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Video: Ukraine Hits 11 Russian Merchant Vessels and a Border Patrol Ship

USF
Courtesy USF

Published Jul 14, 2026 3:06 PM by The Maritime Executive

Overnight Monday, Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces hit another 11 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov, extending their multi-front campaign to disrupt logistics to Russian-occupied Crimea. 

The drone force hit five tankers, five cargo ships and one tug in the Sea of Azov. As in earlier waves of strikes, most of the vessels appeared to be at anchor, undefended and unable to maneuver.

The attacks bring the total number of Russian vessels damaged by Ukrainian drones since July 5 to 116 vessels, an average of about 13 per day. 

"The goal of the operation is to systematically disrupt the enemy’s logistics chain. Disabling tankers, cargo ships, and auxiliary vessels complicates the export of oil and petroleum products, limits maritime transport capabilities, and reduces the enemy’s ability to supply fuel to its forces and occupation grouping in temporarily occupied Crimea," the USF said in a statement. 

Separately, Ukraine's Navy said that it used a Sargan-3000 drone boat to hit and sink the border patrol vessel Izumrud near the port of Novorossiysk, on the south side of Kerch Strait. Some number of crewmembers were killed and injured in the attack, the service said. 

The Izumrud was a 200-foot patrol vessel of about 750 tonnes displacement, and was known for its role in the seizure of three Ukrainian military tugs during the Kerch Strait standoff of 2018. 

In that incident, several Russian border patrol vessels opened fire on Ukrainian Navy tugs that had defied an extralegal Russian closure order for the international waterway. The tugs departed Odesa, transited through the Kerch Strait - despite Russian demands to stop - and attempted to reach Mariupol on the Ukrainian shore of the Sea of Azov. Russian forces (including Izumrud) rammed and seized the tugs, arrested the crewmembers, and brought them to shore for trial in occupied Crimea. They were held captive until 2019, when they were released in a prisoner exchange.