On Saturday, October 29, around 4AM local time, Ukraine carried out a sophisticated attack on Sevastopol, Russia’s strategic port in Crimea.
The attacking force was composed of air and naval drones. At present nearly nothing is known about the types of drones used.
Little information is available on the launch points for either the sea or air attacks.
On November 30 the Russian news agency TASS said that fragments of one of the aerial drones had been recovered. It contained a “Canadian navigation device.” That would almost certainly identify the drone as a Bayraktar Turkish drone that uses an L-3 (Canada) navigation and targeting pod. According to TASS, the drone was launched from near Odesa and flew along the “grain corridor” and then turned toward Sevastopol harbor.
Also according to TASS, the sea surface drones or USV (unmanned surface vehicle) may have been dropped off by a Ukrainian grain ship.
Crimea has been hit by drone attacks before.
In early August the Saky air base near Novofedorivka on Crimea's western coast was attacked using drones. That base is about 30 miles (50 km) north of Sevastopol.
According to reports coming from Ukraine but not confirmed by the Ukrainian government, the attack “set on fire” at least one Russian navy frigate, the Admiral Makarov. The Makarov became the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet after the destruction of the Russian cruiser, Moskva last April.
There are at least two videos of the assault from the sea by sea drones. These have been published on Twitter.
![Twitter avatar for @bayraktar_1love](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/bayraktar_1love.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @bayraktar_1love](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/bayraktar_1love.jpg)
The origin of the videos isn’t clear, but they probably were distributed by Ukraine’s Defense Ministry. In the second video (above) you can see quite a few artillery shells landing in the water, trying to hit the naval drone. You can also see more than a few Russian warships and at least one small fishing vessel. The video shows at least one explosion that was taken from a camera onshore, suggesting the video was a mashup from different sources and was edited.
While the aircraft drones could have been launched from almost anywhere, naval drones are another matter. They could have gone by sea, perhaps from the Odesa area, but that is a long run for a small craft. Alternatively, they could have been dropped off by ship near Sevastopol Bay.
The decision to launch the attack has resulted in the collapse of the so-called “grain corridor” that allowed the export of wheat and other grains to the world market, with Russian ships tasked to confirm the cargoes and protect trans shipments. For unclear reasons, the Ukrainian government decided that attacking Sevastopol was a higher priority than grain shipments.
Russia has accused the UK of providing training and support to Ukraine's 73rd Maritime Special Operations Group which, Russia says, carried out the actual attack. According to Russia, the training was carried out by the British in the city of Ochakov in the Nikolaev region. The Russians also accuse the same UK specialists of collaborating in the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic.
In addition to the Russian assertion that this was a UK-backed operation, there was allegedly a US RQ-4 drone shadowing the Sevastopol operation overhead. The RQ-4 Global Hawk is a long range persistent drone equipped with high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensors. The RQ-4’s operate out of the US Naval Air Station at Sigonella in Sicily. Twitter has provided a track map showing the RQ-4 in the area.
![Twitter avatar for @WarMonitors](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/WarMonitors.jpg)
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Right now the presence of the RQ-4 and the alleged involved of UK specialists in Ukraine is not confirmed outside of what the Russian government has said about the UK participation with Ukraine’s special forces and its allegations about the Nord Stream blasts.
The Russians claim they shot down all the air launched drones and four of the seven naval drones used in the attack. It appears that Russian air defenses and surface radars were unable to stop Ukraine from carrying out the assault on Sevastopol, a glaring operational failure.
Thus the question of Who Done it? remains unresolved. Presuming that there is at least some truth in the allegations, the question arises why the US and the UK would engage in supporting these operations, raising danger levels in Europe even higher than they already are?
The White House now has condemned the grain transit shutdown.
UPDATE
The Drive has possibly identified the naval drone (or USV for Unmanned Surface Vessel) used in the Sevastopol attack.
The type does not yet have a coding name, nor is its origin clear. The Drive says that it uses a jet ski engine. Below is a photo of one that previously was recovered in Crimea.
This type of USV is remotely controlled and provides a video stream to operators.