8cW
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) October 29, 2022
“In the course of repelling a terrorist attack on the outer roadstead of Sevastopol, the use of naval weapons and naval aviation of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed four marine unmanned vehicles, three more devices were destroyed on the internal roadstead,” a Russian statement said.
Russia also accused British forces of supporting the attack, a claim Britain denied.
“To detract from their disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defence is resorting to peddling false claims of an epic scale. This invented story, says more about arguments going on inside the Russian Government than it does about the west,” Britain’s Ministry of Defence posted on Twitter.
***UPDATE***
There is still a massive fog of war surrounding the #Ukraine️ attack on #Russian forces at Sevastopol. All UNCONFIRMED
3 parts to reports:
1. Reports in Russian media /SM that some Russian navy ships damaged. Reportedly including frigate Admiral Makarov #OSINT pic.twitter.com/cYYibm8jgf
— H I Sutton (@CovertShores) October 29, 2022
3. Videos and images of explosion at sea this morning, variously reported as a Russian helicopter destroying a Ukrainian underwater drone. Like other info treat as UNCONFIRMED, and I have slight doubts what we are seeing
A Russian Navy submarine was also in the general area https://t.co/kxZCJjtWKL
— H I Sutton (@CovertShores) October 29, 2022
Russia later used the attack as a basis for ending its participation in a plan to export grain — a deal brokered to address global food concerns, The New York Times reported.
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