1/
russia spent 3 years and billions building an "impenetrable" air defense network around Crimea. Ukrainian drones just casually skimmed the waves around Crimea to hit a russian ship near its home port, 400 km away.
The fortress has become a hunting ground.
So what changed?
Three years ago, Crimea was wrapped in one of the world's densest air defense networks—dozens of radars, missile batteries, sophisticated systems.
Ukraine's TB-2 drones, which dominated early in the war, became sitting ducks over Crimean airspace.
russia had built an impenetrable bubble.
But Ukraine went to work. Strike by strike, they picked apart those defenses.
Now those same "vulnerable" TB-2s cruise freely over Crimea, and Ukrainian drones reach 400 kilometers into russia to hit ships in what Moscow thought were completely safe waters.
When your billion-dollar defensive network can't stop relatively cheap drones, you've lost more than equipment. You can't protect anything anymore.
euromaidanpress.com/2025/09/13/sal…
russia spent 3 years and billions building an "impenetrable" air defense network around Crimea. Ukrainian drones just casually skimmed the waves around Crimea to hit a russian ship near its home port, 400 km away.
The fortress has become a hunting ground.
So what changed?
Three years ago, Crimea was wrapped in one of the world's densest air defense networks—dozens of radars, missile batteries, sophisticated systems.
Ukraine's TB-2 drones, which dominated early in the war, became sitting ducks over Crimean airspace.
russia had built an impenetrable bubble.
But Ukraine went to work. Strike by strike, they picked apart those defenses.
Now those same "vulnerable" TB-2s cruise freely over Crimea, and Ukrainian drones reach 400 kilometers into russia to hit ships in what Moscow thought were completely safe waters.
When your billion-dollar defensive network can't stop relatively cheap drones, you've lost more than equipment. You can't protect anything anymore.
euromaidanpress.com/2025/09/13/sal…
2/
Ukrainian forces struck and damaged another ship supporting russia’s war effort on the Black Sea on Thursday night.
Another ship strike isn’t remarkable. In the 43 months since russia widened its war on Ukraine, the Ukrainians have sunk or damaged roughly a third of the russian Black Sea Fleet’s three dozen warships.
Most notably, the cruiser Moskva, holed by two Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles way back in April 2022.
What’s notable about the Thursday
euromaidanpress.com/2025/09/11/ukr…
strike on the Project MPSV07 rescue and salvage ship was how and where Ukrainian operators hit it.
The 73-m salvage ship, operated by russia’s auxiliary rescue agency, was patrolling just outside the port of #Novorossiysk, in southern russia, 400 km from the front line.
Ukrainian forces struck and damaged another ship supporting russia’s war effort on the Black Sea on Thursday night.
Another ship strike isn’t remarkable. In the 43 months since russia widened its war on Ukraine, the Ukrainians have sunk or damaged roughly a third of the russian Black Sea Fleet’s three dozen warships.
Most notably, the cruiser Moskva, holed by two Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles way back in April 2022.
What’s notable about the Thursday
euromaidanpress.com/2025/09/11/ukr…
strike on the Project MPSV07 rescue and salvage ship was how and where Ukrainian operators hit it.
The 73-m salvage ship, operated by russia’s auxiliary rescue agency, was patrolling just outside the port of #Novorossiysk, in southern russia, 400 km from the front line.
3/
Rather than send a squadron of comparatively slow drone boats or expend a precious cruise missile that might cost $1 million or more, the Ukrainian military intelligence service, the HUR, flew a fixed-wing attack drone at very low altitude all the way to Novorossiysk, and struck the Project MPSV07’s bridge area, where many of the most delicate electronics are.
The hit on the Project MPSV07 had the effect of “destroying its electronic warfare systems and forcing it out of action,” the Ukrainian strategic communications service announced
x.com/StratcomCentre…
Rather than send a squadron of comparatively slow drone boats or expend a precious cruise missile that might cost $1 million or more, the Ukrainian military intelligence service, the HUR, flew a fixed-wing attack drone at very low altitude all the way to Novorossiysk, and struck the Project MPSV07’s bridge area, where many of the most delicate electronics are.
The hit on the Project MPSV07 had the effect of “destroying its electronic warfare systems and forcing it out of action,” the Ukrainian strategic communications service announced
x.com/StratcomCentre…
4/
The raid came just two weeks after a Ukrainian drone team scored a hit
x.com/NOELreports/st…
on a Black Sea Fleet missile corvette in a similar way—by maneuvering an attack drone at wave-top height and striking the corvette’s topside electronics.
Blowing up topside radar masts and satellite receivers with a small drone might not sink a ship, but it can inflict a lot of difficult-to-repair damage—and at low cost and risk to the attacker.
Even the priciest attack drones cost just $200,000; most are in the range of five figures.
It’s worth noting that the Project MPSV07 is an ice-hardened vessel, with a reinforced hull for sailing through icy northern waters.
All that extra steel makes a Project MPSV07 a harder target than, say, a thinner-hulled missile corvette
The raid came just two weeks after a Ukrainian drone team scored a hit
x.com/NOELreports/st…
on a Black Sea Fleet missile corvette in a similar way—by maneuvering an attack drone at wave-top height and striking the corvette’s topside electronics.
Blowing up topside radar masts and satellite receivers with a small drone might not sink a ship, but it can inflict a lot of difficult-to-repair damage—and at low cost and risk to the attacker.
Even the priciest attack drones cost just $200,000; most are in the range of five figures.
It’s worth noting that the Project MPSV07 is an ice-hardened vessel, with a reinforced hull for sailing through icy northern waters.
All that extra steel makes a Project MPSV07 a harder target than, say, a thinner-hulled missile corvette
5/
It’s worth noting that the Project MPSV07 is an ice-hardened vessel, with a reinforced hull for sailing through icy northern waters. All that extra steel makes a Project MPSV07 a harder target than, say, a thinner-hulled missile corvette
In that context, the attack on the vessel’s electronics makes even more sense. The Ukrainians hit the ship x.com/StratcomCentre… it’s most vulnerable.
It’s worth noting that the Project MPSV07 is an ice-hardened vessel, with a reinforced hull for sailing through icy northern waters. All that extra steel makes a Project MPSV07 a harder target than, say, a thinner-hulled missile corvette
In that context, the attack on the vessel’s electronics makes even more sense. The Ukrainians hit the ship x.com/StratcomCentre… it’s most vulnerable.
6/6
Rolling back the air defenses
The virtuosic raid didn’t come together overnight. Until recently, the waters around eussian-occupied Crimea were protected by one of the densest air-defense networks in the world:
- dozens of russian radars, mobile guns, surface-to-air missile vehicles, and batteries, including long-range S-300 and S-400 SAM sites.
But relentless Ukrainian drone strikes have steadily dismantled those air defenses, effectively clearing the air over Crimea and lending the drone operators greater freedom
Rolling back the air defenses
The virtuosic raid didn’t come together overnight. Until recently, the waters around eussian-occupied Crimea were protected by one of the densest air-defense networks in the world:
- dozens of russian radars, mobile guns, surface-to-air missile vehicles, and batteries, including long-range S-300 and S-400 SAM sites.
But relentless Ukrainian drone strikes have steadily dismantled those air defenses, effectively clearing the air over Crimea and lending the drone operators greater freedom
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