Russian Ships Clash with Ukrainian Drone Boats in Fatal Battle: Who Won?

Russian official news agency reported two separate assaults by Ukrainian kamikaze drone boats on Russian warships in the Black Sea within 24 hours.

According to the report by the Russian official news agency TASS, cited by Popular Mechanics, three Ukrainian drone boats attacked the Russian patrol boats Vasily Bykov and Sergey Kotov while escorting a Russian civilian vessel more than 210 kilometers southwest of the Crimean port of Sevastopol on August 1.

Before the USVs could ram the Russian ships with their explosive payload, the Russian patrol boats apparently reacted by opening fire with their conventional weapons.

On August 2, TASS reported that Ukrainian USVs had attempted another assault the previous evening but had failed due to direct fire from a military vessel in the southwest Black Sea.

The container ship Sparta IV, which was purportedly transporting military supplies from the Russian military facility in Tartus, Syria, to Russian outposts on the Black Sea, presumably for use in conflict against Ukraine, is one of the civilian ships named in the report.

In contrast to the Russian account, Ukraine provided radio conversations intercepted between Russian sailors and a Ka-29 helicopter. The audio raises the possibility that the strike on August 1 may not have been an accurate report by TASS.

The sailors' requests for medical evacuation and mentions of six casualties-one dead and five injured-can be heard in the intercepted messages. The hurt individuals were later spotted being flown to a military academy in Sevastopol by Ka-29 helicopters.

The audio's authenticity is yet to be confirmed as of the present reporting. But if the material is factual, it suggests that the Ukrainian kamikaze boats may have seriously injured or killed crew members of the Russian ship, either by hitting their target or by narrowly missing it.

200 Russian Soldiers Killed in HIMARS Strike

In a separate update, Ukraine reported to have launched a successful HIMARS strike on five Russian units gathered on a beach that killed 200 Russian soldiers, per Yahoo! News.

On the National Resistance Center's Facebook page, a drone video of the assault was posted, demonstrating the precise hit made possible by knowledge from local sources.

The Institute for Study of War stated on July 23 that the Russian military had reportedly just set up training grounds on Dzharylhach Island. Active forces from Kherson's front lines were sent to these camps to aid with recuperation.

A video of Ukraine's HIMARS attack surfaced less than a month later as a result of claims from both a Ukrainian official and a Russian military blogger. According to the accounts, a Russian unit that was supposed to stand still for two hours and wait for a commander's address had been targeted by HIMARS.

The United States has delivered Ukraine HIMARS long-range precision rocket launchers with an operational range of around 50 miles.

Baltic Countries to Exit Russia's Power Grid

The three Baltic nations, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, have decided to hasten their separation from Russia's electrical system in light of the heightened geopolitical situation and Russia's aggressive invasion of Ukraine.

By February 2025, the Baltic nations want to be connected to the continental European energy grid, increasing the region's energy security. The countries will be cut off from the Russian electricity grid as soon as the required technological capability becomes available, according to Sky News.