The Telegraph: Putinʼs super-yacht being moved from Europe to the Arctic due to the threat of Ukrainian drones

The super-yacht “Graceful” (“Kosatka”), which is linked to Putin, has left European waters and is heading to the Russian port of Murmansk in the Arctic due to the threat of attack by Ukrainian drones.

This is reported by the British publication The Telegraph, citing satellite images and maritime intelligence data.

The 82-meter yacht, worth almost £100 million, is sailing along the coast of Norway, accompanied by two ships of the Russian Navy — the destroyer “Severomorsk” and the patrol and rescue vessel “Voevoda”.

The convoy is also being monitored by NATO forces along its route, and as the yacht passed through the Baltic Sea, it was escorted by German and Danish warships.

Special nets to protect against drones were noticed on the deck of the yacht.

John Foreman, who was Britainʼs military attaché in Moscow until 2022, explained the yachtʼs movement by the Kremlinʼs fears amid Ukrainian strikes on the naval base in the port of Kronstadt in June.

"They donʼt want to take any chances. Theyʼre taking the yacht away from the Ukrainians after theyʼve defeated Kronstadt," Forman says.

Satellite images from the Telegraph show that the Kronstadt base was noticeably empty after the strikes. There were at least nine more ships there in June 2025 than in the new images.

A similar attack occurred last November, when Ukrainian drones struck Russian Cheetah-class frigates Tatarstan and Dagestan, as well as several small missile ships in the Caspian Sea, almost 1 600 kilometers from Ukraine.

After these strikes, The Telegraph notes, the Kremlin concluded that the Russian air defense system no longer guaranteed protection even in remote areas, so it began moving particularly valuable assets from the Baltic Sea closer to Russian territory.

What is known about the yacht?

The “Graceful” yacht last appeared on radar screens before Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 17 days before the start of the war, it was transferred from the “Blohm & Voss” shipyard in Hamburg (Germany), to Kaliningrad (Russia).

After the introduction of US sanctions, the ship was renamed “Kosatka”. Since then, it has not appeared in open tracking systems for almost four years.

However, last week, the automatic vessel identification system recorded the yacht’s movement through the Denmark Strait. After entering the North Sea, the signal was turned off again.

On board the super-yacht there are swimming pools with sea and fresh water, a helipad, a gym and secure government communication systems.

According to the US government, Putin has used this yacht on several occasions, including in 2021 while traveling on the Black Sea with the self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.

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