Russian Intelligence Ship ‘Ivan Khurs’ Hit in the Black Sea
Footage has been released of a spectacular attack on the Russian Navy intelligence ship Ivan Khurs by Ukrainian Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs). The footage, filmed by the USV’s onboard camera, appears to show the USV on course to strike the Russian vessel’s stern before breaking up – presumably on detonation. The release of the Ukrainian clip follows an earlier clip released by the Russian Ministry of Defense showing a USV destroyed by defensive fire, calling the Ukrainian attack unsuccessful.
At the moment the extent of the damage done to the Russian intelligence ship remains unknown. The clip of the attack has since been shared by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on its social media pages, interestingly it appears to have blurred the watermark on the video shared to telegram rather than share the original.
Ivan Khurs is a Yury Ivanov-class (Project 18280) SIGINT collection vessel, launched in 2017 and commissioned by the Russian Navy in 2018. The leading ship of its class, Yury Ivanov was commissioned by the Northern Fleet in 2015. Its main role is to relay and provide communications as well as collect signal data for further assessment. The ship itself is lightly armed due to its role but a barrage of small arms fire was fired at the attacking USVs. The vessel’s location at the time of the attack is unconfirmed but naval analyst HI Sutton estimates the Ukrainian USVs’ range is around 430 NM (800 km).
The strike on the Ivan Khurs is not the first Ukrainian attack to utilize ‘kamikaze’ style USVs. At least one strike was conducted during the ongoing Russian Invasion of Ukraine, taking place in Sevastopol harbor on anchored Russian Navy vessels.
The effectiveness of the Ukrainian strike and the extent of the damages received by the vessel remains to be established. It is unlikely that the Ivan Khurs was sunk so it’s but the condition of the ship may become clear if it is seen returning to port for repairs. This afternoon Russian telegram channels claimed that Ivan Khurs had returned to port undamaged, offering a photograph of a completely different vessel as proof.