Maritime attack disclosed on the morning of May 6th was another successful operation the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine has carried out against the russian naval fleet. The intelligence department published a video showing POV of explosive surface vessels crashing into a russian naval boat operating in Vuzka Bay, Crimea, currently occupied by russian forces.
Overall, the footage is similar to the earlier showcased videos of Ivanovets, Caesar Kunikov, or the latest Sergey Kotov ships sinking. However, there are a few unexpected details a keen eye might notice. Particularly, the fact it was — or at least attempted — coordinated surface and air strike on a single target.
Read more: Ukraine Neutralizes russian Fast Attack Craft with the Magura V5 Drone (Video)
Precisely, take a closer look between the 42nd and 49th seconds into the video: it might appear as the russians were trying to take down the Ukrainian unmanned vessel with machine gun fire but the splashes are caused by significantly larger objects, and the big splash from something falling into the water ahead of the drone.
With a high degree of probability, this is the fallen-off booster rocket facilitating the launch of a 57E6 surface-to-air missile from the Pantsir air defense system. In other words, the russian crew on the boat was trying to take down an aerial target, maybe a cruise missile or maybe a suicide UAV.
That gives the basis for a theory that the Ukrainian unmanned surface vessel was only part of the plan involving both watercraft and aircraft elements to the attack. Note that despite releasing the video this morning, Defense Intelligence of Ukraine does not mention the date of the strike, nor does the russian side.
Publicly available imagery by Sentinel space satellite (ESA) shows traces of fire occurred on the land nearby, between May 3rd and May 5th, 2024. The location visually resembles a typical air defense deployment site.
The image resolution, however, is too low to identify whether any air defense systems were stationed there. Better-quality satellite pictures could shed some light on the incident that happened there, as well as the role of Ukrainian naval drones during supposed coordinated strikes. Defense Express will stay tuned for any updates.
Earlier we also covered Ukraine's plans to turn their suicide sea drones into air defense platforms, considered which weapons would fit on the relatively small body of the drone, and what's the most challenging part of integrating anti-aircraft equipment.
Read more: Ukraine Wants to Turn Suicide Sea Drones Into Air Defense Platforms: Which Weapons Would Fit
