Naval Warfare and Drones: Reconnaissance Uncovers New Facts About Black Sea Conflict

The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine has released a documentary film “Sea Battle. The Age of Drones” about the creation and development of the Magura maritime drones, as well as the details of their use by the fighters from the Group 13 unit.

Militarnyi attended the pre-premiere screening of the film to share the main details of the new documentary.

The documentary, directed by Artem Shevchenko, offers a new perspective on the reconnaissance operations thanks to previously unknown footage and stories from the direct participants, such as the ideologist of the drone war call sign Hunter and the commander of the Group 13 marine strike drone unit — call sign Thirteenth.

Hunter spoke about the first steps of the Ukrainian military in the naval war and noted that currently Ukraine is capable of achieving targets within a radius of 1000-1500 kilometers, paralyzing Russia’s potential in the Black Sea.

For Thirteenth, the film was a debut and an opportunity to publicly share the creation of their unit, their early successes, and the difficult hunt for the Russian corvette Sergey Kotov.

“The most difficult operation was Serhey Kotov. There were three operations, three times we tried to destroy it, and only on the third attempt did we succeed. It is incredibly fast, incredibly maneuverable. You’ve seen the video of how it fled between civilian ships. I consider it our cup at this moment, the coolest of them,” he said.

The film also mentions the strike on the Russian missile boat Ivanovets, the sinking of which, according to the reconnaissance officer, led to the death of the entire crew of about 40 enemy sailors.

The commander of Group 13 spoke about how the rules of war in the Black Sea had changed with the arrival of Russian aviation to intercept drones. The film showcased extended versions of footage showing the downing of enemy helicopters and two Su-30 fighter jets.

Additionally, the film highlighted the role of the Nobody unit and their operations involving maritime drones during the removal of Russian forces from offshore platforms in the Black Sea, as well as numerous landings in occupied Crimea.

For the first time, the film showcased a specialized maritime drone carrier, along with some details of its creation by the developers from the Main Intelligence Directorate.

“Our marine platform carries from 500 to 3000 kilograms of various types of weapons: air, surface, and underwater. The system uses the latest technologies, integrated with NATO-standard artificial intelligence,” said a reconnaissance officer from the special forces group involved in the use of this type of drone.

This is already the seventh film in the “Ukrainian Military Intelligence” series created by Artem Shevchenko. Militarnyi previously covered the premiere of the film “Legions of Light,” which reveals the struggle of the volunteers of the International Legion.