Finland has confirmed that a Russian warship was struck in the Gulf of Finland early on Wednesday, after Ukraine’s Security Service said it had attacked the vessel with drones in a major expansion of Kyiv’s campaign against Russian naval and energy targets.
Ukraine’s SBU said it targeted the Naro-Fominsk, a Buyan-M-class small missile corvette of Russia’s Baltic Fleet, during a wider drone operation against the oil export port of Ust-Luga on Russia’s Baltic coast. The SBU described the ship as carrying Kalibr and Oniks cruise missiles. The operation took place overnight on 10-11 November, and the strike is believed to be the first time Ukrainian drones have hit a Russian ship in a part of the Baltic Sea that is open to civilian maritime traffic.
Finland’s armed forces said on Thursday that they had detected a strike on a Russian warship in the Gulf the previous day and had monitored the situation since. Brigadier General Markku Viitasaari of Finland’s defence ministry told the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat that Finnish sensors recorded flashes and smoke from the ship in international waters near the Russian-held island of Gogland, about 40 kilometres off the Finnish coast near Kotka. Officials at first thought the ship was firing at Ukrainian drones, before sensor data showed at least one explosion on board.
Estonia’s defence minister, Martin Herem, told public broadcaster ERR that the ship was hit at about 05:30 local time on Wednesday and that smoke was seen coming from it afterwards. “The ship itself went back towards St Petersburg,” he said. Herem also said the Ukrainian drone had entered Estonia’s airspace on Wednesday morning while Nato aircraft were in the air, but that it had not been safe for them to shoot it down.
The Naro-Fominsk is a Project 21631 Buyan-M-class missile corvette, among the newest vessels of its class, designed for shallow waterways and used to protect Russia’s coastline. Defence analysts described the attack as the first on an operational Russian warship at sea in the Baltic since the start of the full-scale invasion.
The strike is part of a broader Ukrainian operation against Russia’s Primorsk and Ust-Luga oil ports, and of Kyiv’s expanding campaign against Russian oil infrastructure in recent months, despite the White House demanding a halt to strikes on energy sites.
The incident has raised questions about the safety of one of Europe’s busiest shipping lanes. The Gulf of Finland is a narrow waterway used by oil tankers and commercial ships, and is home to subsea data cables. Finland’s defence officials had previously warned Ukraine about the risks of operating there. Finland’s foreign minister, Elina Valtonen, insisted the situation in the Baltic Sea remained stable and safe and that there was no threat of any kind to marine traffic. Finnish officials described the attack as a direct result of Russia’s actions in the Baltic Sea.
The extent of the damage to the Naro-Fominsk and whether Russian forces sustained any casualties remain unclear, and Moscow has not commented. The claim that the ship was hit rests on the SBU’s account and Finland’s confirmation that a strike was detected; the damage has not been independently verified.
Sources: BBC News (https://theinsightinternational.com/ukraine-strikes-russian-warship-in-gulf-of-finland-finland-confirms/) and The Telegraph (https://www.europesays.com/ukraine/70497/).
