Ukraine is using more and more unmanned boats to lay mines and attack Russian warships in the Black Sea, forcing Moscow to shift its forces to avoid losses.
When the Russian corvette Samum left the safety zone in Sevastopol Bay in September 2023, an explosion tore through the battleship’s hull. The Russian military later said the warship had to fight back against an attack by Ukrainian unmanned boats, a weapon that the country has continuously used to attack enemy forces for many months.
Brigadier General Ivan Lukashevych, leader of the unmanned surface vehicle (USV) development program of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), said on June 24 that the above raid “was the first time a Russian warship disabled by mines laid by Ukrainian unmanned boats”.
“USVs were previously mainly used for surveillance or logistics,” said General Lukashevych. “We are doing things that no one else in the world is doing.”
Ukraine claims to have sunk or damaged about 20 Russian warships using suicide boats loaded with explosives or mines dropped by USVs. The vehicles, the size of small fishing boats, also caused significant damage to the Crimean Bridge over the Kerch Strait, which connects the peninsula with Russia’s Krasnodar region.
In response, Russia had to disperse its Black Sea Fleet forces to other bases in the region. This made it take longer for Russian missiles to reach their targets, allowing Ukrainian air defenses to better intercept them.
Ukrainian suicide boat Magura. Photo: GUR
USV attacks also forced Russia to dispatch aircraft and electronic warfare systems to cope, somewhat relieving pressure on Ukrainian infantry units facing difficulties on the battlefield.
The SBU is working with the Ukrainian Navy to develop new ways of working with USVs in the context of the country no longer having any large warships. The Main Directorate of Military Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR) has also recently joined this activity.
According to General Lukashevych, Ukraine is looking to establish a combat fleet of 10-20 USVs with different functions, which when combined will have the same capabilities as a conventional warship. The Ukrainian military recently said it was testing rocket launchers on USVs to attack targets on shore, but it is unclear how effective they will be.
Using USVs is Ukraine’s tactic when faced with a strong opponent with much larger resources. Ukraine in 2022 wants to lift the Russian blockade on grain transportation, but has no large warships, no missiles and a weak air force, so it cannot attack the Black Sea Fleet in port or at sea.
SBU Lieutenant General Vasyl Maliuk sought out Lukashevych, an officer with a background in military technology and experience in secret operations. Mr. Lukashevych said the biggest challenge is to create a vehicle that can carry hundreds of kilograms of explosives, travel hundreds of kilometers, and bypass Russia’s radar and electronic warfare systems.
When he saw an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) controlled by SpaceX’s Starlink satellite Internet service, Lukashevych came up with a new idea. He suggested that the drone manufacturer make a USV prototype using the Starlink system.
Three weeks later, Lukashevych stood on the shore steering the boat 16 km away. The vehicle can carry 100 kg of explosives, is about 5 m long and low to avoid detection by enemy radar. “We built a USV that can hide in the waves.”
On September 17, 2022, Ukraine sent 12 USVs to attack the Russian naval base in Sevastopol, Crimea, but the signal was lost when they arrived because Starlink did not cover the area. The reconnaissance USV ran out of fuel and drifted ashore near Sevastopol, where it was confiscated by the Russian side.
Ukrainian unmanned boat washed up on the Crimean peninsula in September 2022. Image: RusVesna
Despite repeated attempts by the Ukrainian side to convince SpaceX owner Elon Musk to cover the area with Starlink signals, fearing SpaceX would be drawn into an escalating conflict. Lukashevych’s team had to switch service providers and try again a month later.
Ukrainian forces on October 29, 2022 launched another 12 USVs targeting Sevastopol, 7 of which arrived. Three ships attacked the Admiral Makarov corvette outside Sevastopol Bay, damaging the ship’s engines and antennas.
Four others sneaked into the bay, one ramming the stern of the minesweeper Ivan Golubets. One USV exploded near the frigate Admiral Essen, damaging the ship’s propeller, and another crashed into the fueling station.
The Ukrainian side assessed the raid as a success when with only a few USVs, they caused panic among the enemy, damaged three Russian warships and the Sevastopol military port infrastructure. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky then set a new target: the Crimean Bridge, a symbolic construction of Russia.
Lukashevych was given documents about the design of the Crimea bridge by SBU leader Vasyl Maliuk, as well as searched for information from open sources such as videos shot below the structure. He estimated that an amount of explosives equivalent to 800 kg of TNT would be needed and that a suicide boat could travel more than 800 km to destroy a bridge pier.
Location of the Crimean peninsula. Graphics: WP
Lukashevych’s team built a larger prototype with new materials to avoid detection by enemy radar, calling it SeaBaby. On July 16, 2023, five USVs in the Black Sea were controlled from a command bunker in Kiev to participate in the raid, having to avoid a large number of enemy helicopters, fighters and warships.
While cruising along the southern coast of Crimea, Ukrainian soldiers spotted the frigate Admiral Essen and wanted to attack it, but Maliuk ordered them to focus on attacking the Crimean Bridge. As they approached the structure, the first USV missed the railway bridge pier, had to turn around, and crashed into the road bridge pier. The second hit the railway bridge pier.
Russian officials claim that the Crimean bridge was not severely damaged and has been repaired. However, Ukraine claims that the damage caused by the USV to the Crimean bridge was more severe than the previous car bombing, which prevented Russia from using the structure to transport heavy military equipment such as tanks.
To counter the Ukrainian USVs, Russia installed larger barriers at the entrance to the Sevastopol naval port and almost completely blocked them. Lukashevych had to come up with another plan: using USVs to lay mines at sea.
Lukashevych’s team built a special mine-laying USV SeaBaby that they received from the West. These mines weigh about 180 kg, have plastic shells and are difficult to detect when hidden in mud in shallow water. They have acoustic and electromagnetic sensors to detect passing ships and then detonate.
They monitored the route of warships and civilian ships for a month and a half, then sent a SeaBaby to lay mines. The Russian frigate Samum detonated a mine on September 14, 2023, the explosion causing a hole in the ship’s stern. The USV SeaBaby then laid mines multiple times, damaging Russian warships.
Ukraine’s SeaBaby unmanned boat. Photo: SBU
GUR continued to work with the SBU’s first USV manufacturer, developing a vehicle called Magura, which prioritized speed and maneuverability. Ukraine claimed that the Magura USV sank two Russian landing ships in a port on the western Crimean peninsula in November 2023.
The repeated USV raids against the Black Sea Fleet have made Ukraine the first country to effectively deploy them in maritime warfare. However, Russian forces have recently adopted a variety of countermeasures, such as using helicopters and suicide drones to hunt USVs, and attacking control centers and vehicle storage facilities.
A group of Russian technicians, led by a special forces officer nicknamed Buran, is developing the USV Murena-300s with a range of 250 km and carrying an explosive power equivalent to 250 kg. Buran also revealed the possibility of using unmanned seaplanes to deal with USV Ukraine.