Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv claims a drone strike damaged a Russian Black Sea naval ship

Ukrainian intelligence reports that a Russian patrol ship sustained damage from an attack by sea drones in the Black Sea.

Sergei Kotov was reportedly struck in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Ukraine's military intelligence service said that the Black Sea fleet ship sustained damage to the stern, right side, and left side.

The Kremlin has not commented yet. Specific Russian blogs that support the war have verified the attack.

Ukrainian intelligence official Andrii Yusov informed Ukrainian station RFERL that sailors on board had suffered fatalities and injuries.

The Sergei Kotov is one of four patrol ships constructed for the Russian Navy under Project 22160. Ukraine had previously assaulted it in September of the previous year.

Ukraine claims that the warship was involved in the attack on Snake Island during the initial day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, along with the Moskva cruiser.

Ukraine sank the Moskva in 2022.

Russia unlawfully seized the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine about a decade ago. Recently, Ukraine has consistently targeted Russia's Black Sea fleet based on the peninsula

Ukraine reported that the sunken Sergei Kotov ship incurred damages totalling $65 million (£51.2 million) after being struck near the Kerch Strait, which divides Crimea from Russia.

A video shared on social media captures the time when the ship was struck.

The vessel has the structural characteristics of a patrol ship of the same class as Sergei Kotov. Nevertheless, there is no apparent identification number on its side, making it unclear if it is the same ship.

No alternative iterations of the film have been found using reverse image searches, indicating that the video was just published.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank reports that a minimum of 13 Russian navy vessels have been destroyed or damaged since the conflict began.

In the previous month, a Russian amphibious vessel, the Caesar Kunikov, was destroyed in a drone strike near the town of Yalta.

Ukraine's intelligence directorate published a video showing Magura V5 maritime drones allegedly hitting Caesar Kunikov.