Manila, Philippines – On 5 June, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (Сили безпілотних систем or SBS) reported that it had struck five vessels within the temporarily-occupied territories of Ukraine. According to the SBS Commander, Major Robert “Madyar” Brovdi, these ships were targeted while still sitting in various ports at Mariupol and Berdyansk, as well as sitting idle in the coastal waters of these occupied territories.
Brovdi told Ukrainian media that these Russian ships were being used for the “stealthy theft of Ukrainian grain,” as well as for transporting military cargo and fuel. These types of ships, he pointed out, “no longer have long-term survivability as large, relatively immobile targets.”
T-84 Tank from Ukraine War. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Brovdi added that these operations were carried out by personnel of the 1st Separate Center of the Unmanned Systems Forces. The forces reported that military cargo ships carrying materiel and a tanker were among the vessels targeted.
This attack took place two days after Ukraine carried out strikes on 3 June against the Russian Baltic Fleet corvette RFS Boykiy (Project 20380) at the Kronstadt naval base in St. Petersburg. That vessel was hit at least twice midships while undergoing scheduled repairs in the Veleshchynskyi dry dock.
SkySat satellite photos taken before and after showed the extent of the fire that swept through the ship’s superstructure following the drone strikes. The impacted areas of the ship included the section above the main deck, which houses the bridge, the combat command posts, communications systems, and the radar equipment. According to the Ukraine site Militarnyi, damage to these key components and command sections could seriously compromise the ship’s combat capability.
Game-Changing Strikes for Ukraine Against Russia
As the ship was still in drydock, it was a stationary target, but that did not make the attack any easier for the SBS.
The Kronstadt base is more than 1,100 kilometers (more than 600 miles) from Ukrainian territory – demonstrating that the force can hit targets at progressively greater distances from the Ukrainian border with pinpoint precision.
The strikes on these oil facilities and the black smoke billowing from the terminals as delegates arrived for his much-ballyhooed St. Petersburg economic forum were a great embarrassment to Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, these hits on the oil terminal destroyed one storage tank and damaged six tanks and two technical loading platforms.
Kirov-Class from the Russian Navy. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Kirov-Class Russian Navy. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
But Ukrainian defense analysts have stated that, even though it generated a much smaller plume of smoke, this strike on the Kronstadt naval base’s 1060th Logistics Support Center could very well be more detrimental to the overall Russian war effort.
The Kronstadt base is one of only two main naval bases in the region.
It is a key logistics and supply hub for Russia’s Baltic Fleet and home to a major naval repair center, with the entire island housing a significant concentration of military assets.
A 5 June UK Royal Navy assessment concludes “that a coordinated attack could be executed against a warship with apparent impunity and in daylight is a damaging indicator of the state of Russian force preparedness in the region.”
No More Smuggler’s Paradise
Major Brovdi also addressed the five cargo ships that were struck on 5 June in more detail, pointing out that they were not only carrying stolen Ukrainian grain but also that the military cargo and fuel that they had on board were in direct support of the Russian war effort.
These ships had also attempted to conceal their movements by disabling their radar systems and removing identifying markings.
“The names of bulk carriers and tankers painted over by the Black Sea marauders, with radars switched off for the quiet theft of Ukrainian grain and the transfer of military cargo and fuel, no longer guarantee either long-term survivability or regular transportation,” Robert Brovdi said in a statement accompanying the released footage.
The commander said that disrupting maritime logistics has become a vital component of Ukraine’s broader drone campaign against Russian military infrastructure in the temporarily occupied territories. “The occupier’s smuggling logistics must be stopped. More to come,” he said in a final comment.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, with a specialization in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
