- An unmanned kamikaze boat reportedly hit a Russian intelligence warship guiding a pipeline.
- Russia showed off a video of 1 boat destroyed by defensive fire, but a brand new video surfaced this week that sure looks like successful to the Ivan Khurs.
- Photos purportedly showing the warship intact and undamaged were met with skepticism.
The fate of a Russian Navy intelligence ship is unknown after footage emerged of a Ukrainian drone boat conducting a successful attack on it.
The Ivan Khurs, an intelligence-collection ship assigned to guard undersea oil pipelines, was shown to have destroyed one explosive-laden boat, but a second video makes a convincing case that a second attack took place—one that might have dealt a serious blow to the ship. It may very well be Ukraine’s most successful anti-ship attack for the reason that sinking of the cruiser Moskva in 2022.
A Second Video Emerges
On May 24, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov stated “Ukrainian armed formations made an unsuccessful attempt with three fast-speed unmanned boats to attack the Black Sea Fleet’s ship Ivan Khurs fulfilling the objectives of providing for the secure operation of the Turkish Steam and Blue Stream gas pipelines within the exclusive economic zone of the Turkish Republic.”
The video, shown above, shows a fast-moving unmanned boat speeding toward what’s purportedly the Ivan Khurs. A big-caliber machine gun or cannon is firing furiously on the drone. A round strikes the drone, and it erupts in an enormous explosion. The Defense Ministry stated that each one three drones had been destroyed, and that the Ivan Khurs “continued accomplishing assigned missions.”
That may not be true. A brand new video, shown above, appeared on social media on May 25, which seems to point out one other drone boat successfully evading enemy fire, and ramming a warship that could be a visual match for a Yuriy Ivanov-class intelligence ship. The form of the funnel, the antenna mast, and even the presence of two domed antennas on the ship’s stern are similar. Only two Ivanov-class ships were built—Ivanov herself, which serves with the Russian Northern Fleet, and Ivan Khurs, which is thought to serve within the Black Sea Fleet.
Fake Denial
A Russian-speaking account on Twitter (above) retorted that the video of the successful attack was fake, and the ship had just that day been filmed returning to the Russian Navy port of Sevastopol. “On the primary video,” the account states, “the [Ukrainian intelligence agency] accused our Defense Ministry of lying, showing a video of how one among the drones within the Bosphorus allegedly hit our ship Ivan Khurs.”
The account goes on: “Within the second video, [you can see] the return of the reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs of project 18280 to Sevastopol on May 24. No damage to the ship is observed.”
One other Twitter user noticed that the second video had actually been posted to social media in 2021. The video was originally described because the Ivan Khurs transiting the Bosphorus Strait, with the Turkish capital of of Istanbul within the background. The passage of Khurs through the Bosphorus on that day was also corroborated by the Twitter account @WarshipCam.
Iffy Business
If the second video of a successful attack on Ivan Khurs is real, the evenly armed intelligence ship could have sustained serious damage. The primary drone boat exploded in spectacular fashion. If a ship carrying that giant of an explosive payload hit the 4,000-ton, 314-foot-long ship, it would well have seriously damaged the ship. There’s also the query of why video of the third drone doesn’t exist.
What happened to Ivan Khurs? The Defense Ministry has not revealed any more information to refute the second drone attack video. Russia can have chosen to counter the fees with anonymous accounts posting disinformation on social media, and the account above may very well be one example of that. Still, the video of the one thwarted attack apparently got off the boat, so the Ivan Khurs was apparently not sunk … not less than straight away.
If Ivan Khurs was damaged or sunk, Russia is not going to have the ability to cover it ceaselessly. The ship had a crew of 131, which suggests greater than 100 families might be trying to find answers if their family members don’t check in. If there was a serious attack on the ship, we’ll probably discover soon.
The Takeaway
The attack on the Ivan Khurs, and the social media ping-pong game that followed, is just the most recent example of groups and even individuals repackaging the reality to suit their very own ends.
In some unspecified time in the future, we’ll know what happened to the hapless ship, but until then, it suits the needs of many—including the Russian government—to obfuscate and deny. Regardless, the reality will come eventually because it all the time does.