Ukraine has started fundraising for a fleet of naval combat drones through the UNITED24 platform.
This is reported by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
The department stated that the main task of the future unmanned fleet is to protect the waters of Ukrainian seas and cities from Russian ships that launch cruise missiles.
"Marine drones have already shown an impressive result at the front — they attacked the Russian fleet in Sevastopol and hit three Russian ships. This is the first naval attack in history that was carried out exclusively by unmanned means,” the agency added.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine also noted that President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the formation of a special naval fleet. Ukraine needs 100 maritime drones. The cost of one is 10 million hryvnias. It is planned to collect funds for 10 unmanned surface vehicles in one day.
The ministry does not specify the name of the drones, but in its video it uses footage of a drone attack on a ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet on October 29.
What kind of drones are these?
In a comment to Babel, the Ministry of Digital Transformationʼs representative said that they are contracting drones from a classified Ukrainian manufacturer. The development itself is also secret. The agency added that these naval drones can conduct long-range reconnaissance, escort and support warships, escort merchant vessels, and also adjust fire and conduct independent attacks.
At 15:35, Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced that UAH 10 million for the first marine drone had already been collected. The vessel will be called Kherson.
- On October 29, the occupiers announced that ships of the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea “repelled a drone attack” in the morning. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation accused the soldiers of the 73rd special center of naval operations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who were trained by representatives of the British Navy unit, for this. The same British representatives were accused by the Russian Ministry of Defense of organizing explosions at the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.
- The operational command South and Britain rejected the accusations, and published a video of the attack on the fleet on social networks. The same footage was distributed by some mass media with reference to sources in the special services. A number of publics and researchers have reported damage to at least three Caliber cruise missile carriers, but there is no official information on this. Although the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation confirmed only the damage to the minesweeper Ivan Golubets, in the video one can see the strike on the frigate Admiral Makarov, which is the de facto flagship of the Black Sea Fleet after the destruction of the cruiser Moscow.
- The occupiers confirmed the damage to the minesweeper Ivan Golubets.
- The volunteer group GeoConfirmed analyzed the drone attack and said that they hit at least three ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Among them is Admiral Makarov.