Both Russian and Ukrainian media and government sources confirmed an attack on the Laguna-class SIGINT ship Simferopol, a Ukrainian intelligence gathering vessel, that was operating near the mouth of the Danube River.
A report from The Kyiv Independent confirmed the death of one crew member, with multiple others wounded, citing Ukrainian Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk. Naval News also received confirmation of multiple casualties, including multiple fatalities.
Naval News contributor Frederik Van Lokeren, a former Lieutenant in the Belgian Navy, published information about Russia’s new sea drones in their recent ‘Storm’ exercises in July. HI Sutton, a Naval News contributor and analyst on Russian and Ukrainian USV developments, also broke down the new USVs featured in the Storm exercises.
The attack on Simferopol comes after a major drone attack on the Kuybyshevsky oil refinery in Samara Oblast, roughly 600 miles (960 kilometers) from Ukrainian territory. The attack on Kuybyshevsky was conducted nearly a day ago and fires are still burning across the refinery field. It is possible the attack on Simferopol was done in retaliation.
The operational use of Russian USVs is a marked change in the Russian Navy’s doctrine in the Black Sea, which, up until this point, has been focused on defensive measures as Ukrainian USVs dominate the seas. An organic capability stood up with Russian Naval forces to strike targets as far as the Danube demonstrates a new danger for Ukrainian forces operating in the Dnipro and Black Sea.
The U.S. Navy’s fleet of P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft were monitoring the Black Sea for several hours on August 27th, including one instance of a Russian fighter aircraft intercepting an AN/APS-154 equipped P-8A, the first case of interaction between an AAS-equipped P-8A and a Russian fighter jet.
