Ukraine Confirms Hits on Four Russian Warships at Novorossiysk
Ukraine's military has confirmed that its latest attack on Novorossiysk damaged four Russian warships, demonstrating again that the entire Black Sea is a high-risk region for the Black Sea Fleet.
Overnight August 12, Ukrainian forces used jet-powered strike drones, locally-built Neptune anti-ship missiles, and its well-known naval drones to attack the Russian Navy fleet at Novorossiysk. Bystander footage showed an intense barrage of air defense activity. Despite the attempt to fend off the strike, Ukraine's attack hit two frigates - Admiral Essen and Admiral Makarov - one Buyan-M missile ship and one Vasil Bykov-class patrol vessel. The General Staff said that it is still assessing the full extent of the damage, but independently-obtained satellite imaging suggests that it was not catastrophic: none of the targets were visibly on fire or sinking as of Wednesday.
??Vantor satellite imagery analyzed by @georgewbarros shows extensive damage across Novorossiysk after Ukraine’s overnight missile and drone attack. At the naval base, multiple vessels were damaged, including two Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates, a Krivak-class frigate and a… pic.twitter.com/88UBDZSEwt
— NOELREPORTS ???????? ???????? (@NOELreports) August 12, 2026
The Defense Forces likely hit oil and grain terminals, as well as a Black Sea Fleet base during the attack on Novorossiysk. According to OSINT analysts, the reported damages include:
— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) August 12, 2026
?? The NKHP grain terminal - multiple impacts were recorded on grain silos and transport… pic.twitter.com/bdzJmg0qzz
Admiral Essen and Admiral Makarov are both Grigorovich-class missile frigates, with eight VLS cells for Kaliber, Oniks or Zircon cruise missiles - all routinely used to strike targets in Ukraine. These warships' launch capabilities make them high priority targets, and Ukraine has claimed to have hit both vessels before - Essen on March 2 and Makarov on March 6.
The strike August 12 also hit a grain terminal and a pier at the Sheskharis oil terminal. The region's governor claims that drone debris also damaged a residential area, killing one eight-year-old child and injuring other civilians.
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Novorossiysk is a key export hub for Russia's Black Sea oil trade, including both all-Russian volumes at the Sheskharis terminal in the inner harbor and the primarily-Kazakh volumes at the CPC single-point mooring facility just off the coast. Under pressure from U.S. oil interests - heavily invested in the CPC's abundant production - Ukraine has agreed to stop attacking the SPM and its marine traffic, though Sheskharis remains on the list.
Inside the harbor, the Russian Navy has accumulated a large concentration of warships, many of which were previously stationed at Sevastopol. The threat of Ukrainian seaborne drones has forced the Black Sea Fleet to retreat to the relative safety of the Novorossiysk - but the range and persistence of Ukraine's drone forces has made even this option less attractive.
