Ukraine’s patience just paid off. Eight years after the 2018 Kerch Strait incident, Ukraine says it destroyed the Russian FSB patrol ship Izumrud in a dramatic maritime drone strike. In this video, we examine the operation, the new Sargan-3000 sea drone, and how Ukraine’s evolving naval strategy is reshaping the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. What does this strike mean for Crimea, Russia’s fleet, and the future of naval warfare? Watch now for the full analysis.
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Russia Attacks Ukraine in 2018 Kerch Strait
02:57 - Ukraine Destroys Russian FSB Ship Izumrud
04:37 - Sargan-3000 Ukrainian Sea Drone Explained
07:17 - Russian Rubin-Class Patrol Ship Izumrud Destroyed
10:06 - Ukraine Destroys 116 Russian Ships in Azov
15:46 - Can Ukraine Isolate Russian Forces in Crimea?
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SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/CcM8LvJ4
⏱️ CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Russia Attacks Ukraine in 2018 Kerch Strait
02:57 - Ukraine Destroys Russian FSB Ship Izumrud
04:37 - Sargan-3000 Ukrainian Sea Drone Explained
07:17 - Russian Rubin-Class Patrol Ship Izumrud Destroyed
10:06 - Ukraine Destroys 116 Russian Ships in Azov
15:46 - Can Ukraine Isolate Russian Forces in Crimea?
Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join
#militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis
#themilitaryshow
SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/CcM8LvJ4
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NewsTranscript
00:00For eight years, Ukraine has waited, biding its time, hunting and chasing something that Russia
00:07once used to hurt Ukraine. The wait was necessary. Ukraine didn't have what it needed to take out
00:14its target, but now the wait is finally over. Ukraine just made Russia pay in spades for an
00:21incident that took place in 2018. The retaliation was merciless. The target was destroyed in the
00:28seas that Russia believed it controlled. If revenge is a dish best served cold, Ukraine just delivered
00:35a sub-zero dose of destruction that has left Russia reeling. We begin our story in 2018.
00:42Having begun its campaign of aggression against Ukraine four years before,
00:47illegally annexing Crimea in the process, Russia was riding high. It had complete control. The Black
00:54Sea, the Sea of Azov, and the Kerch Strait that connects the two were all Putin's to manipulate.
01:00And in November 2018, Russia started throwing its weight around. The Black Sea Fleet closed off the
01:06Kerch Strait for non-military ships to punish Ukraine for what it claimed to be trespassing
01:11into Russian territorial waters. A lie, of course. Crimea doesn't belong to Russia,
01:16and neither do the waters that surround the peninsula. Among the ships in Russia's naval blockade
01:22was an FSB patrol vessel named Izimrut. That vessel, along with several others, took part in an
01:28escalation of the Kerch Strait blockade in 2018. It played its part in the seizure of three Ukrainian
01:35naval vessels in the Kerch Strait, which was an operation that involved Russia's ships ramming
01:39into Ukraine's vessels before opening fire on them as they attempted to transit from Odessa to
01:45Mariupol. The incident was a severe showcase of the aggression that Putin would later escalate
01:50into a full-blown invasion less than four years later. Six of Ukraine's soldiers were wounded
01:56in the attack, and Russia's forces captured the crews of the Ukrainian ships. Moscow was trying to
02:02send a message. All of the sailors were thrown into prisons, where they languished for almost a year,
02:08before finally being sent back to Ukraine as part of a prisoner exchange in September 2019.
02:14At the time, Ukraine could do nothing about Russia's actions. It has no real navy to speak of,
02:21and the drones that have become a hallmark of Ukraine's defense of its territory against Russia
02:26were barely a twinkle in the collective eye of the Ukrainian military. So Ukraine just had to take
02:32the insult, absorb the blow. But Ukraine never forgot, and it would not forgive. For eight years,
02:38Ukraine waited for an opportunity to take revenge for the capture and wounding of its sailors in 2018.
02:44Even as Putin launched his invasion, and war broke out all over Ukraine,
02:49eyes were on the Izumrud. All Ukraine needed was the right weapon and an opportunity.
02:54Fast forward to July 14, 2026, and the naval forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine posted a
03:01simple message to Telegram. The Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed the border guard ship of
03:06the FSB of the Russian Federation Izumrud, the Ukrainian navy declared, while noting the ship's
03:12involvement in the Kerch Strait incident eight years before. And if anybody doubted that Ukraine
03:17knew exactly what it was targeting when it took out the ship, the navy eliminated those doubts by
03:22making it clear that revenge was a factor. Retribution is inevitable, more to come, came the
03:29chilling message from Ukraine's navy. It had taken close to a decade of patient hunting and weapons
03:35development. But Ukraine finally took out its target. And it wasn't just the vessel itself that
03:41Ukraine destroyed. Russian sailors are dead or wounded as a result of the attack on the Izumrud,
03:47Ukraine says. And the attack took place during a night when Ukraine's drones took out 11 other
03:52vessels in the Sea of Azov. So what we're seeing here isn't Ukraine pouring everything that it has
03:58into taking out a single warship. Ukraine now dominates the waters that Russia used to oppress
04:03Ukraine eight years ago. The Izumrud isn't the big bad bully it once was to Ukraine. It's just
04:09another ship, among many, that has had an unfortunate meeting with a powerful drone and far too much
04:14water. Lost in the crown. Lost to Russia. The perfect fate for a ship that once symbolized Russia's
04:22dominance over Ukraine. Ukraine has its revenge after eight years, but questions still remain.
04:27How did Ukraine pull it off? And what practical impact does the attack have on the Ukraine war?
04:33We'll start with the former. Ukraine's navy revealed that the weapon that struck the Izumrud
04:38wasn't a standard aerial drone. Ukraine had something much more devastating in mind.
04:43A new maritime drone named the Sargan 3000 was key to the strike. Described by Ukraine's navy as a
04:50maritime uncrewed complex, the Sargan 3000 is something of a mystery when it comes to Ukraine's sea
04:56drones. We know that it was one of the newer additions to Ukraine's growing fleet of uncrewed
05:01vessels, but it seems to be in the shadows of the far more famous maritime drones such as the Magura
05:05V-5
05:06and the Seabate. Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has spoken about the Sargan 3000 before,
05:12calling it a multi-purpose platform that is both maneuverable and versatile enough to complete all
05:17sorts of missions, including strike operations. But beyond that, we don't know much, at least when it
05:23comes to specifications. The Sargan 3000 only entered formal service in the Ukrainian navy in
05:292026, but beyond that, information about the Sargan 3000's speed and payload is classified.
05:35However, we do know a little about how damaging this maritime drone can be, and not just from the
05:41sinking of the Izumrud. Back in April, Euromiden Press reported on what appeared to be the first
05:47deployment of the Sargan 3000 into the Black Sea. Again, Ukraine didn't publicly disclose anything.
05:53However, a Ukrainian military blogger named Serhii Misura said that drones seen in a video montage
05:59published by Ukraine's navy during this time appeared to be the new drone, which Misura claimed
06:04can be armed with both guns and missiles. The former may not have been enough to take down the
06:09Izumrud, but the latter, that's a very different story. Other indications of how effective the Sargan 3000
06:15can be came from a hint that the Ukrainian navy spokesperson, Dmitry Pletinchuk, dropped when
06:20Ukraine took part in the Repmus military exercises that took place off the coast of Portugal in 2025.
06:27Pletinchuk indicated that Ukraine's new maritime drone had taken part in that exercise,
06:32and that was notable because it was the Repmus exercise that saw Ukraine's drones sink a NATO frigate
06:38during a war game scenario that showcased just how effective Ukraine's non-traditional navy can be.
06:44The NATO frigate was targeted and struck before it ever saw the drones coming.
06:48Reports from the Times said that Ukrainian Magura V-7s took the frigate down.
06:52But the question has to be asked, was the Sargan 3000 involved in that strike?
06:57Ukraine didn't say anything more. It has kept a veil of secrecy over the maritime drone for months.
07:03The mystery still exists, but whatever the Sargan 3000's technical specifications may be,
07:08the Izumrud just learned one thing for sure. Ukraine's new maritime drone can sink a Russian warship.
07:15As for the Izumrud itself, there is what we know about the ship and what we know of what has
07:20become of it.
07:21Launched in 2014, the Izumrud was one of the more modern members of the Black Sea Fleet that Russia
07:26thought would be key to its victory during the war. It was certainly a player in terms of Russia
07:31maintaining control over the waters that surround Crimea before the invasion, as we saw from the
07:362018 incident. It isn't a massive ship measuring 62.5 meters long. The Izumrud can displace up to 750
07:44metric tons of water and it can reach a maximum speed of 27 knots. It also hosts a helicopter pad,
07:50suggesting that Russia can use the ship to launch reconnaissance missions and aerial strikes against
07:55targets. The ship itself isn't necessarily a major combat asset. It functions well as a patrol boat,
08:01and it was certainly large enough to ram Ukrainian vessels back in 2018. Though that's more due to
08:06Ukraine not having much of a navy of its own than due to the scale of the threat posed by
08:11the Izumrud.
08:12Defense blog also points out that the Izumrud is part of the Rubin class of patrol vessels,
08:17which Ukraine has proven to be vulnerable during the war. In December 2025, Ukraine took out the
08:22Razul Gamzatov, which is a Rubin-class ship like the Izumrud in the Caspian Sea. And in February 2026,
08:28another pair of Rubin-class vessels were damaged in an attack off the coast of Inkaman in Crimea.
08:33Maybe we can call these strikes practice runs. The ice-cold main course of revenge was going to be
08:39delivered later. As for what became of the Izumrud, well, we really should have been talking about the
08:45ship in the past tense during our analysis of its capabilities. It's wrong to say that the
08:49Izumrud is a Rubin-class ship. It was a Rubin-class ship. Satellite photos have already emerged from
08:56the site of Ukraine's Sargan 3000 strike, and they don't paint a pretty picture of what happened to
09:01the Izumrud. Those photos reveal that Ukraine struck the ship while it was moored at a pier,
09:07and they confirm complete destruction. The vessel has been practically split in half across its entire
09:12birth, and it's only staying afloat by virtue of where it was when Ukraine struck it. There are
09:18no two ways to look at this, though there are now two pieces of the ship. The Izumrud is done,
09:23it's not coming back, repairs are not possible, and Ukraine has its revenge.
09:29If this was an isolated strike carried out by Ukraine, that would be good enough.
09:33Retribution is sweet, morale would improve among Ukraine's forces, and Russia would have to deal
09:37with the loss of a vessel that was once a symbol of its ability to dominate Ukraine.
09:41But the reality for the Izumrud is that its sinking is just part of a campaign.
09:46A bigger picture is in play here, and it's a picture that makes the Izumrud a footnote,
09:51rather than a sole target for Ukraine. Before we explain what we mean by that,
09:55this is a reminder that you are watching the military show. If you're getting insight from
09:59the channel, hit subscribe and click the notification bell so you see more of what we have coming next.
10:05Back to the Izumrud. What we're really seeing with the sinking of this ship is a symptom of a problem
10:09that Russia has had for a very long time. Russia no longer controls the waters that surround Crimea.
10:16In the Black Sea, Russia's woes have been well reported for a long time, and they aren't getting
10:20better. The once dreaded Black Sea fleet that was supposed to control the sea that gave the fleet
10:25its name is practically no more. About a third of that fleet is destroyed or damaged, and the rest
10:30of the ships have retreated as far back as they can get. Not that this helps much. Ukraine's aerial
10:36and maritime drones now have enough range that they can strike Black Sea fleet ships at any time,
10:41and Russia knows it. We saw that in April, when Ukraine launched an attack against the Black Sea
10:46port of Novorossiysk. That's where Russia's warships retreated to get away from Ukraine,
10:51but it didn't matter. A frigate was hit in the attack, and a message was sent to Putin that he
10:56has lost the Black Sea. There is now nowhere to run for Russia's ships in the Black Sea, with only
11:01its
11:01submarines able to do anything in the waterway. That was bad enough for Russia. But now we're seeing
11:07Ukraine extend its dominance into the Sea of Azov, which is connected to the Black Sea by the Kerch
11:12Strait, where all of this began back in 2018. It's this escalation of Ukraine's naval campaign
11:18that explains why we call the sinking of the Itzemrud a footnote, albeit an interesting one based on the
11:24history of the ship. Russia's reality right now is that the Itzemrud is simply one of far too many
11:29Russian warships and Shadow Fleet vessels that are being hit by Ukraine's drones in the Sea of Azov
11:34right now. Ukraine has spent a little over a week bombarding Russian shipping in the Sea of Azov.
11:40In doing so, it's exposed the vulnerability of Russia in another waterway that Russia is supposed
11:45to dominate, both in terms of the lack of defenses the stricken ships have against Ukraine's drones
11:50and the seemingly complete disappearance of air defenses on the Crimean Peninsula
11:54that should be able to stop these strikes. The results have been spectacular. In the eight days up to
12:01July 13th, Ukraine had scored hits against 105 vessels in the Sea of Azov, most of which were
12:07Shadow Fleet fuel tankers. However, patrol boats, tugboats, ferries, and cargo ships have also been
12:13among the casualties. Ukraine isn't slowing this campaign down. The very next day, the count was
12:19up to 116 ships struck, as Ukraine escalates a campaign that is designed to isolate Crimea
12:25and show the occupiers on that peninsula that Russia has truly lost control of the waters that surround
12:31them. The Itzemrud may be a more headline-grabbing ship out of the dozens that Ukraine has taken out,
12:36but it's still just another ship that Russia has lost as part of a campaign that it seems
12:40unable to do anything about. This is a humiliation for Putin. Having positioned himself during his
12:47entire reign as the strong man who can protect Russians against anything, he has been exposed
12:52as somebody who can't even keep a grip on the one scrap of territory that Russia had managed to claim
12:56under his expansionist rule. Russia can't respond to anything that Ukraine is doing right now.
13:02The Black Sea Fleet's warships that should be putting a stop to all of this are just hiding,
13:07as their crews hope that they aren't next up on the Ukrainian docket. As a result, the only response
13:12that Russia has been able to muster is to restrict shipping traffic to keep Ukraine's strike numbers
13:17down. Russia has suspended shipping through the Donazov Canal that connects Russia's river network to the
13:23Sea of Azov and, ultimately, to the Caspian Sea. Al Jazeera, reported on July 14th,
13:28that Russia's Ministry of Agriculture now says that the country is looking into securing
13:32alternative shipping routes and may redirect cargo as Ukraine's strikes continue.
13:38What Ukraine is doing in the Sea of Azov stops fuel and supplies from heading into Crimea,
13:43and it also prevents Russia from exporting its grain and oil to other nations,
13:48which has an obvious effect on the depleted war chest that Putin uses to fund his Ukraine invasion.
13:53Oh, and don't think for a second that Ukraine has forgotten about the Black Sea just
13:57because it's focusing most of its efforts on the Sea of Azov right now. On July 15th,
14:02United24 media reported that Ukraine had turned its attention to the Black Sea,
14:06and it did so in style. As another, 20 Russian ships were hit by Ukraine's massive drone swarms.
14:13Among them were 17 oil tankers, a tugboat, and two tankers transporting liquefied natural gas.
14:20Ukraine says that this is the second stage of a maritime drone operation that started in the Sea of Azov,
14:25and is now expanding back into the Black Sea. And it's Russia's Shadow Fleet that is feeling the sting.
14:32The Itzemrud wasn't part of the Shadow Fleet. It was a warship, albeit little more than a patrol boat,
14:37but it's another victim of the clear fact that a country that doesn't have a traditional navy,
14:41now dominates Russia and its hundreds of ships. Ukraine's revenge is just another example of how
14:48cowed Russia has become in the waters it was supposed to be able to control easily.
14:53According to 1945, Russia's humiliation is growing even more as every navy on earth watches what
15:00Ukraine is doing and sees that there is now a wholesale change in naval warfare of them.
15:05It used to be that the country with more and bigger warships won naval battles. That isn't the case
15:10anymore, especially when those battles are restricted to a relatively small amount of water.
15:15Russia's responses to Ukraine's drones are getting more desperate. Those submarines that we said are
15:20the only things that can operate in the Black Sea right now aren't immune to Ukraine's attacks.
15:24They have to stay submerged for as long as possible, and when they dock, Russia is covering their conning
15:30towers with lattice cages to prevent them from being targeted by aerial drones. Those towers won't do much
15:35about maritime drones, however, and Ukraine just proved that its Sargan 3000 is powerful enough
15:41to split an entire ship in two. Russia is scared. It should be. Ukraine isn't going to rest on its
15:47laurels now that it's finally completed an eight-year odyssey to take revenge on a Russian ship that once
15:53humiliated its navy. The tables have been turned, and that dose of cold retaliation is just one of many
16:00that are being shoved down the collective Russian throat. And all of the while, Russia's Black Sea and
16:05Sea of Azov woes mount, as does the pressure that all of this places on Crimea. You didn't forget about
16:11Crimea, did you? Ultimately, most of what Ukraine is doing in the water right now is the extension of
16:17an isolation campaign that is already depriving Crimean occupiers of fuel and making life hell on
16:23a peninsula that Russia has long sold as the luxury destination for its people. It's anything but now.
16:30It's not just the fuel that is burning due to Ukraine's strikes anymore. The fear is taking
16:34hold. Crimean occupiers can see ship after ship right off the peninsula's coast getting hit by drones.
16:40That is as tangible a sign that Putin has failed in his defense of Crimea as anything we've seen so
16:45far.
16:46And when warships like the Itzemrud are also being taken out in Crimean waters,
16:50that tells occupiers even more about Putin's failures. The waters around Crimea have been lost.
16:57And though revenge on the Itzemrud is sweet, Ukraine is gunning for the ultimate sugar rush,
17:02the sight of occupiers abandoning Crimea in droves that will result from everything that Ukraine is
17:07doing right now. Some Crimean occupiers are already on the run, thousands of them in fact. Pressure has
17:14turned into panic and the Kerch bridge that connects Crimea to the Russian mainland is being overwhelmed
17:19by the occupiers who want to get out before it's too late. This is what Ukraine really wants,
17:24and you can find out more about what's been happening on that bridge by checking out our video.
17:28And if you enjoyed this video, we have plenty more waiting and daily videos coming up.
17:32See it all by subscribing to The Military Show as we chart Putin's course
17:36through his Crimean disaster. And thank you, as always, for watching.
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