Ukraine has found Russia's weak link in Black Sea, – UK intelligence

Russia's military supply routes in the Black Sea are under threat from Ukrainian drones. Ukraine has managed to find a weak link.

This was reported by the UK Ministry of Defense on Twitter.

As noted in the summary, on 4 August 2023, the Russian merchant tanker (MT) Sig was attacked and disabled near the Kerch Strait, apparently by an Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV).

This happened a day after a similar attack on the Olenegorskiy Gornyak landing ship and two days after an apparently foiled attack on Russian patrol boats, when they were allegedly escorting the Russian merchant vessel (MV) Sparta IV.

According to British intelligence, although civilian-flagged, MT Sig and MV Sparta IV have long been contracted to ship fuel and military supplies between Russia and Syria. Since 28 February 2022, Russian military ships have not been able to pass through the Bosphorus, leaving Russian military forces in Syria and the Mediterranean heavily dependent upon Sig, Sparta IV, and a handful of other civilian vessels.

"The attacks show that USV operations are increasingly a major component of modern naval warfare and can be turned against the weakest links of Russia’s sea supply lanes," the British Ministry of Defense concluded.

Author – Anastasiya Glotova, 09/08/2023