Ukraine war: Maritime drones keep Russian warships at bay

It was a dark night when the attack occurred. A Ukrainian drone was rapidly approaching through the water.

By the time the crew of the Russian patrol boat Sergei Kotov saw them, it was too late. The Russian sailors opened fire with heavy machine guns, but the ship was attacked and destroyed.

Ukrainian drones have revolutionized naval warfare in recent years, relentlessly hunting down Russian ships in the open ocean and at naval bases.

Group 13, the secret service of Ukraine’s military intelligence, was behind last week’s attack on Sergei Kotov, and the BBC has been granted rare access to its operations.

The unit is said to have sunk five Russian vessels and damaged others since it was established last year. But the commander, who asked us to call him by the call sign “Number 13”, said that Sergei Kotov was the most difficult target ever.

Group 13 had attacked and damaged the ship twice before, but this was the third time they successfully sank it.

Commander No. 13 took us to a seemingly peaceful corner of Ukraine’s Black Sea coast and showed us one of the unit’s naval drones in operation.

Named after the Slavic goddess of battle, the Magura V5 looks like a small motorboat with a flat surface in place of a passenger seat.

“They don’t emit much heat, so they’re almost invisible to thermal cameras. They’re made of plastic, so they’re difficult to see on radar,” Thirteenth said.

The drone, built by the Ukrainian military, is said to have a range of 800 kilometers (500 miles) and can easily reach Crimea and even the Russian coastline. It is said to be able to carry a payload of 250 kg, enough to sink a warship.

The ship’s remote control looks like one of the specially modified nuclear briefcases used by world leaders in Hollywood movies to authorize the use of nuclear weapons. There’s also a red toggle switch for “manual detonation,” Thirteenth said.

The drone is controlled from the base via satellite link. “With the Internet, you can control it from anywhere in the world,” Thirteenth says. He added that the Magura V5 has a backup connection in case the main connection fails.

He acknowledges that Russian electronic warfare systems could jam signals, but insists that drones can overcome that. Understandably, he didn’t want to elaborate on how.

Magura drones are said to be able to travel at speeds of up to 80 km/h (50 mph) when targeting Russian vessels. Thanks to its speed and size of 6 meters (20 feet) in length, it is difficult to spot, especially in the surf at night.

Last week, Sergei Kotov’s crew found out the hard way.

Soldiers on the Russian ship try to destroy the approaching drone with heavy machine guns. However, it is difficult to attack because it is very small and maneuverable.

The use of special tracer bullets that glow when fired helps Russian soldiers direct fire at night. But these bullets also help Ukrainian drone operators avoid bullets.

“They show you where the fire is coming from, where it’s going to land, and which direction to maneuver,” says No. 13.

Judging from past attack footage, we can see that multiple drones are usually involved in a single attack to increase the chances of hitting the target.

Operations to track warships can last several days. Operators must maintain concentration at all times. “After work, I’m as exhausted as a squeezed lemon,” Thirteenth jokes.

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency HUR has not disclosed the cost of the drone. However, Thirteenth claims that the Russian missile boat Ivanovets destroyed by Group 13 last month would have cost Russia more than all the drones produced by HUR since early 2023.

Success with Ukrainian naval drones in this war dates back to the attack on the flagship Admiral Makarov in 2022. The operation was carried out by Ukraine’s secret service SBU, which also manufactures its own Sea Baby and Mamey drones.

Last year, it also carried out drone strikes against the Kerch Bridge, which connects occupied Crimea and Russia, and the Russian port of Novorossiysk.

After Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014, Ukraine lost almost its entire naval fleet. The only remaining frigate, Hetman Sahaydachny, sank just days after the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Nevertheless, Ukraine has managed to resist Russia’s attempts to control the Black Sea.

In 2022, Ukraine used a homemade Neptune missile to sink the Russian flagship Moscow. A submarine and the Russian naval headquarters in Sevastopol were also reportedly attacked with long-range Storm Shadow missiles.

Russia lost five of an estimated 13 amphibious landing ships in the Black Sea. Two of her four small patrol vessels were destroyed or damaged.

But it is naval drones that make Russia’s Black Sea Fleet particularly vulnerable. Under persistent attacks, Moscow was forced to withdraw the core of its fleet from Crimea and move it further east to Novorossiysk. And even there, Russian ships are still within range of Ukrainian drones.

As a result, Russian ships are moving away from the Ukrainian coast and limiting their time in open seas. Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletentchuk said the frequency with which ships launch Kalibr cruise missiles in the Black Sea has significantly decreased.

The last confirmed launch was in mid-February, and “prior to that there had been no cruise missile launches from the sea for several months,” he said.

It is believed that 10 Russian cruise missile carriers, including three submarines, remain in the Black Sea. Almost all of them are currently stationed in Novorossiysk.