A Russian warship was reportedly sunk by Ukrainian artillery in the Dnieper River on Tuesday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed. According to foreign media, the class of the vessel was still being determined, as the General Staff reported on Facebook. An infrared photo accompanying the announcement shows what appears to be a patrol boat on fire.
"Ukrainian artillery successfully fired at a Russian warship in the Dnipro River," the Ukrainian Defense Ministry tweeted on Tuesday.
According to information, the ship was in the delta of the strategic river, which bisects Ukraine as well as its capital, Kyiv. In November, Russian forces retreated to the east bank of the river. The Ukrainian port city of Kherson, which was recaptured in November after being occupied by Russia since early March, is located at the mouth of the Dnieper, where the river flows between several islands in the Black Sea through the Gulf of Dniprovska.
The count of losses continues
Ukraine's defense ministry released the daily tally of Russian casualties on Tuesday, with an additional warship listed as sunk, bringing the tally to 17 since the start of the war on February 24.
While the Russian Black Sea Fleet vastly outnumbers the Ukrainian fleet and has a large degree of control over maritime traffic in the Black Sea, it has been unable to achieve naval superiority at sea due to Ukraine's land-sea combat capabilities.
Western nations have supplied Ukraine with anti-target missiles such as the Harpoon, but it also has its own domestically developed Neptune missile, a pair of which were used to sink the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva.
The sinking of the Russian warships has taken on greater symbolic meaning for Ukraine in the war, especially online, where it has acquired a primary media status.
During the first hours of the invasion, Moskva was part of the task force that captured Snake Island. The guards there refused to surrender. The stubbornness of the guards and the response to Moskva, and its sinking, can even be seen on postcards and stamps.
US maritime drones pose a direct and clear threat to Russia
In the plans of the US military command, control of the maritime sphere is the highest priority for the coming years. This is a new reality in the American understanding, and the Russian fleet is beginning to reckon with it.
Americans are gradually moving from words to actions. In 2021, the fleet conducted the first exercises with the widespread use of sea and air drones. According to the new rules, for every ship of large displacement, there must be two small manned vessels, as well as three large and four medium-sized drones.
This is a small revolution, the Americans are actually abandoning some of the large displacement ships to increase the number of medium and small ones, including autonomous vehicles. For comparison: before in the US Navy, for every small-class ship, there were two large-displacement ships.
In the strategic plans of the military command, the share of drones in the fleet should be at least 40 percent by 2051. Of course, most of this fleet will be against China, but the Americans will prepare their own solutions for Russia as well. The drone attack on Black Sea Fleet ships last year can be considered a battle test of the capabilities of US kamikaze drones.
In 2023, they will complete the development of the Orca large underwater drone, designed to be in service at a range of up to 12,000 km and at a depth of up to 3,000 meters. This is a hunter for submarines and surface vessels, a minesweeper, an electronic warfare specialist and a reconnaissance UAS. So many functions the Americans want to cram into the hull of a diesel-electric submarine. There are plans to buy eight drones.
According to US Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, by the summer of 2023, the fleet of drones in the Red Sea will be at least a hundred copies. "The appearance of the Saildrone and others like it in the waters of the Black, Baltic and other seas bordering Russia can be considered a matter of time. At the same time, any attempts at interception will cause cries for blatant, deliberate and senseless violations of international law," reports a Russian media outlet and continues:
“Regarding the upcoming expansion and improvement of the US maritime drone fleet as a cause for panic is, of course, not worth it. But an effective antidote should have been developed yesterday."
