Ukraine’s drones are now hunting Russian warships far beyond the Black Sea

Ukraine’s maturing medium-strike drones have opened a new chapter in attacking and destroying Russian naval assets in the Black, Caspian, and Baltic Seas. Here is what to know about Ukraine’s unfolding aerial drone-based strike campaign midway into 2026.

The naval war until the end of 2025

At the start of the war in 2022, the Russian Black Sea fleet dominated the Black Sea. It occupied Ukraine’s Snake Island and established control of the Western Black Sea.

But this started to change when Ukraine scored a dramatic victory in 2022 by unexpectedly sinking the Slava-class guided missile cruiser, the Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea fleet, with Neptune anti-ship missiles.

With the Bosporus Straits closed, this was a loss the Russian Black Sea fleet could not recover from. Ukraine scored some other early successes, like destroying the Saratov Tapir-class landing ship in a Tochka-U missile strike in March 2022.

After Russia abandoned Snake Island in June 2022 and withdrew further from the Ukrainian-controlled coast, things settled down somewhat.

By late 2023, Ukraine started to see considerable success in damaging and destroying Russian warships with missiles (notably Anglo-French Storm Shadow/Scalp-EGs). It also started to see victories with its domestic sea-going attack drones.

But then Russia adapted by limiting its naval operations in the Black Sea and largely pulling its ships out of the hard-to-defend port of Sevastopol to the easier-to-defend port of Novorossiysk.

It is much more difficult for Russia to maintain the ships at Novorossiysk, but make it easier to preserve them.

By late 2024 and through much of 2025, things again largely settled down, with Ukraine’s sea-going drones becoming increasingly capable and even shooting down Russian (e.g., Ka-27, Mi-8) and even fighter jets (Su-30) that were dispatched to hunt the drones.

Ukraine attempted numerous times to breach the defences of the Novorossiysk naval base using sea-going drones, with limited success. A notable exception was striking a docked Improved Kilo-class submarine with a sea-going drone.

Ukraine’s dramatically expanded FP-1/-2 drone strikes 

Leading into 2026, it was assessed that 30% of Russia’s Black Sea fleet had been destroyed or damaged since the start of the war.

The Steregushchy-class corvette 'Boikiy' was struck multiple times and burning nicely in drydock in St Petersburg after 1st Unmanned Center 'deflowered' it, in their own words.

Source: https://t.co/I9M67YSQzD pic.twitter.com/LzG9xLJ408

— Ukraine Control Map (@UAControlMap) June 3, 2026

Early in 2026, things started changing dramatically as Ukraine expanded its mid-range strikes against Russian targets. AGN has previously reported on these and how they are playing havoc with Russia’s logistics, forward air force bases, air defence systems, and more.

The rise of Ukraine’s advanced one-way attack drones has enabled it to dial up the pressure on Russia’s fleets dramatically. 2026 has seen the proliferation of increasingly capable FP-1-style drones and the weakening of Russia’s air defence.

Not only has Ukraine been able to fly over booms and other defences protecting its ships at harbour in Novorossiysk, but it has expanded the campaign to hunting down Russian warships in the Caspian Sea, inland waterways/lakes, and the Baltic Sea.

The inland waterways allow Russia to dispatch new small (Corvette-sized) ships to the Caspian Sea and Black Sea.

It should be stressed that many strikes are not well-reported. Footage of the attack may be released, but not the aftermath, making it difficult to assess if the strike was successful.

👀"Our eyes" see everything:
A damaged old hull of the Russian Black Sea Fleet is being towed by tugboats in Sevastopol Bay

This is a large landing ship of Project 1171, the "Tapir". Part of its superstructure is missing – it was demolished during strikes by anti-ship… pic.twitter.com/bekQKDuTaW

— Beefeater (@Beefeater_Fella) June 7, 2026

It is also sometimes difficult to identify the ships and to avoid duplication and conflation. Some ships may be attacked more than once, and others may be repaired, returned to service, and struck again.

Get the latest aerospace defence news here on AGN.

Russian warship losses in 2026 confirmed by Oryx

In June, Ukrainian one-way attack drones attacked the Project 20380 ‘Steregushchiy’ class corvette “Boikiy”, which was undergoing repairs in a dry dock. Satellite imagery and video footage suggest it has been damaged beyond economic repair.

Really great job, Russian air defense! This guided-missile corvette Boykiy in Kronstadt near St Petersburg is totally not on fire. Source: https://t.co/uCDPB60vIL https://t.co/IrpoIEVQSZ pic.twitter.com/dVxgn8Vabc

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) June 4, 2026

This followed a previous successful Ukrainian strike on the Project 23550 Arktika patrol ship in March in the Baltic. After the hit, the ship was left leaning onto another docked ship.

Provisional list of Russian warships hit by Ukrainian airborne drones in 2026:

One Project 21630 Buyan-class corvette was damaged or destroyed in October 2025, with the footage released in May 2026. It was reported to be the “Grad” and was hit on Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia, 900 kilometres from Ukraine.

In May 2026, the Russian news outlet Port News reported that “Grad” was in service. It is unclear if this was the same Buyan-class ship that was hit or if it was confused for another corvette.

Other confirmed targets have included two Project 02510 high-speed boats destroyed (February & March), one Project 12200 Sobol-class patrol boat (April).

AGN has previously reported that FP-1/-2 drones have been recently revealed to be carrying air-to-ground rockets. These have struck Black Sea targets (like communication nodes) before the drone itself attacks a target.

FP-1/-2 and other Ukrainian drones are far from being the only kamikaze drones having considerable effects. Russians are increasingly complaining about the HX-2 drone built by the German company, Helsing.

Confusion over Russia’s flagship Black Sea frigates

There were reports that Ukraine had (again) damaged a Project 11356M Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate, with media naming the Admiral Essen as the likely ship. The attack took place in the spring of 2026 at Novorossiysk.

Just on this – it's not the Admiral Essen, and just an old uncrewed Krivak I (the Pytlivyy, due to the rounded gun cupola)

It also appeared to hit the dock. Sorry @414magyarbirds, we are raining on your parade. https://t.co/qjD91PJXh0

— Ukraine Control Map (@UAControlMap) May 29, 2026

However, the OSINT account, Ukraine Control Map, posted, “it’s not the Admiral Essen, and just an old uncrewed Krivak I (the Pytlivyy, due to the rounded gun cupola).”

Following the sinking of the Moskva, the two Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates have been its principal surface warships. It also has two Soviet-legacy Krivak-class frigates in the Black Sea, although it’s unclear how useful they are.

Earlier, in March 2026, the Kyiv Independent reported the Ukrainian General Staff had claimed it had hit both the Admiral Essen and Admiral Makarov in drone strikes. This wasn’t independently confirmed, and it’s unclear what the extent of the damage was.

Other warships reported damaged/destroyed in 2026

It is also reported that the Valentin Pikul (Project 266ME) minesweeper was sunk in Novorossiysk after a drone attack.

📷 Attempts to save the Russian "Svêtlyak" turned out to be futile.
He was struck by drones on June 5.
Forces of unmanned systems (sbs) zsu continue to fire the enemy fleet in the azovs зовkomu sea.
📷 On the video – a border guard ship of the project 10410 class "Svitlyak" of… pic.twitter.com/beEcYCzMj8

— ✙ Dymtrus WhatSpecialOperationDoing? ✙ 🇺🇦🇺🇦 (@eightynines) June 7, 2026

Another report claims that Ukraine hit and sank a Project 10410 “Svetlyak” Coast Guard Patrol Vessel on the Caspian Sea in mid-May. The vessel was hit in the Russian port city of Kaspiysk, over 1,000 kilometres from the frontline.

In April, Ukraine claimed to have hit five Russian warships in the Black Sea, including the Project 226M minesweeper Valentin Pikul, the Project 1124M Albatross-class anti-submarine corvettes Yeysk and Kasimov, and two other unspecified vessels.

The Ukrainian SBU reported in April that Ukraine had damaged the Yamal and Azov Project 775 Ropucha-class large landing ships and a third unidentified ship. It added that a Russian Grachonok anti-sabotage boat of Project 21980 may have been hit.

Strikes continue to pick up pace in June 2026

In addition to the Border Patrol Ship in the Sea of Azov and the Boikiy corvette in the Baltic, June has continued to see Ukraine accelerate hunting down Russian warships and commercial ships.

On the 6th of June, the OSINT account MAKS 26 posted an image of a small ship apparently struck with the caption, “Russian sources write that today our naval drones attacked another ship. But the information needs confirmation.”

💥⚓️ A Russian Project 10410 Svetlyak-class patrol ship was struck near Yurkine, occupied Crimea.

The strike was carried out by an FP-2 attack drone operated by the 1st Separate Center of the USF.

The 49.5-meter vessel has a crew of 28, is armed with an AK-176 naval gun, AK-630… pic.twitter.com/B7uUf4fRqI

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 4, 2026

It may have been the Project 10410 “Svetlyak” Border Patrol Ship in the Sea of Azov on the 3/4 of June. This ship appears to be struck as drone footage shows the drone closing in on the ship, but it doesn’t appear on the Oryx list for independently confirmed losses yet.

That said, MAKS 26 reported two days after the Svetlyak ship was struck, and so it may be yet another Russian vessel hit.

In early June, Ukraine released footage of its one-way attack drones attacking five merchant ships that were using its occupied ports. Subsequent footage from at least three of these ships confirmed extensive damage to the ships.

🚢💥 Five Vessels Hit in Overnight Ukrainian Drone Operation

Operators of the 1st Separate Center of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces struck five vessels overnight on June 5 in the ports of Mariupol, Berdiansk, and in the coastal waters of occupied southern Ukraine.

The… pic.twitter.com/6LaDA5P8Jc

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) June 5, 2026

As of the time of writing (one week into June), Ukraine has hit at least eight military and commercial ships so far in June.

Featured image: Ukraine social media

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