Ukrainian soldiers reveal the campaign to sink a Russian missile ship

On the night of February 1, the General Directorate of Military Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR) deployed a suicide boat to attack the small missile ship Ivanovets of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, causing the ship worth 2-60 million USD to sink. Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, leader of the GUR, said at that time that six Ukrainian unmanned boats "attacked the ship's hull, causing the warship to tilt backwards and sink."

Associated CNN February 5 quoted a Ukrainian soldier nicknamed "2", one of the participants in the campaign, revealing that they actually deployed a total of 13 suicide boats to attack Ivanovets, of which 10 were hit. hit the target. This soldier said he was a member of a special unit under the GUR, which had repeatedly used unmanned equipment to attack targets in the Black Sea as well as Russian territory before.

“The weapon we used in the attack on the Ivanovets was the MAGURA suicide boat,” “13” said.

The MAGURA V5 suicide boat was manufactured by a Ukrainian state-owned enterprise at a price of about 273.000 USD per boat, has a cruise speed of 40 km/h and a maximum speed of nearly 80 km/h, using the same engine as other models. civilian water motorbike. Its operating range of more than 800 km allows Ukrainian forces to deploy it to attack the Crimean peninsula from a very long distance.

The moment a Ukrainian suicide boat attacked a Russian missile ship

MAGURA V5 was used by Kiev to sink two Moscow landing ships in Chornomorske port, western Crimea peninsula, in November 11.

“13” said that suicide boat models such as the MAGURA V5 have demonstrated “incredible” combat effectiveness, but emphasized that controlling them is not an easy task.

“The most important thing is that you must feel the boat,” the soldier shared. “If you move a little bit, you will lose control of it. You need to be very delicate and meticulous like a jeweler."

MAGURA V5 can be programmed to automatically move close to the target for most of the distance, but the operator often has to manually steer the boat in the final phase to be able to accurately engage the opponent.

The device is controlled via SpaceX's Starlink satellite signal connection. Russia has recently tried many ways to cut off Ukraine's Starlink signal but has not been successful so far because the system has a very complex structure.

“13” said MAGURA V5 has a payload of 250 kg and can be raised to 300 kg, but believes that this is “unnecessary”, because it has proven effective when used to confront warships. The most solid force in the Black Sea Fleet, despite only carrying 1/4 ton of explosives.

A strong point of MAGURA V5 is its small size with a length of nearly 6 m and a floating part about 0,5 m high, so this vehicle is difficult to target when moving.

“Its small size makes it not easy to detect or hit, especially in open waters. However, this also makes controlling it relatively difficult in rough sea conditions," "13" said.

According to soldier "13", Russian warships are often not equipped with specialized weapons to deal with unmanned boats, so they must use close-range artillery, although this weapon is more suitable for targeting warships.

During the raid on the night of February 1, the AK-2M close-in defense complex on board the Ivanovets repeatedly opened fire toward a MAGURA V630, but could not hit it because it continuously moved in a zig-zag pattern to attack. Avoiding bullets, before crashing into the back of the battleship.

Another boat then crashed into the port side of the Ivanovets, where there was a hole caused by the previous attack, causing the ship to gradually tilt aft and then sink with its nose up.

“13” said MAGURA V5 possesses very high maneuverability, and demonstrated the ability to make sharp turns even while in autopilot mode. “There is no warship as maneuverable as these boats,” this soldier commented.

Pham Giang (Follow CNN)