Images appearing on social media lead military experts to believe Ukraine used a new type of naval drone in Tuesday’s attack on the port city of Sevastopol, home to the base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

The situation was explained on SITE military analyst H.I. Sutton, a specialist in naval technology, noting that the development of the drone appears to have been at least partially financed by Monobank, an online bank that has become known for raising funds for the Ukrainian armed forces and foreign fighters – these volunteers.

An image of a model drone also appeared on the bank’s website, with Sutton noting that while it has not been confirmed that it was directly involved in Tuesday’s attack, it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that its images have only now been released.

Despite the images, there are almost no details about the drone. It looks smaller and has a more aerodynamic overall shape than the previous Ukrainian-developed model.

Sutton also notes that while the image does not show recording cameras, sensors or communication antennas, that doesn’t mean they aren’t there, but they can be disguised to hide the drone’s key functions and capabilities.

The first video of the attack, which took place early in the morning, also appeared on social networks.

The footage shows that 3 drones took part in the attack, one of which was stopped by the protective barriers at the entrance to the port, and the other two managed to “jump over” them. But they were also destroyed inside the port by the defense forces.

Russian mass media wrote on Tuesday morning that Sevastopol was attacked by naval drones of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but the Russian Black Sea Fleet repelled the attack. Later, the Russian administration in Sevastopol announced that it had suspended ferry routes.

Marine drones are one of Ukraine’s best-kept secrets

In September last year, the first photos of a drone of unknown origin near the naval base in Sevastopol, discovered by the Russians, appeared on Russian social networks and Telegram channels.

The images surprised even military analysts, as Ukraine has not disclosed anything about developing a naval drone, and such a success would be all the more stunning as Russian bombing had leveled its arms industry in the first weeks of the war.

Naval News analysts at the time speculated that the curved shape and enhanced appearance suggested the drone was armed with a warhead, with one theory suggesting the drone was designed to detonate when it entered another ship, a more modern version of a bomb boat.

This also explains the sensors that can be seen on the front of the unmanned craft.

Later, on October 29, several videos of naval drone attacks on the Navy base in Sevastopol appeared on social networks.

One of the recordings shows how Ukrainian naval drones were able to get very close to the Russian frigate “Admiral Makarov” and probably hit it. Later, the minesweeper “Ivan Golubets” was also injured. Another video shows a naval drone attacking a Russian ship and even a helicopter.

HI Sutton noted at the time that the type of drone used in the attack was the same as the one found in September near the base.

“Small and fast” drones allegedly damaged the ship “Admiral Makarov”

The Ukrainian authorities only admitted on November 11 that they used naval drones to attack the Russian fleet stationed in Crimea, but already then the information was confirmed by a press release of the United24 government platform dedicated to raising funds for a fleet of naval drones. .

Even then, the statement was limited to the fact that “on October 29, 2022, mairitme drones struck Russian ships, [într-o operațiune] were carried out exclusively by unmanned aerial vehicles” and that “small and high-speed” drones damaged three Russian ships, including the Admiral Makarov.

Then, on November 19, the Ukrainians appear to have carried out another maritime drone attack, this time on the oil terminal of the major Russian port of Novorossiysk.

Footage of the explosion in the port appeared on social networks, and information and news on this topic were removed from Russian news sites.

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