Ukraine’s Defense Forces Strike Russian Naval Drone Base in Crimea

On the night of December 24, Ukraine’s Defense Forces struck a Russian storage and maintenance site for unmanned vessels in the Myrne area of the temporarily occupied Crimean Peninsula.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported the attack.

It is not specified what exactly caused the damage, but the strike used a domestic missile to hit a storage site for the Dnipro River Flotilla’s floating fleet, the model of which was not disclosed.

The Russians are actively developing their unmanned surface forces and have already used them against Ukraine’s Defense Forces.

In 2023, they attacked a bridge in the Gulf of Odessa region, and this year they struck the Navy reconnaissance ship Simferopol.

“The destruction of this facility is considered part of efforts to counter Russian naval drones, which the Russian Federation uses for reconnaissance, sabotage, and attempted strikes in the Black Sea,” the General Staff said.

They emphasized that storage, training, and technical maintenance areas for unmanned systems are a critical link in their operational use.
They added that destroying these sites would complicate the enemy’s further deployment of naval drones.

Other strikes on the same night targeted key elements of Russia’s military-economic potential.

In the city of Yefremov, the Yefremov Synthetic Rubber Plant, which produces components for plastic explosives and solid rocket fuel, was hit. Explosions and a large-scale fire were reported; the extent of the damage is being assessed.

A regimental-level material and technical equipment warehouse in Dovzhansk, in the temporarily occupied Luhansk region, was also struck.
Additional attacks targeted individual air defense positions and concentrations of enemy personnel in Ukrainian territory.

Joint operations by the Defense Forces to destroy Russian military and industrial facilities, including those related to naval drones, continue.

A recent article in Militarnyi examined the evolution of Russian naval drones in more detail.