ISW: Ukraine launches drone strikes on Russian ships in Black Sea

The Ukrainian defense forces attacked Russian patrol ships in the Black Sea with surface drones.

The issue in question is about vessels of the occupiers of project 22160 Vasily Bykov, analysts from the Institute for the Study of War said, Caliber.Az reports with reference to ISW.

On September 14, the defenders caused unspecified damage to two Russian Vasily Bykov-class patrol ships in the southwestern Black Sea, according to a statement from Ukrainian command.

At the same time, the Russian Defence Ministry claimed that the forces of their Black Sea Fleet destroyed two Ukrainian naval drones in the area.

The Ukrainskaya Pravda wrote that sources in the Security Service of Ukraine stated that on September 14, a naval drone significantly damaged a Russian Bora-class corvette at the entrance to Sevastopol Bay, but the Russian Defence Ministry said that the Russian Black Sea Fleet forces destroyed the Ukrainian surface drone and allegedly repelled this attack.

The Institute for the Study of War adds that according to a Russian source, this corvette received no visible damage.

Key findings:

On September 14, the Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated Andreevka in the Bakhmut area, and on September 15 continued offensive operations in the Bakhmut area and in the west of the Zaporizhzhia region.

Russian State Duma deputy and former deputy commander of the Southern Military District, Lt-Gen Andrei Gurulev, complained about lies in the ranks of the Russian armed forces and emphasized the effectiveness of Ukrainian air defense against Russian helicopters.

On September 15, Russian troops carried out another series of Shahed-131/-136 drone strikes on rear areas in Ukraine.

Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Defense Andrei Kartapolov directly stated that the mobilized personnel would be demobilized only at the end of the Russian “special military operation.”

The Russian Defence Ministry continues to try to take control of the Wagner PMC's operations in North Africa and may have entrusted this task to the former commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces, Sergei Surovikin.

On September 15, Russian troops carried out offensive operations at the Kupyansk-Svatovo-Kremennaya line, in the Bakhmut area, on the Avdeevka-Donetsk line, in the west of the Zaporizhzhia region, and advanced in certain areas.

The Russian “authorities” continue efforts to strengthen land communication lines connecting the occupied part of southern Ukraine with the Ukrainian Crimea temporarily captured by Russian troops and with Russian territory.