Early Saturday morning near Sevastopol, Crimea (which Russia took in 2014), the Russian ministry accused the British military’s senior service of employing drones to launch a “terrorist attack against the ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian ships.”
In a statement posted to Telegram, Russia claimed without evidence that “the preparation of this terrorist act and the training of military personnel from the 73rd Marine Special Operations Centre took place under the supervision of British specialists in the Ukrainian city of Ochakov, Mykolaiv region.”
The report likely refers to the bombing of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines when it writes, “According to available information, officers of this British Navy unit engaged in the planning, preparation, and execution of a terrorist operation in the Baltic Sea on September 26.”
“nine unmanned aerial vehicles and seven autonomous marine drones” reportedly attempted to assault the Black Sea Fleet as part of an international operation to move agricultural products from Ukrainian ports.
The authors assert that shipborne weaponry and maritime aircraft “annihilated” all aerial and most marine drones. The only more “minorly damaged” boats were minesweepers and a floating net boom.
According to reports, the Russian military has used Iranian drones to strike Ukrainian infrastructure, notably the country’s electricity grid, causing substantial damage to the occupied nation’s system just as winter approaches.
Russia has accused the British navy of planning and coordinating Ukrainian drone operations, while Ukraine has accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of assisting and directing Russian drone attacks.