Strike on Russian submarine: Ukrainian Navy reveals details of operation in Novorossiysk

Ukrainian Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk said this on Ukrainian television, Ukrinform reports.

"This is already the second submarine, meaning they have set a kind of anti-record. Accordingly, there are still two such submarines left, plus one submarine that is not a cruise missile carrier. Overall, Russia once had six of them in the Black Sea," Pletenchuk said.

He recalled that Ukraine struck the first submarine, the Rostov-on-Don, back in 2024. It was the first submarine lost in combat by any country since World War II.

Pletenchuk added that the operation to strike a Russian Project 636.3 Varshavyanka-class submarine was complicated because the Novorossiysk base is well protected, and in recent times Russia has avoided keeping its ships and submarines in the Black Sea precisely because of the threat of being hit.

"So this operation has many layers, from developing the strike capability itself to planning and preventing information leaks. Carrying out such an operation is a comprehensive and quite complex task," Pletenchuk said.

He also noted that during the off-season, navigation for ships of this class is complicated. In particular, from mid-autumn to mid-spring, it is quite difficult to leave this base.

"They are forced to stay there and, in the event of any danger, change their mooring location – that is, reposition the ships or leave the base in order to avoid being hit. But here, as you can see, they did not feel any danger at all," Pletenchuk said.

In the port of Novorossiysk, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) used Sub Sea Baby underwater drones to blow up a Russian Project 636.3 Varshavyanka-class submarine (NATO classification: Kilo) for the first time in history. As a result of the explosion, the submarine sustained critical damage and was effectively put out of action.

Photo: Facebook/Pletenchuk