Ukraine Announces First Combat Operation with Naval Drones and Receives Russian Strikes in Donetsk

The Ukrainian Navy announced on Saturday, September 12, the execution of the first combat operation of its kind in naval warfare, using unmanned drone boats. According to what was reported by the Ukrinform agency, Ukrainian forces in the Black Sea were able to destroy a Russian drone boat using a naval drone, in a precedent never recorded before in the history of combat operations relying on unmanned vessels.

The Navy did not reveal additional details about the location of the operation or its exact timing, but described it as "the first combat operation ever" combining two naval drones in direct confrontation. This development comes after months of Ukraine's intensive use of naval drones to target Russian ships, but this time it is the first in which a Russian drone boat has been destroyed by a Ukrainian drone.

In a separate development, the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region was subjected to a series of intense Russian shelling on the morning of Thursday, September 10. Local authorities said that Russian forces shelled the city four times during the morning hours, resulting in at least seven civilians being injured. No final tally of material losses has been issued so far, but initial reports indicate that a number of residential buildings and infrastructure were damaged.

Days earlier, on the evening of Sunday, September 6, a Russian strike targeted a residential area in the city of Sloviansk, injuring four people. Sloviansk is among the cities that have been subjected to repeated attacks since the beginning of the conflict, as on August 31 it witnessed shelling with heavy munitions of the "FAB-500" type targeting a residential tower in the city center, which also resulted in four people being injured. The city was also subjected on August 26 to a Russian air attack, without immediate details being reported on the extent of the damage.

These incidents indicate an escalation in the pace of Russian targeting of cities under Ukrainian control in Donetsk, at a time when Kyiv continues to develop its unconventional capabilities in the Black Sea. No immediate comment was available from the Russian side regarding these attacks or the naval operation.

Available information remains limited regarding the full details of the military operations, especially with regard to the nature of the weapons used in the shelling on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, or the precise human losses. Ukrainian sources confirm that the initial toll of injuries is liable to rise with the continuation of search and rescue operations.

This escalation comes at a time when Ukraine is seeking to enhance its defensive and offensive capabilities through unmanned means, whether in the air or at sea, in an attempt to balance Russia's traditional superiority. The recent naval operation is considered an indication of a gradual shift in the nature of naval warfare, as drones have come to play a pivotal role in direct confrontations.