Photo: Ukrainian Navy
Ukraine's Navy said it has destroyed the Russian border patrol ship Izumrud near Novorossiysk using a Sargan-3000 uncrewed surface vessel.
According to the Navy, the strike sank the vessel and left several crew members killed and wounded.
The Izumrud, launched in 2014, was a second-rank border patrol ship equipped with a helicopter landing pad. It measured 62.5 meters in length, displaced 630–750 tonnes, and had a top speed of 27 knots.
The Ukrainian Navy noted that the Izumrud took part in the Kerch Strait incident on November 25, 2018, when Russian forces attacked and seized the Ukrainian naval vessels Nikopol, Berdiansk, and Yany Kapu as they sailed from Odesa to Mariupol.
Three Ukrainian sailors were wounded and 24 servicemen were captured during the incident. They were released in a prisoner exchange in September 2019, while the seized vessels were returned to Ukraine two months later after being stripped of equipment and heavily damaged by Russian forces.
