Ukraine's Magura V5 naval drones have managed to hit 18 Russian Navy vessels during the full-scale war, according to comments by a member of Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) for DW published on Aug. 16.
HUR's Magura drones of the Security Service of Ukraine's (SBU) Sea Baby drones are key tools that allowed Kyiv to undermine Russia's overwhelming naval dominance in the Black Sea.
Speaking in a video with a covered face and presented only by the codename "Thirteenth," the commander of the special unit Group 13 said Magura drones had struck 18 Russian vessels in a year and a half. Nine of them reportedly suffered "irreversible damage."
The Magura drone was first presented at the International Defense Industry Fair (IDEF) in Istanbul in July 2023, a little over one year ago. It is unclear whether this was a mistake on Thirteen's part or whether the drone had been unofficially in use before being unveiled at the fair.
The Magura drone can cover a distance of more than 800 kilometers (500 miles), reach a speed of 80 km/h (50 mph), and is capable of carrying a 250-kilogram warhead.
"We didn't try to strengthen the warhead to destroy a ship with one hit," Thirteenth explained.
"We took another approach: we attacked in a swarm, carrying out five or more hits on large ships to cause critical damage."
Thirteenth also pointed out that the Russian Black Sea Fleet was forced to pull all its valuable assets from the Sevastopol base in Russian-occupied Crimea due to Ukrainian attacks.
The HUR officer said the Black Sea Fleet is "paralyzed" and is now only "consuming money from the state budget, unable to perform its tasks."
The list of Russian warships sunk by Magura drones throughout the war includes the missile corvette Ivanovets, the large landing craft Caesar Kunikov, and the modern patrol ship Sergey Kotov, among others.
The Ukrainian military says it had destroyed or disabled roughly 30% of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Igor Kossov
