The Ukrainian missile strikes on Sevastopol were part of a larger operation by the SSU and the Navy, which resulted in five Russian ships hitting mines.

This was stated by the ideologist of the use of maritime drones, Brigadier General Ivan Lukashevych ‘Hunter’ of the SSU, at the Defense Tech Innovation Forum 2025, where Militarnyi correspondents were present.

Sea Baby maritime drones developed by SSU specialists mined the sea routes to Sevastopol Bay on the eve of missile strikes, which resulted in some of the ships withdrawn from the bay hitting mines.

“Together with the Defense Forces, we developed several operations in which my team mined the Sevastopol Bay fairway and the Navy attacked Russian ships with Storm Shadow cruise missiles. You all remember how a large amphibious assault ship and a Kilo-class submarine were destroyed. After that, the rest of the Russian ships rushed to escape to Novorossiysk, but five of them did not make it, including two missile carriers and the Pavel Derzhavin, which hit mines. After that, they realized what an asymmetric response from Ukraine was, we imposed our war on them. The Russians still managed to deactivate some of our mines and withdraw the remnants of the Russian Black Sea Fleet,” Lukashevych said.

In a video presentation, the brigadier general showed previously unreleased footage of a modified Sea Baby drone carrying two bottom mines that can be deployed on the fly.

The munitions can be identified as Italian 220-kilogram MN103 Manta non-contact bottom mines by their distinctive design.

Developed in the 1970s, the mine is made in a fiberglass casing, which makes it difficult to find. It is rigged with 130 kilograms of explosives, which are triggered by an acoustic and magnetic sensor system.

The depth of the mine on the bottom can vary from 2.5 to 100 meters, which means that it threatens even submarines. At the same time, the delayed activation time can reach 63 days, meaning that ships can sail right over it for two months without any problems.

Mining of Sevastopol Bay

Last June, The Wall Street Journal, citing SSU sources, revealed details of an operation in which Sea Baby maritime drones planted more than 15 underwater mines near the Crimean waters on routes used exclusively by Russian warships.

After the first use of Sea Baby, the Russians built larger barriers at the entrance to Sevastopol Bay, making it almost impossible for them to penetrate. Therefore, the SSU specialists switched to an alternative tactic, starting to mine the approaches to the bay. According to American journalists, for a month and a half, a specialized SSU team monitored the routes of ships and civilian transport in the Black Sea near the temporarily occupied peninsula before sending Sea Baby to plant two mines.

On September 14, 2023, immediately after a series of missile strikes on the bay using Storm Shadow cruise missiles, the Russian missile ship Samum exploded on one of the mines. After that, about 15 more mines were laid in the Sea Baby over the following weeks.

During one of the flights, a Ukrainian drone detected by three Raptor-class patrol boats opened fire with a grenade launcher, hitting the enemy boat, journalists wrote, citing a conversation with Ivan Lukashevych.

And on October 11, the Russian patrol ship Pavel Derzhavin punctured its side while entering Sevastopol Bay, when it was going to the port for maintenance. On October 13, the ship was redirected to another port for repairs, but while leaving Sevastopol Bay, it again hit a mine. A large tugboat was sent to rescue it, but it also hit a mine and had to be towed back to port.

According to the WSJ, a few days later, the explosion also damaged the newest reconnaissance and hydrographic ship Vladimir Kozitsky.