Russian warship appears damaged after naval drone attack on Novorossiysk port

Two sea drones carried out an attack on Russia’s Novorossiysk naval base on the Black Sea Friday morning.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that it successfully repelled the attack, while Novorossiysk’s mayor said two Russian ships “reacted instantly and helped avoid the consequences” of the attack.

Video of the incident, however, appears to show one of the drones exploding and another hitting a landing ship. A source from Ukrainian intelligence told the outlet Ukrainska Pravda that the attack was a joint operation between the Ukrainian Security Service and the Ukrainian Navy.

Novorossiysk residents also filmed a Russian warship being towed to port while tilted on its side.

In his daily video address on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the SBU for “returning the war back to the aggressor state,” though stopped short of explicitly confirming that the Novorossiysk attack was a Ukrainian operation.