Ukrainian drones strike Russian patrol ship Sergey Kotov

Ukrainian naval drones destroyed the Russian patrol ship Sergey Kotov in the Black Sea.

The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine and the Russian Telegram channels reported on this.

A video of the alleged moment when one of the drones hit the ship was also posted online.

On the night of March 5, Ukrainian naval drones reportedly struck the Project 22160 Sergey Kotov patrol ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine was behind this special operation.

In the morning, the propaganda media published a video showing the moment when a naval drone allegedly hit the patrol ship Sergey Kotov.

Shooting can be heard in the footage as the ship tries to fight off the drones, but a few seconds later, there is a powerful explosion, which probably happened after a naval drone hit the side of the Russian ship.

According to some propaganda media, the Russian ship sank. The fate of the crew is currently unknown.

Subsequently, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine confirmed the destruction of the Russian Black Sea Fleet patrol ship.

“On the night of March 4-5, 2024, the Group 13 unit of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine attacked the patrol ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Sergey Kotov. The mission took place in cooperation with the Ukrainian Navy and with the support of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine,” the statement reads.

It is noted that as a result of a hit by Ukrainian Magura V5 strike naval drones, the Russian Project 22160 patrol ship was damaged in the stern, starboard, and port sides. The enemy ship was hit in the territorial waters of Ukraine, near the Kerch Strait.

The Sergey Kotov is the third production Project 22160 patrol ship. The ship was launched at the Zaliv Shipbuilding Yard in January 2021 in the occupied Ukrainian city of Kerch. Its sea trials started at the end of October 2021, and only on July 30, 2022, did the ship join the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

By its purpose and characteristics, Project 22160 is an OPV corvette (offshore patrol vessel). Their tasks are to protect territorial waters and the 200-mile exclusive economic zone, fight smuggling and piracy, conduct search and rescue operations, as well as protect sea convoys, and display the flag in certain parts of the world’s oceans.

The ship is armed with a 76-mm AK-176MA automatic dual-purpose gun, 8 sets of 9K338 Igla-S man-portable SAM systems, 2 12.7-mm Kord machine guns, and two 55-mm DP-65 automatic grenade launcher systems and two 45-mm DP-64 barreled anti-saboteur grenade launcher systems. The patrol ship can also carry a Ka-27 or Ka-29 helicopter.