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Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said it carried out an attack on a Russian Navy submarine at the Novorossiysk port on the Black Sea using an unmanned underwater drone, marking another strike against Russia’s naval capabilities.
In a statement, the SBU said a Varshavyanka-class (Project 636.3) submarine was targeted with a previously undisclosed underwater drone named “Sub Sea Baby.”
The agency said the vessel suffered critical damage and was rendered effectively out of service.
The SBU said the submarine was equipped with four Kalibr cruise missile launchers, which Russia has used in attacks against Ukrainian territory.
According to the statement, a Varshavyanka-class submarine costs about $400 million, while building a similar vessel under current international sanctions could raise the cost to around $500 million.
The SBU noted that Varshavyanka-class submarines are also known as “Black Hole” submarines due to their sound-absorbing hulls, which significantly reduce detection by sonar systems.
Footage released by the SBU showed multiple Russian warships docked at Novorossiysk port.
An explosion was visible near a submarine moored at the pier, with large water plumes rising at the moment of impact.
The SBU did not disclose the exact date or time of the operation.
The SBU said the strike was conducted as a joint operation with the Ukrainian Navy, involving the SBU’s Military Counterintelligence 13th Main Directorate.
“This operation was jointly carried out by the SBU Military Counterintelligence and the Ukrainian Naval Forces,” the agency said.
No technical details were shared about the Sub Sea Baby drone.
The naming suggests it is an underwater version of Ukraine’s previously deployed Sea Baby unmanned surface vehicles.
Ukraine first unveiled Sea Baby naval drones in 2022, and they have since played a central role in Kyiv’s operations against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet despite Ukraine’s limited conventional naval capacity.
The SBU said Sea Baby drones were used on Dec. 10 to strike a Russian oil tanker linked to Moscow’s so-called “shadow fleet” and on Nov. 29 to hit two sanctioned tankers, Kairo and Virat, in the Black Sea.
Ukraine’s sustained drone campaign has forced Russia to move parts of its Black Sea Fleet from occupied Crimea to Novorossiysk port, according to Ukrainian officials.
In July 2023, Ukraine also used Sea Baby drones to target support columns of the Kerch Bridge, which connects Crimea to mainland Russia.
The bridge, opened in 2018, holds symbolic importance for the Kremlin.
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