Ukraine’s drone warfare campaign is reshaping the Black Sea battlefield. In this video, we break down how Ukrainian operators struck Russia’s Novorossiysk naval base and reportedly damaged the Admiral Essen frigate and a Project 1239 missile corvette. From the sinking of the Moskva to repeated attacks deep inside Russian territory, Ukraine is proving that no warship is truly safe. Watch the full analysis, battle footage, and strategic breakdown of how Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is being systematically neutralized.
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NewsTranscript
00:00When the war with Russia began, Ukraine barely had a navy to speak of. Yet somehow it was able
00:06to completely nullify the threat of Russia's Black Sea fleet, damaging and even sinking
00:11numerous enemy vessels, including the famous Moskva missile cruiser. Many of the Kremlin's
00:17warships were forced to turn tail and flee for their lives, hiding out in seemingly safe ports
00:23and naval bases. But in its latest attack, Ukraine proved that nowhere is truly safe for Russian
00:29vessels as it just destroyed one of Vladimir Putin's finest frigates, the Admiral Essen.
00:35The Russian navy is no longer merely on the ropes, its assets are being systematically wiped off the
00:41map one by one, and there's nothing its clueless commanders can do to stop it.
00:46The attack occurred on the night of May 23rd at the naval base in Novorossiysk,
00:52Praznadar region, Russia. Novorossiysk is one of Russia's biggest Black Sea port cities and the
00:57main operational base of the Black Sea fleet, and has become an increasingly popular target for
01:03Ukrainian drones and missiles, with multiple successful strikes recorded in this area over
01:09recent weeks and months. The Kremlin has been forced to watch helplessly as everything from
01:14ships to oil terminals and military headquarters have been blown up and set ablaze, and the latest
01:21strike is, without doubt, one of the most devastating seen so far. Full details of how it happened,
01:28along with video footage of the impacts and aftermath, were shared online by Major Robert
01:33Magyar Brovdy, one of the best-known commanders of Ukraine's unmanned systems forces.
01:39Brovdy revealed that various units were involved in this deep strike mission, including crews from the
01:439th Kairos Battalion, the 412th Nemesis Brigade, and the 414th Unmanned Strike Aviation Brigade.
01:51Together, these experienced operators targeted two Russian naval vessels,
01:56the Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate or Project 11356R vessel, named Admiral Essen,
02:03and an unnamed Project 1239 hovercraft missile ship.
02:07Before we detail the damage, let's take a closer look at the ships in question.
02:12The Admiral Essen is a guided missile frigate and one of just six ships in its class.
02:18Only three of those ships, including the Essen, are believed to be in service with the Russian
02:22Navy at this time, with two others having already been sold off to India, and the last set to be
02:27sold to an unspecified country upon completion. Constructed at the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad,
02:34the Admiral Essen's design was based on the pre-existing Talwar-class or Project 11356
02:39frigate, built by Russia for the Indian Navy. It was seen as a vital piece of the puzzle in the
02:45quest to modernize the Black Sea Fleet, and Russia spared no expense in bringing this project to
02:50fruition. Each frigate is valued at an estimated 450 to 500 million dollars. As one might expect from
02:57such a lofty price tag, these are quite high-level vessels, with some very impressive technical
03:02specifications, at least on paper. Each frigate, for example, boasts a standard displacement of 3,620
03:10tons, with a full displacement of 4,000 tons. They measure just over 409 feet, 124.8 meters in length,
03:18with a beam of 49 feet, 10 inches, 15.2 meters. They can reach peak speeds of 30 knots, 35
03:25miles
03:25per hour, or 56 kilometers per hour, which is quite speedy for a vessel of this size, and boasts a
03:31range
03:31of 4,850 nautical miles, 5,580 miles, or 8,890 kilometers, and an endurance of 30 days.
03:40The Admiral Essen carries up to 200 crew members at a time and comes with an impressive array of
03:45armaments and advanced military technologies. It has a Fregat M2M air search radar, for example,
03:51to detect incoming aerial threats, as well as multiple surface search radars and fire control
03:57radars, plus an MGK-335EM-03 sonar system. It also sports an extensive electronic warfare suite
04:05and KT-216 decoy launchers. When it comes to weapons, the Admiral Essen has a 100mm A190E-01 naval gun,
04:14which has a maximum fire rate of 60 rounds per minute and can launch highly explosive anti-air or
04:20fragmentation munitions. It also boasts eight vertical launching system VLS cells for Caliber,
04:27Onyx or Tsircon cruise missiles, plus an additional 24 VLS cells for surface-to-air missiles.
04:33There are also two AK-630 rotary cannons on board, along with up to eight IGLA or Verba Man
04:39Portable Air Defense Systems , an RBU-6000 anti-submarine rocket launcher, and a pair of
04:45Type 53 twin-tube torpedo launchers. In short, this is an incredibly well-equipped vessel,
04:51designed to meet the rigorous standards required for modern-day naval warfare,
04:55but all those expensive defenses weren't enough to stop Ukraine's drones.
04:59The other vessel targeted in this attack was a Bora-class Project-1239 hoverborne guided missile
05:05corvette. While most vessels of this kind are used for troop landings or transport, the Project-1239
05:11was designed exclusively for marine combat and is one of the biggest combat sea vessels with a
05:17catamaran design. Only two of these ships have been built, though more are reportedly planned for
05:22the future. They have a displacement of just over 1,000 tons and measure 215 feet in length
05:29with a beam of 56 feet . Each one is powered by four 200-kilowatt diesel-driven generators
05:36and a variety of high-power engines, leading to peak speeds of 55 knots and a maximum range of 2
05:45,500
05:46nautical miles. With a minimum crew size of 35 people, the Project-1239 isn't quite as well-equipped
05:53as the Admiral Essen, but it still boasts an extensive array of sensors, electronic warfare systems,
05:58and weapons. That includes a Monument-E target detection and designation radar system,
06:03a Moskit-E missile fire control system, multiple decoy rocket launchers, a full complement of
06:09eight anti-ship missiles, and an Osa-MA surface-to-air missile system too. These vessels were designed to
06:16eliminate much larger enemy ships and provide cover for their own formations in coastal or inland
06:21locations, but their defenses proved to be insufficient against Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles
06:27UAVs on the night of May 23. Controlled with skill and precision by Ukraine's expert operators,
06:34several drones successfully collided with both of these ships, which were stationary at the time of
06:39the attack, effectively turning them into a pair of sitting ducks. The Admiral Essen was docked beside
06:44a pier at the Novorossysk naval base. Video of the attack shows at least one drone striking the side of
06:51the vessel, and reports state that at least three more UAVs collided with the frigate, which tried but
06:56failed to bring them down with its own onboard defenses. The Project 1239 Corvette was on an air
07:03cushion at the same base when it was struck. Again, it appears that several drones successfully impacted
07:08the vessel. The full extent of the damage to both ships has not been detailed, so we can only speculate
07:13about the overall impact of this attack. However, even if both vessels are still afloat, there's still a
07:18strong chance that they won't be fit for service for quite some time. Each one could have suffered
07:24serious damage to its hull, deck, or various systems and defenses, and Russia will need to spend time,
07:30money, and resources fixing them up before they can sail again. In addition, we know that Ukraine
07:35has been using more heavy-duty drones of late, with larger-than-average payloads. If that was the case on
07:41May 23, the vessels could be in significantly worse state than expected, demanding even more extensive
07:46and expensive repairs and maintenance to become seaworthy once more. Some systems may even be
07:52beyond repair and could need replacing entirely, which demands even more time and effort.
07:57Even in the worst-case scenario, which would be that the ships suffered only minor damage,
08:02this attack still matters because it proves that Russian ships have nowhere to hide.
08:07The Kremlin's commanders can continue to move them around between different ports and bases,
08:11but Ukraine's drone crews will continue to hunt them down with ruthless precision
08:16and incredible efficiency over and over again. And the more that happens, the harder it becomes for
08:22Russia to actually utilize its Black Sea fleet in any meaningful way. In the early days of the war,
08:28for example, the Kremlin's forces relied heavily on frigates and missile cruisers stationed in the Black
08:33Sea to fire missiles at Ukrainian towns and cities. These days, they're much more reluctant to use these
08:39warships, as they know that Ukraine's UAVs will quickly pinpoint their locations and send swarms
08:45to take them out. And if those ships are too far from port, there's a very real chance that they
08:50could
08:50sink, taking their hundreds of crew members and all of their expensive missiles and military
08:55technologies to the bottom of the sea along with them. So instead, many of Russia's best vessels,
09:01like the Admiral Essen, simply sit around in ports, contributing almost nothing to the overall war
09:07effort and becoming easy targets for their opponents. And Ukraine has every intention of
09:11continuing to find and strike these targets until every last one of them is wiped out,
09:17with Magyar himself quite clearly stating,
09:20You are doomed to sink one day, you rust bucket, you can't hide.
09:24Quick side note, you are watching The Military Show. If you haven't subscribed yet, now's the time.
09:30This isn't the first time that Ukraine has attacked the Admiral Essen. It's not the second time,
09:35either. It's actually the fourth reported strike on this particular vessel. The first came way back
09:41in 2022, during the opening stages of the war. Around the same time, Ukraine managed to sink the
09:47Moskva. Officials also reported that the Admiral Essen had suffered significant damage and had been
09:52removed from combat operation following a Neptune cruise missile strike. It's believed that the frigate
09:58was subsequently withdrawn from the conflict zone in order to undergo repairs. Ukraine's drone crews
10:03continued to scour the area for any sign of the warship as the months and years went by,
10:08ready and waiting to put it back out of action all over again. In March 2026, they got their chance.
10:15On the night of March 2nd, to be exact, the Admiral Essen once more suffered severe damage
10:20in another flawlessly executed strike on the port of Novolosysk. Ukraine reportedly targeted the ship's
10:26superstructure, resulting in a massive fire that burned for around 18 hours,
10:30and damaged several of the critical systems needed for combat operations. The ship's grenade launchers,
10:36for example, which are used for firing heat flares and radio signal diffusers,
10:40exploded in the attack. Its TK-25EW complex, designed to detect radar radiation and generate interference,
10:48was also damaged, massively degrading the frigate's ability to defend itself.
10:52Several of the Essen's radar systems were also said to have either been damaged or destroyed in the
10:57attack, including those used for detecting Ukrainian targets and guiding the ship's caliber missiles.
11:02In short, the attack eradicated the frigate's ability to launch missiles at Ukraine,
11:08nullifying the offensive capacities of one of Russia's most prized naval possessions. A $500
11:14million warship was suddenly worthless. And the Ukrainian unmanned systems forces didn't want to
11:20simply sit back and give their enemy the time and freedom it needed to carry out the necessary repairs.
11:25Just a month after the March attack on April 6th, they struck again.
11:30Novotisysk yet again felt the fury of Ukrainian drones, with open-source intelligence experts revealing
11:36that the Admiral Essen had not made it through the night unharmed. Satellite imagery of the site
11:42indicated that the frigate suffered fresh hits to its bow section right beside the A-190 100mm naval gun.
11:49That area is also where the ship's anchor handling systems and auxiliary components are stored,
11:53with its submarine-detecting sonar system just below. That sonar system is said to be incredibly fragile,
12:00and even minor damage can stop it from functioning correctly. So if it was affected in the attack,
12:05experts estimated that Russia would have to spend a significant amount of time and money bringing it
12:10back online. Some also argued that the strike had likely degraded the ship's mobility, rendering it
12:16unable to leave port, that in turn would make it even easier for Ukraine to strike again, which is exactly
12:22what happened in May, while also further reducing the Essen's ability to voyage out into the Black Sea
12:27and launch any sort of attack against Ukraine. March, April, and now May. Three months, three attacks
12:35against one of Russia's most valuable warships. That's a stunning success story for Ukraine, but an abject
12:41humiliation for the Russian Navy. One strike could have been excused, but as soon as that initial
12:47attack occurred in March, any competent military force should have taken comprehensive precautionary
12:52measures to prevent it from happening again. Russia should, for example, have allocated additional
12:57anti-drone measures and air defense systems to Novorossysk, or set up better radar coverage so it
13:03could see the drones coming and respond to them more proactively. It could at least have deployed some
13:08mobile ground teams to scan the skies and attempt to shoot down the Ukrainian UAVs as they approached.
13:13It doesn't appear, however, to have made any major improvements to the area's defenses.
13:18Instead, it simply allowed Ukraine to fly in unopposed and strike with impunity,
13:23dealing one devastating blow after another, leaving the Kremlin with fewer assets to play with
13:27and increasingly expensive repair bills to deal with. To make matters worse for Russia,
13:32the Admiral Essen and Project 1239 Corvette weren't the only assets damaged on the night of May 23rd.
13:40Magyar also reported an impressively long list of additional targets that its drone operators
13:45managed to strike, including an OSA surface-to-air missile system in Donetsk, valued at around $10
13:50million, plus a rear base and logistics hub used by Russia's 6th Air and Air Defense Forces Army
13:56in the settlement of Ravenki, situated in the Luhansk region. A drone command post in the Kherson region
14:03was also struck, as well as some fuel tankers and armored vehicles in the Zaporizhia region.
14:07Back in Novorossiysk, two oil terminals, the Sheskaris and Groshova terminals, to be precise,
14:13were also hit. The latter is reportedly the biggest petroleum storage site in the entire Caucasus region,
14:20capable of storing up to 1.2 million tons of fuel in total. A wide range of assets in a
14:26wide range
14:26of locations, all successfully targeted and either damaged or destroyed in the span of a single
14:32night. That is a remarkable testament to how well Ukraine has managed to master the art of drone
14:38warfare. While Russia continues to launch its massive swarms at Ukrainian towns and cities,
14:44simply hoping to deal as much damage as it can, without any clear intention or overarching objective
14:49underpinning its tactics, Ukraine is following a much more measured and methodical approach.
14:53It is picking and choosing its targets with care, gathering intelligence to find the assets that
14:59matter most to Russia. The infrastructure that powers its oil industry, for example,
15:03and the expensive military hardware that helps it carry out its long-range attacks against Ukrainian
15:07cities and civilians. Its agents are tracking these targets, pinpointing their locations,
15:13and choosing the perfect moments to take them out. And it is working. With every passing week,
15:18more reports are emerging of successful Ukrainian strikes not just along the front lines or 10 to 15
15:24miles behind them, but deep into the occupied regions and Russian territory. Drones are voyaging
15:29far behind enemy lines, finding the things that matter most to the Kremlin and eliminating them,
15:35causing billions of dollars in damage and slowly but surely reducing Russia's ability to wage this war
15:41by making it a much more expensive and unsustainable affair. They are also bringing the war home to the
15:47Russian people, not by targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure, but by lighting up the skies of
15:52Russia's regions with fires and explosions as warships and oil refineries are repeatedly attacked.
15:58This in turn helps to shatter the myth that the Kremlin's war machine is some sort of all-powerful force,
16:04while also undermining Putin's proclamations about Russia being on the brink of victory.
16:09As a result of Ukraine's repeated and increasingly effective attacks, even hardline Russian nationalists
16:15and the so-called Z-bloggers have begun criticizing Putin's decisions and calling out what they see
16:21as an almost embarrassing level of incompetence among the country's military leadership.
16:25The general public, meanwhile, is increasingly of the opinion that the war needs to be brought to an
16:30end as soon as possible, with polls showing that the president's popularity is declining by the day.
16:36Stories like this also demonstrate how bad Russia's air defense situation has become,
16:41because it's not as though Ukraine is only managing to hit the odd target here and there
16:45every other week. Instead, it's managing to strike multiple assets in multiple regions
16:50all at the same time. Logically, that shouldn't be possible. Russia has poured billions into this war.
16:57It should have the necessary defenses to stop some of these attacks, but it's clearly unable to do so,
17:02as Ukraine has also been laser-focused on eliminating as many anti-air batteries,
17:07radars, and missile systems as it possibly can, opening up the pathways for drones and missiles
17:13to fly through unopposed and leaving targets like the Admiral Essen entirely exposed.
17:18You can learn more about how Ukraine has turned the tide of war and pushed Russia to the brink of
17:24collapse in this video. Alternatively, check out this video to see how Ukrainian hackers discovered a
17:29stunning strategy to trick Russian troops into giving up their exact locations, making it easier
17:35than ever for drone and artillery teams to eradicate them. Make sure to subscribe to the military show
17:40for more breaking Russia-Ukraine war news, insights and analysis. And thank you, as always, for watching.
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