Moment kamikaze maritime drone zigzags through bullets to within feet of Putin’s most modern spy warship in the Black Sea as Ukraine claims vessel is ‘seriously damaged’ after attack
- Ukrainian video appears to show a near strike on Russia’s Ivan Khurs spy warship
- Incident indicates that Vladimir Putin’s navy is no longer master of the Black Sea
- READ MORE: Dramatic video shows ‘Ukrainian’ marine drone dodging gunfire
Dramatic new footage released by Ukraine appears to show a high-speed kamikaze drone coming within feet of Vladimir Putin’s most modern spy boat in the Black Sea.
The video appears to show a possible strike on the vessel Ivan Khurs – without making clear what happens next as it cuts out right next to the side of the warship.
Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko said the unmanned marine drone exploded close to the reconnaissance warship. He said it ‘exploded right at the side of the ship and seriously damaged it’.
Gerashchenko said that the Ivan Khurs ‘was definitely damaged, and perhaps was even on its side’, in what would be a huge blow for Vladimir Putin’s campaign.
Russian sources have said the vessel was undamaged – but offered no proof of this. If correct, Ukraine’s claims would counter Moscow’s that three drones were destroyed before reaching the ship.
The footage appears to show a drone avoiding oncoming fire as it flies low over the water
It homes in on the military vessel, which Ukraine claims is the Ivan Khurs – one of Vladimir Putin’s most modern spy warships
The drone gets closer, evading what appear to be flashes of gunfire trying to take it out
As the drone approaches the warship the image blurs and then cuts out – making it difficult to know whether it performed a successful strike on it
The incredible footage shows the drone speeding over the water towards the vessel, before it appears to crash into the hull as the footage blurs and then cuts out.
Yesterday, Russia said Ukraine’s armed forces had launched an ‘unsuccessful’ attack on the warship.
They said Ukraine had attacked using three unmanned speedboats at 5.30am.
Earlier footage showed the moment a drone was shot down, exploding in a ball of fire.
The Russian Defence Ministry earlier reported that all three Ukrainian boats attacking the Khurs were destroyed.
Russian sources said today that the spy ship, which is part of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, remains afloat but there has been no independent confirmation of this.
And in an incredible admission, they also said the drone may have hit the ship, but failed to explode.
Moscow earlier said that: ‘All three naval drones were destroyed from regular arms of the Russian vessel’.
The Ivan Khurs reconnaissance ship was in international waters in the Black Sea
Footage released yesterday showed one kamikaze drone blown out of the water as it zigzagged towards the Khurs.
READ MORE: Dramatic video shows ‘Ukrainian’ marine drone dodging gunfire while homing in on Russian warship
A suspected Ukrainian marine surface drone is seen avoiding oncoming fire
Initial volleys from the Russian warship missed the swivelling drone – but then it suffered a direct hit, exploding in a fireball.
Today’s footage appears to show either a direct hit, or that the drone was destroyed very close to the Khurs.
The incident indicates that Putin’s navy is no longer master of the Black Sea.
The spy ship, launched in 2017, was in international waters some 40 nautical miles north of the Bosphorus Strait, according to reports.
‘There is reason to believe that the drones were launched from a commercial civilian vessel,’ said one Russian channel.
A Telegram channel later alleged the ship had been attacked from a grain carrying vessel – but this was disputed by Russian sources.
The routing of the Yuriy Ivanov class (Project 18280) signals intelligence vessel was not immediately clear.
In April 2022, Ukraine sank the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet with missile strikes in one of Putin’s biggest humiliations of the 15-month war.
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