On the night of Saturday, August 5, the russian SIG tanker, which was in the territorial waters of Ukraine south of the Kerch Strait, was effectively hit.
"Any "bavovna" ("bavovna" - is Ukrainian meme about the current russo-Ukrainian war meaning explosions on russian military facilities - ed.) that happens with the ships of the russian federation or the Crimean bridge is an absolutely logical and effective step in relation to the enemy. Moreover, such special operations are carried out in the territorial waters of Ukraine and are completely legal", - the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Malyuk, has already noted.
Read more: Defense Official Says Ukrainian Forces Partially Break Through russia’s First Line of Defense in South
A video of the attack itself, which was carried out by a kamikaze boat, also appeared. Most likely, this ukrainian USV is of the same model that disabled the "Olenegorsky Gornyak" large landing ship of project 775 in Novorossiysk on Friday.
This video perfectly demonstrates that Ukrainian kamikaze surface drones have certain advantages over specialized anti-ship missiles. At the same time, Ukrainian USVs provide an advantage not only in the range of hitting sea targets (for such a strike, these kamikaze boats had to cover more than 600 km), but also in the ability to selectively choose not only the target to hit, but also control the degree and nature of possible damage to the selected target.
In particular, from the released video it can be understood that the operator who directly controls this USV guides it along the side, which allows for accurate identification of the vessel, and only then directs it precisely to the engine room. As a result of such an attack, as reported by the russian propagandists themselves, the fuel spill that was supposed to be on board this tanker did not occur, there were no casualties, but the vessel lost course due to damage and flooding of the powerplant. The latter is perfectly visible in the photo from the tanker itself:
In the case of using an anti-ship missile, there would be no such possibility of accurate target identification - the homing radar head simply selects the largest target that fits the signature stored in its memory. In addition, a cruise missile, unlike this USV, would not be able to hit the ship with such jewel-like accuracy.
From this it can be concluded that in the case of the Ukrainian USV, which was likely used against the russian tanker, we are talking about a balanced strike of the necessary force, which provided for the minimization of the accompanying negative consequences for both the crew and the environment. It should be noted that the operator of the kamikaze boat had the opportunity to completely destroy this tanker with a blow to the area where the tanks for the transportation of oil products were located, and it was much easier to do.
It can also be noted that the russian SIG tanker was not an accidental target, because it had to be chosen from a large number of other tankers. In particular, according to MarinTraffic data, tanker traffic is currently very dense in the northeastern part of the Black Sea:
It should also be noted that the export of oil and other hydrocarbons through the Black Sea is of great economic importance for the russian federation. In view of this, it can be concluded that Ukraine has now received an effective tool for reducing the economic potential of the aggressor country as a response to the baseless attacks by russian terrorists on the grain transshipment port infrastructure after russia's unilateral withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
As Defense Express reported, on the night of August 4, Ukrainian kamikaze boats hit the Olenegorsky Hornyak russian large landing ship of project 775, which received significant damage. We also wrote, that In Addition to Large Landing Ship Near Novorossiysk, Ukrainians Also Hit a russian Facility in Feodosia in Crimea.
Read more: Spectacular Video of the russian Olenegorsky Gornyak Landing Ship Defeat by Ukraine’s Kamikaze Boat Appeared
