Nine aerial drones and seven unmanned boats: that was the tally the Russian Defense Ministry gave for the strike on Sevastopol on Saturday, October 29, 2022. The Black Sea Fleet’s home port, the largest city in Crimea, woke to heavy explosions and anti-aircraft fire.
Russia said its forces destroyed every aerial target and most of the boats. Analysts who went through the footage and reports reached a different conclusion. Baird Maritime, reviewing a large number of accounts, found that the frigate Admiral Makarov and the minesweeper Ivan Golubets had both been damaged. How badly was unclear. Both stayed afloat. Moscow itself conceded only “minor” damage to the minesweeper, according to The War Zone.
What the attackers used
The surface craft were the new element. Local commentators described them as converted personal watercraft packed with explosive warheads and fitted with off-the-shelf surveillance and remote-control gear, Baird Maritime reported. The War Zone noted that they resembled a drone boat that had washed ashore in Crimea in September, and that they appeared built to detonate on impact. It added that they may have been steered from beyond line of sight, which would allow them to maneuver against a target from long range.
Russia’s account, as relayed by the Jamestown Foundation, put the launch point at Ochakiv, some 100 miles from Sevastopol. Jamestown called it Ukraine’s most impressive operation yet, a coordinated swarm of aerial and naval drones sent against the fleet headquarters. Baird Maritime went further, describing it as “the first reported mass attack on warships by offensively-equipped unmanned vehicles.”
A defence that held, partly
The Russians put up a fight. Video that Baird Maritime called unverified but largely plausible showed boats under heavy machine gun fire, surface-to-air missiles going up, and a projectile fired from a helicopter striking something in the water. Vatican News, citing purported footage, said residents watched at least one Russian military helicopter shoot down drones. The same report quoted Russia’s military as saying at least one warship was hit. Baird Maritime judged that Moscow’s claim of nine boats and seven aircraft destroyed was probably an exaggeration, and thought the defenders may have been expecting such an assault.
Kyiv said little. Baird Maritime noted that Ukrainian authorities claimed responsibility but released few details, while Vatican News reported that Ukraine had not confirmed it was behind the raid.
Moscow points at London
Russian officials blamed British specialists, saying personnel in Ochakiv had trained the Ukrainian crews. They offered no evidence, according to The War Zone and Baird Maritime. London rejected the charge, with the British Ministry of Defense calling it “false claims of an epic scale.”
The strike also had a diplomatic side effect. Jamestown reported that Russia temporarily suspended its part in the UN-brokered grain corridor deal afterward, then rejoined within two days as commercial shipping carried on.
Where it fit
The raid came while Ukraine’s counter-offensive was retaking ground from Russian forces, and Moscow had annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a step condemned by Kyiv and its Western allies. Jamestown pointed back to April 13, when a Ukrainian anti-ship missile attack sank the cruiser Moskva, the fleet’s flagship and, in its words, Russia’s first flagship loss since 1905. On October 29, the base itself came under fire.
Sources
- Mass drone attack on Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet
- Ukraine launches unprecedented drone attack on Russian Black Sea Fleet's Sevastopol headquarters (Jamestown Foundation)
- Ukraine Unleashes Mass Kamikaze Drone Boat Attack On Russia's Black Sea Fleet Headquarters (The War Zone)
- Ukraine drone attack on warship in Crimea (Vatican News)
