March 24, 2024: The Ivan Khurs
At first, Ukraine only said the strikes on Russian warships at the end of March damaged the Yamal and the Azov. But two days later, Ukraine’s military said two more Russian navy vessels were also struck, including the Ivan Khurs, a Yury Ivanov-class intelligence ship.
Launched in 2017, the Ivan Khurs is one of Russia’s most sophisticated vessels, making it a prime target for Ukraine to further disable the Black Sea fleet. It is fitted with radar warning receivers and electronic eavesdropping gear and armed with machine guns and mobile air defense systems.
Open-source analysts posted satellite images on Telegram of apparent damage to the Russian spy ship after the Ukrainian missile strike on Sevastopol.
“As for the Ivan Khurs ship, we can confirm the damage to the reconnaissance equipment,” Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said, according to Ukrainian media outlet Militarnyi. “That is, in fact, now it is not combat-ready, it cannot perform its intended tasks.”
The Ukrainian navy targeted the Ivan Khurs less than a year prior to the March attack. In May 2023, Ukraine launched three explosive-laden sea drones toward the 4,000-ton reconnaissance vessel, which was sailing 75 miles northeast of the Bosphorus Strait.
While the drones got close to the Ivan Khurs and detonated, the ship sustained little to no damage and continued to operate in the western Black Sea, where it was protecting two key pipelines carrying gas from Russia to Turkey.
“The drone had to sail for over [310 miles] in an extremely difficult operation,” a senior Ukrainian defense official told Ukrainian news outlet Pravda. “The start of the mission had been delayed due to inclement weather. The connection dropped repeatedly. We couldn’t see anything and didn’t have control over the drones, so the enemy crew began to repel the attack.”
“The connection was eventually restored, and we followed the ship for six hours, waiting until it ran out of ammunition,” the official added.
“After about two hours,” they said, “it became clear that the ammo hadn’t run out. We caught up to the ship at half past midnight, and they kept shooting back at us till around 7 a.m. During the long pursuit, some drones ran out of fuel. Several others sustained damage. But we still managed to reach it.” [not sure how necessary this is]
