The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claimed to have destroyed the Russian Navy's Project 1241 Molniya missile corvette Ivanovets in the Black Sea in the early hours of Thursday morning. The attack was purported to have been carried out by the special forces unit "Group 13," which employed unmanned sea drones.

"Ship wreck of the day!," @DefenceU posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, adding, "As a result of a number of direct hits to the hull, the corvette was damaged, rolled to the stern, and sank. The value of the ship is approximately $60–70 million. Nice job, warriors!" 

A more detailed account of the destruction of the Ivanovets was provided by Anton Gerashchenko, former advisor to Ukraine's internal affairs minister and founder of the Institute of the Future. He added that the operation was made possible with the support of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the United24 platform.

Russia reportedly operated around 20 of the Project 12411 (NATO reporting name "Tarantul") missile boats with four serving in the Black Sea. The small missile corvettes, which displace around 480 long tons, were developed in the 1970s.

That Sinking Feeling

Even before the sinking of the Ivanovets, it was reported that the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet had lost 20 percent of its total force. Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk claimed last November that Ukrainian forces have destroyed 15 Russian warships in the Black Sea and damaged 12 others since the start of the all-out war in February 2022.

It is notable that the Kremlin's losses have been so high, given that Ukraine has no navy.

However, Kyiv's forces have proven quite resourceful and innovative – employing the domestically-developed Neptune cruise missile, cutting-edge naval drones, and long-range missiles supplied by the West. The Neptune was used with much success to sink the Black Sea Fleet flagship guided-missile frigate Moskva in April 2022. It was the largest warship sunk in combat since the Falklands War in 1982 – and the first Russian flagship to be lost since the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05).

Other strikes carried out by Kyiv have targeted Russian ships in dry docks, warships moored in the main port of Sevastopol, airfields, and even the main Black Sea Fleet HQ building, as well as the bridge that connects southern Russia to Crimea.

One of the first Black Sea Fleet vessels destroyed was the Saratov landing craft, which was sunk with a Soviet-era Tochka-U ballistic missile in March 2022, while it was docked in occupied Berdiansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Russia was using the port to supply its troops in Mariupol – and the destruction of the landing craft likely contributed to Moscow abandoning any plan to mount an amphibious assault on Odesa.

Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].