VIDEO: Ukrainian drone inflicts heavy damage on Russian warship

Dramatic imagery shows Ukrainian drone homing in on Russian warship/ [Source: Interfax Ukraine]

Video imagery appearing across multiple channels shows that the Russian Ropucha class landing craft Olenegorsky Gornyak has sustained substantial damage following an attack by a Ukrainian drone. One of the most dramatic of these videos, released by the Interfax Ukraine news agency is drone camera footage showing the last moments before the sea drone, loaded with nearly half a ton of TNT, impacts.

Subsequent footage shows the Russian warship under tow and exhibiting a heavy list. Reportedly that footage was originally posted on the Telegram channel by Russian military bloggers, much to the disliking of the Kremlin.

TANKER TERMINAL CLOSES

The attack prompted the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) to temporarily ban the movement of ships in the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk , which houses both a naval base and the CPC tanker terminal. That move came after it was claimed that Russian ships had “destroyed two Ukrainian unmanned boats that were trying to attack the Novorossiysk naval base.” The consortium then announced a temporary ban on the movement of ships in the port. Russia’s TASS news agency says the ban was lifted this morning, quoting CPC saying that “the forces and means of the contractors’ security units and duty boats are focused on the visual detection of unmanned surface water craft and immediately informing them when they are detected.”

THE DRONE ATTACK

Citing Ukrainian special services sources, Interfax Ukraine says: “The State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), together with the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, carried out an operation in the bay of Novorossiysk, as a result of which Olenegorsk Miner (Olenegorsky Gornyak) large landing ship has been damaged.”

“The special operation has been conducted along with the Navy. As a result of the attack, the Olenegorsk Miner received a serious hole and is currently unable to perform its combat missions. All the statements of the Russians about the ‘repulsed attack’ are fake,” Interfax Ukraine cites it source as saying.

“The video shows how the surface drone of the SBU, saturated with 450 kilograms of TNT , attacks an enemy ship with about 100 crew members,” the source added.

Naval analysts will no doubt be looking at what lessons they can learn from the incident about the vulnerabilities of conventional warships to unconventional attacks.

This is at least the third successful Ukrainian attack on a Russian warship. It follows the destruction of the Russian Navy Alligator class landing ship Orsk in March of last year which was followed within weeks with the successful missile strike that led to the sinking of the flagship of the Black Sea fleet, the guided missile cruiser Moskva.