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Ukraine Damages Russian Frigate in Drydock on Kronstadt

Boikyi
Courtesy USF

Published Jun 3, 2026 5:00 PM by The Maritime Executive

Ukraine's strike on St. Petersburg on Wednesday morning damaged a tank farm in the main harbor, a dramatic demonstration of its drone forces' reach and an inconvenience for the city's marquee economic conference. In addition to the attention-grabbing attack near the city's center, Ukrainian drones also targeted a dockyard on the island of Kronstadt, the historical cradle of the Russian Navy, and damaged a Russian frigate undergoing repairs.

Ukraine Unmanned Systems Forces commander Robert "Magyar" Brovdi shared a video of the multi-drone strike on Wednesday. According to Brovdi, USF drones hit the corvette Boikyi, a well-known fixture of the Baltic Fleet's North Sea and English Channel escort system for the Russian "shadow fleet" and the "Syrian Express." 

"[Boikyi] has a fascinating history of journeys and adventures along NATO's borders. It accompanied the shadow oil fleet – a real workhorse," Magyar said. 

The corvette was hit during a yard period, a particularly vulnerable time for a warship, defense analysts noted. In drydock, hatches are often blocked open for work and flammable materials may be present (as seen during the devastating fire aboard USS Bonhomme Richard), and response access can be hampered by cables, scaffolding and equipment on board. 

The video shows that the first drone approached off the port quarter and targeted the area of the mainmast, just aft of the wheelhouse. Footage recorded by a second inbound drone showed the Boikyi's upper deck level ablaze and burning vigorously. It is unclear from the footage if the second drone made it to its target. 

The area hit appears to align with the location of Boikyi's air and surface search radar, a phased-array radar derived from Russia's Pantsir air defense system. It is among the frigate's most important electronic systems, and replacement components are in high demand for ground-based air defense. 

2013-built Boikyi is one of nine operational Steregushchy-class frigates, mainstays of the Baltic Fleet's patrol operations. 

In announcing the strike, Magyar drew a parallel between Wednesday's attack and Soviet naval history: the Kronstadt sailor's uprising of 1921, an early (if unsuccessful) protest against Communist rule. Russian sailors on Kronstadt rebelled against their Bolshevik officers and demanded free elections and freedom of speech - for Magyar, a precedent for Ukraine's resistance to Russian rule.

"Metaphorical, perhaps. Symbolic, certainly – a slap across the face of a dictatorship," he wrote.