Russian naval ship repels Ukrainian drone attack in Bosporus Strait waters - top brass

The crew of the Russian naval ship Ivan Khurs repelled an attack by Ukrainian surface drones in the Bosporus Strait waters within Turkey’s exclusive economic zone, Defence Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on May 24.

"After the terror attack on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines on September 26, 2022, the Russian Armed Forces are carrying out measures to protect such facilities. And it is not without reason. At 5:30 today, Ukrainian armed formations made an unsuccessful attempt with three fast-speed unmanned boats to attack the Black Sea Fleet’s ship Ivan Khurs fulfilling the objectives of providing for the safe operation of the Turkish Steam and Blue Stream gas pipelines in the exclusive economic zone of the Turkish Republic," TASS reports, citing the spokesman.

"All of the enemy’s boats were destroyed by the Russian naval ship’s standard armaments 140 km northeast of the Bosporus Strait," the general said, adding that the Ivan Khurs continued accomplishing assigned missions.

The Ivan Khurs medium surveillance ship was built at the Severnaya Verf Shipyard in St. Petersburg in Russia’s northwest under Project 18280. The naval ship was named after Chief of the Reconnaissance Department of the Soviet Navy’s Main Staff Vice Admiral Ivan Khurs and became the Project’s first serial-built vessel. It entered service with the Russian Black Sea Fleet in June 2018.

Project 18280 ships are designed to provide communications, Fleet command and control, conduct electronic surveillance and electronic warfare and track missile defence systems of other countries. In April 2019, Ivan Khurs followed the US destroyer Ross that entered the Black Sea.