Russia destroys Ukrainian drones in Black Sea (VIDEO)

Several Ukrainian sea drone attacks have been thwarted in the Black Sea over the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Telegram on Monday. The Russian military also published a clip showing a Ukrainian autonomous surface vessel being intercepted.

A total of five sea drones were destroyed, the ministry said. It did not provide any details about the potential targets of the attacks or where the autonomous vessels had been struck.

Footage published by the ministry showed a Russian military helicopter hunting one such drone in what appears to be the open sea. The aircraft can be seen repeatedly opening fire at the vessel with its machine guns as the drone seeks to escape through active maneuvering. The Ukrainian surface vehicle looks like a small motorboat with what appears to be a missile mounted on it.

The clip ends with the drone exploding in a major blast after apparently being hit by the helicopter, which can still be seen nearby.

Ukraine has been touting its sea drones as a weapon it uses to attack Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. However, such attacks have targeted both military and civilian infrastructure. Kiev started to actively employ such vessels in 2023, most notably in its attack on the Crimean Bridge in July of that year.

The attack damaged the bridge, which links the peninsula to other parts of southern Russia, and claimed the lives of a Russian married couple, while injuring their 14-year-old daughter. In August 2023, Moscow said Ukraine had used three maritime drones to attack Russian cargo vessels en route to the Turkish Straits. All of the drones were destroyed.

Although Ukrainian officials maintained that the sea drones had been domestically produced, the Russian military reported in April having discovered and destroyed a stockpile of autonomous vessels “supplied to Ukraine by NATO countries.”