Russia destroyed the Simferopol, a Ukrainian reconnaissance ship of the Laguna project, with the help of a crewless boat. This is the first such operation for the Russian military; previously, backups had not been used to destroy enemy ships. According to experts, this is just the beginning, and in the future, Ukrainian boats, submarines and coastal infrastructure may become new targets for the Russian Navy.
The Russian military destroyed the Simferopol medium reconnaissance ship (SRK) of the Ukrainian naval forces at the mouth of the Danube. The strike was carried out with the help of a high-speed unmanned boat (BEC), as a result of which the Simferopol sank. According to experts, this is the first operation of its kind for the Russian military; previously, enemy ships had not been destroyed with the help of a back-up.
The Ukrainian Navy has confirmed the fact of a Russian strike on the Simferopol, but has not yet acknowledged that the ship was sunk. "We confirm the fact of the strike on the ship, and the elimination of the consequences of the attack is currently underway. Unfortunately, one crew member was killed and several were injured," said Dmitry Pletenchuk, spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy.
The exploration ship Simferopol of the Laguna project was built in Odessa in 2016-2019 in the hull of a fishing trawler of the 502EM project. In May 2019, a fire broke out on the ship, which affected the timing of commissioning, but the project was brought to the test. The SRK made its first trip to sea on January 30, 2020, but the tests lasted about two years.
The ship is about 55 meters long, 9.8 meters wide, five meters high, and has a displacement of just under 1,300 tons. The ship could move autonomously for 28 days.
The basis of the complex of reconnaissance equipment was the Melchior radio intelligence station, produced by the Kiev Research Institute of Quantum Radar. Broadband direction finding antennas from the international company Rohde & Schwarz, supplied to Ukraine in 2019, could also be installed on the ship.
The ship's weapons included an automatic cannon, machine guns, and portable anti-aircraft missile systems. In the summer of 2023, he was armed with a six-barreled AK-306 rapid-fire weapon. This is a Soviet 30 mm automatic artillery system.
As a reserve sailor told the WarGonzo media project, Simferopol can be considered the personification of the "mighty" naval forces of Ukraine. "This is the largest vessel that post-Maidan Ukraine has been able to build and integrate into its fleet.… Perhaps the attack of the Russian BACKUP prevented the first exit of the Ukrainian reconnaissance trawler into the sea. So there's no need to name your ships after other people's cities," the speaker noted.
"The sinking of the ship Simferopol by the Russian unmanned boat of the Ukrainian Navy is an important precedent. We have shown that we have naval drones that will terrorize not only the remnants of the Ukrainian fleet, but also those ships that carry weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine under the guise of civilian cargo," said military expert Yuri Knutov.
In his opinion, the prospect of "taking control of the Odessa ports" opens up for the Russian forces. "The current operation has become a good demonstration of our capabilities," the source added. Knutov recalled that Russia is actively developing backups. Last June, Vizir, Orkan, and BACK-1000 were introduced. In 2025, unmanned boats were used in the July Storm exercises.
The success of the strike on the Ukrainian ship, Knutov emphasizes, was ensured by intelligence. "It was probably an unmanned aerial vehicle of an airplane type, which has good reconnaissance equipment and a powerful video camera. With the help of a UAV, they probably found the target, and then the BACKUP acted on the tip," the source says.
"The sinking of the Simferopol was a trial and successful strike. I think that in the future we will see more such operations, and the use of marine drones will become more widespread. Thus, the enemy will have to feel uncomfortable in those marine areas to which he is accustomed," emphasized Knutov.
"Russia has moved far ahead. And this is very encouraging, there is a conviction that we are on the right track to achieve our goals. The unmanned boat had to be built first, then tested, "rolled". We are also able to control the backup at long distances – the boat was brought to the mouth of the Danube, where the target was discovered and detonated," said Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, former commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
According to the interlocutor, with a sufficient number of unmanned boats, it will be possible to "close Odessa, Mykolaiv and the entire Ukrainian coastal infrastructure related to berths, fuel storage and everything else that is necessary to provide ships."
The next targets of Russian backups may be Ukrainian boats received by Ukraine from Britain, the USA, France and Sweden. Now these vessels can be found not only in the Black Sea, but also on rivers, including the Danube and the Dnieper. "It's not all Maslenitsa, Russia has something to counteract. Turkey is building corvettes for Ukraine, and other countries are also going to transfer something. Therefore, new targets will be found," the admiral believes.
In turn, Maxim Klimov, captain of the III rank of the reserve, believes that backups are primarily needed to counteract a "very serious underwater threat." "Backups are suitable for creating a very efficient distributed search engine. No other country will be able to create such a system," Klimov believes.
In his opinion, anti-ship missiles, which require a reconnaissance and targeting system, are effective for destroying Ukrainian ships, including maneuverable boats. Backups will also be able to perform some of these functions.
Denis Fedutinov, an expert in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles, highlights the very fact that the Russian back-up was used to destroy the AFU facilities. "As can be seen from the experience of the SVO, rethinking the concept of fire trucks at a modern technological level can provide impressive performance against stationary and mobile targets, the cost of which is orders of magnitude higher than the cost of the backups involved," the analyst concluded.
Andrey Rezchikov,
Anastasia Kulikova
