By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – Russian Defence Ministry announced on Friday that Ukraine Navy’s reconnaissance ship Simferopol has been hit and sunk in a naval drone strike.
Defence Ministry statement said, RT reported the Laguna-class, medium-sized ship, designed for radio, electronic, radar, and optical reconnaissance, was struck in the delta of the River Danube, part of which is located in Ukraine’s Odessa Region.
TASS report cited a UAV expert, that this was the first successful use of a sea drone to take out a Ukrainian Navy vessel
Ukrainian authorities confirmed that the vessel has been hit.
The attack killed one crew member and injured multiple others, the Kiev Independent wrote citing a Ukrainian Navy spokesperson.
“Efforts to address the aftermath of the attack are ongoing. The majority of the crew are safe, and the search for several missing sailors continues,” it cited the spokesperson stated.
The Simferopol was launched in 2019 and joined the Ukrainian Navy two years later.
According to the WarGonzo Telegram channel, the vessel was the largest ship that Kiev has managed to launch since 2014.
Russia has moved to accelerate the production of naval drones, as well as other unmanned systems that have increasingly dominated the Ukraine conflict.
Russia also hit a major drone facility in Kiev with two missile strikes overnight, Ukrainian politician Igor Zinkevich claimed on Thursday,media reported.
The site was preparing to produce Turkish Bayraktar drones, he said.
