The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine has disabled the Russian minesweeper Alexander Obukhov due to sabotage.

The agency’s press service reported on the news.

The DIU conducted a successful operation on the Baltic Fleet’s coastal minesweeper, located in the port of Baltiysk, and was supposed to go on combat duty.

The intelligence officers reported that the vessel had suffered serious damage: water got into the engine through a hole in the gas duct, causing it to “drown.”

Due to the damage, the Russian minesweeper is undergoing a lengthy overhaul, during which the power plant will be restored.

The intel agency noted that this could be a serious problem: the damaged M-503 engine is currently a scarce unit. Repairing a key installation on a ship is technically complex and expensive.

This will be the second time the ship has been out of service this year after it returned in July from repairs carried out at shipyards in St. Petersburg.

Project 12700 minesweepers

Alexander Obukhov is the base minesweeper and lead ship of the Alexandrit project series. It was launched in 2014 and commissioned in 2016.

The vessel is designed to search for and destroy sea mines in the waters of naval bases at a safe distance for the ship and to install its own minefields.

The design features a monolithic fiberglass hull that does not trigger magnetic mine detonators.

To protect against a possible attack, the Project 12700 ships are equipped with an AK-306 30mm six-barrel artillery system in the bow in front of the superstructure and two aft pedestal mounts with KPV 14.5mm machine guns. In addition, they carry UDM, UDM-2, MTPK-1, or MRPK-1 mine and torpedo systems.

Alexander Obukhov is the second ship of the Russian Baltic Fleet that was neutralized in the last six months. In April 2024, the “Serpukhov” corvette was disabled as a result of the DIU’s “Rybalka” Operation.