Images of the Ukrainian attack on the Russian naval base in Sevastopol using drones

@DefAviation ES 10·29·2022 · 17:46 0

The important Russian naval base of Sevastopol, the main one of the Russian fleet of the Black Sea and located in the southwest of the occupied Crimea, has been attacked.

The attack of a Ukrainian drone Bayraktar TB2 against a Russian landing craft
The first images of the Russian cruiser Moskva after the attack that sank it

The attack would have taken place around 4:00 in the morning (at 3:00 according to Central European Time) and would have been carried out with 9 unmanned aerial vehicles and 7 unmanned surface vessels, according to the Russian state agency RIA Novosti through his Telegram channel this noon. According to this source, the Russian minesweeper "Ivan Golubets", the Project 266M Akvamarin class, would have suffered slight damage. In addition, some sources indicate that the Russian frigate "Admiral Makarov" may also have been damaged; it's a ship of the Admiral Grigorovich class and the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet since the sinking of the cruiser "Moskva" in April.

This is the largest Ukrainian attack against Russian naval forces since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The attack has led the Russian occupiers to order the deactivation of all webcams and surveillance cameras available to the public in occupied Crimea, as some of them have been used to broadcast images of the effects of the attack. Here we can see one of the first videos of the attack that were released this morning, which shows an explosion in the port of Sevastopol this morning:

Here is another video in which a thick column of smoke can be seen in the port after the attack:

Anton Gerashchenko has also released these images of the port of Sevastopol, already in daylight, with several columns of smoke as a result of the attack.

The Ukrainian channel Truha has published these two videos recorded from one of the Ukrainian unmanned boats that carried out the attack against the Sevastopol naval base. In the first of the videos we see the Ukrainian naval drone approaching the frigate "Admiral Makarov" until it is right in front of it, when the signal is lost, which indicates that an impact probably occurred:

In the second of Truha's videos we see a Russian naval aviation Mil Mi-8 helicopter firing machine-gun bursts at the Ukrainian ship, in an attempt to destroy it before it reaches the frigate:

Naval affairs expert H.I. Sutton has posted this image showing the type of unmanned craft used by Ukraine in this attack:

Here we can see a photo of one of these Ukrainian naval drones published by Naval News in September:

This attack sends Russia a clear message: its base in Sevastopol is now within range of Ukrainian forces and is not safe for Russian Navy ships. In fact, in September the Russian submarines of Kilo-class aircraft operating from Sevastopol were redeployed to Novorossisk, Russia, due to the increasing level of threat to Russian forces in occupied Crimea. This withdrawal harms the Russian Navy, which sees the scope of its operations in the Black Sea reduced in support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.