Russian suicide drones have sunk a Ukrainian warship for the first time.

According to foreign media reports, on August 28, 2025, the Ukrainian Navy's "Simferopol" medium reconnaissance ship was sunk by a Russian suicide unmanned surface vessel. This is the first time that a Russian suicide unmanned surface vessel has conducted an anti-ship attack. According to reports, the attack took place in the Danube Delta at the mouth of the Danube River. It is a river located at the border between Ukraine's southern city of Odessa and its neighboring country Romania.

The sinking of the Ukrainian Navy's "Simferopol" reconnaissance ship

* The long-distance video was shot by a Russian large drone, Orion. In addition to "Orion", the drone has another name, called "Inokhodets".

The Ukrainian Navy's "Simferopol" reconnaissance ship is a relatively new vessel commissioned in 2021. Its hull is based on the 502EM plan, a medium fishing refrigerated trawler, with a length of 54.8 meters, a width of 9.8 meters, and a full load displacement of 1,220 tons. Its basic purpose is to collect radio information during peacetime, and it only has automatic cannons as weapons. After the war broke out, it could not go to the dangerous Black Sea coast, and moved to another position where it was difficult to be attacked, but was captured by the Russians.

This attack marks the first time that Russia has used a suicide unmanned surface vessel to conduct an anti-ship attack. Its history can be traced back to May 6, 2024, when a small high-speed boat near the Crimean coast was destroyed, which was limited to the anti-ship attacks of Ukrainian suicide unmanned surface vessels. This is the first time that a large ship has been destroyed by a self-destructing unmanned surface vessel since the sinking of the Russian Navy patrol ship "Sergey Kotov" on March 5, 2024.

Case of Ukrainian suicide explosive unmanned surface vessel anti-ship attacks:

October 29, 2022: Minesweeper "Ivan Golovats" * Medium shipwreck (details unknown)

October 29, 2022: Frigate "Admiral Makarov" * Undamaged (failed)

May 24, 2023: Reconnaissance ship "Ivan Furs" * Undamaged (failed)

August 4, 2023: Landing ship "Olenegorsky Gornyak" * Small waves

November 10, 2023: Small landing craft "Akla" and "Serna" * Sunk

January 20, 2024: Frigate "Ivanovets" * Sunk

February 14, 2024: "Tsezar Kunitsyn" landing ship * Sunk

May 3, 2024: Corvette "Sergey Kotov" * Sunk

May 6, 2024: Small high-speed boat * Sunk

* The reconnaissance ship "Ivan Furs" attacked the Black Sea coast, the landing ship "Olenegorsky Gornyak" attacked the New Russia port, and other ships attacked the Crimean Peninsula coast and ports.

* Since three ships were attacked and sunk around the Crimean Peninsula in February-March 2024, the Russian Navy has been on high alert. Since then, no large ships have been damaged.

Case of Russian suicide unmanned surface vessel anti-ship attacks:

August 28, 2025: Reconnaissance ship "Simferopol" * Sunk

* At the mouth of the Danube River, in the Danube Delta area, in the river

Over the course of about three years, the two sides have conducted 10 anti-ship attacks using suicide destructive unmanned surface vessels. Only one close-range attack on the reconnaissance ship "Ivan Furs" was unscathed, and the attack failed. It can be said that the small, low-search-capability unmanned surface vessels, relying only on cameras, find it difficult to locate targets in large coastal areas. The remaining 9 attack cases are locations where target positions can be easily narrowed down, such as in ports, next to the coast, or in rivers.

The result is that within approximately three years, out of 10 attacks, 6 cases resulted in sinking, 2 cases in destruction, and 2 cases in failure. Among them, 4 large ships were sunk. The result is that the landing ship "Olenegorsky Gornyak" came out of the floating dock, had a repair period of about three weeks, and was treated as a small wreck, but when it was hit, it was already on the verge of capsizing. If damage control failed, it would have sunk. It was precisely in this situation that the results of the visual self-destructing unmanned surface vessel's anti-ship attack were confirmed for the first time.

The reasons for the certain achievements of suicide unmanned surface vessels in the Ukraine-Russia war include the Black Sea being a calm inland sea, and due to the narrow sea area, the operational distance is short, making it easy to attack the coastal areas. However, port raids are easily guarded against, and it is impossible to successfully attack the same place multiple times. Without achieving unique effects, the success rate would significantly decrease.

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1841743399003148/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.