On Friday night, Ukrainian naval drones attacked the military naval base in Novorossiysk. The city's mayor, Andrey Kravchenko, stated that the attack was repelled by the crews of the ships "Olenegorskiy Gorniak" and "Suvorovec." However, videos later appeared on social media showing a different outcome. A large landing ship "Olenegorskiy Gorniak" was seen being towed into the port, heavily listing. It suffered a "serious breach," according to a Ukrainian intelligence source quoted by Reuters. As per "Voyennoye Obozreniye," "Olenegorskiy Gorniak" became the eighth Russian ship successfully attacked by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The first successful attack by Ukraine on Russian fleet vessels occurred one month after the invasion began - on March 24, 2022, when the AFU struck the port of Berdyansk with "Tochka-U" missiles. As a result, the BDK "Saratov" was sunk, and two more ships of this class, "Novocherkassk" and "Caesar Kunikov," were damaged.
The next ship to be attacked was the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser "Moskva." On April 13, 2022, the ship was hit by two "Neptun" missiles while it was 120 km away from the shore. The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the cruiser sank the next day while being towed to the port.
On June 17, 2022, the tugboat "Vasily Bekh" was hit by an anti-ship missile "Harpoon" and subsequently sunk near Snake Island, while delivering ammunition, weaponry, and personnel to the Black Sea Fleet.
On October 29, 2022, Ukrainian naval drones attacked the main base of the Black Sea Fleet - Sevastopol. The minesweeper "Ivan Golubets" and the frigate "Admiral Makarov" were damaged as a result. The latter had been considered the flagship of the Russian Navy after the loss of the cruiser "Moskva."
