Putin’s £50,000,000 warship ‘destroyed’ by naval drones

Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea fleet has suffered yet another blow after Ukrainian drones damaged one of his warships.

Explosions were reported on the ‘Sergey Kotov’, part of Russia’s Navy, near Kerch, in occupied Crimea.

Ukraine confirmed the attack, claiming to have ‘destroyed’ the vessel with Magura V5 naval drones.

The ministry of defence said: ‘Another Russian ship was upgraded to a submarine.

‘The special unit of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine’s “Group 13” attacked the patrol ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, “Sergei Kotov,” worth $65 million.

‘As a result of the attack by Magura V5 naval drones, the Russian ship of project 22160, “Sergei Kotov,” suffered damage to the stern, right, and left sides. 

The ‘Sergey Kotov’ patrol ship (Picture: MOD/east2west news)

‘Nice start of the day! Great job, warriors.’

The ‘Sergey Kotov’ is not large – its crew numbers is just 80, but certainly poses a threat to cargo ships.

The vessel is heavily armed, with a 76-millimeter gun and Kalibr land-attack cruise missiles.

Footage showed the moment of the reported explosion, but the Kremlin is yet to make a statement.

Emergency services extinguish fire caused by a Russian drone attack on Odesa (Picture: Reuters)

Andriy Yermak, president Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, said on his Telegram channel: ‘The Russian Black Sea Fleet is a symbol of occupation.

‘It cannot be in the Ukrainian Crimea.’

Ukraine deployed Magura V5 naval drones, which have a payload capacity of at least 320kg of explosives.

In February, the same arsenal was used to strike the Caesar Kunikov amphibious ship and the warship Ivanovets.

Given Ukraine’s limited naval capabilities, the country has strategically employed missiles and a fleet of diverse maritime suicide drones to counterbalance Russia’s predominant influence in the Black Sea.

A view of a damaged area at the site of a Russian drone attack (Picture: Reuters)

Train traffic was temporarily stopped on the bridge linking the Crimean peninsula to the Russian mainland, according to the Telegram channel of a Russia-installed official in Crimea.

Highway traffic was also suspended for several hours before reopening just before 7am.

Meanwhile, Russia attacked Odesa with multiple Iranian-made Shahed drones. At least 18 out of the 22 were shot down, Ukraine said.

Four succeeded to penetrate air defences, causing much destruction in the port city.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.