Ukrainian forces strike Russian frigate Admiral Essen in Novorossiysk once again

Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces launched yet another drone attack on Russian frigate Admiral Essen in the port of Novorossiysk on the night of 22-23 May.

Source: Robert "Magyar" Brovdi, Commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, on Facebook

Details: Drone operators from the 1st Separate Centre of the Unmanned Systems Forces attacked Admiral Essen, a Project 11356 frigate, near a berth in the port. The extent of the damage to the vessel is not yet known.

Quote from Brovdi: "You are doomed to sink one day, you scab – you cannot hide!"

More details: Ukrainian troops from the Magyar's Birds unit – Ukraine's 414th Separate Brigade – also struck a Project 1239 missile hovercraft during the attack on the city of Novorossiysk.

Quote from Brovdi: "The frigate Admiral Essen and the Project 1239 missile carrier hovercraft came into the target area during the raid by the Birds of the Unmanned Systems Forces on the port of Novorossiysk and the Grushovaya Balka oil storage facility, the largest in the Caucasus, which holds 1.2 million tonnes of petroleum products."

More details: The Unmanned Systems Forces also confirmed a number of other strikes on Russian facilities and equipment:

• An Osa air defence system, the temporarily occupied city of Donetsk (struck by the 1st Separate Centre of the Unmanned Systems Forces)
• A rear base and logistics hub operated by Russia's 6th Air Force and Air Defence Army, Rovenky, temporarily occupied Luhansk Oblast (struck by the Kairos Battalion, 414th Separate Brigade)
• A UAV ground control station, Oleshky, temporarily-occupied Kherson Oblast (struck by the 1st Separate Centre of the Unmanned Systems Forces)
• Fuel tankers, special equipment and armoured combat vehicles in temporarily occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast (struck by the Detachment 13 of the 414th Separate Brigade and the Nemesis Separate Brigade of the Unmanned Systems Forces)
• Both terminals – Novorossiysk Sheskharis and the Grushovaya Balka oil storage facility – were attacked by drones from the 1st Separate Centre of the Unmanned Systems Forces and the Kairos Battalion from the 414th Separate Brigade of the Unmanned Systems Forces working with other long-range drone units from Ukraine's defence forces.

For reference: The Admiral Essen is a Russian Project 11356R Burevestnik-class frigate that entered service in 2014 and is part of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. The ship took part in missile strikes on Syria in 2017 and has been used in attacks on Ukraine since 2022. It is armed with 3M14 Kalibr cruise missiles, a Shtil-1 surface-to-air missile system, and a 100 mm A-190 naval gun.

Ukraine's defence forces had already attacked the ship in early March 2026.

Background:

• Ukrainska Pravda reported earlier that Ukrainian defence forces had struck the Karakurt small missile ship, which can carry Kalibr cruise missiles.
• Ukraine's Special Operations Forces also reported that the Russian Karakurt small missile boat struck in the Baltic Sea during an attack on the port of Primorsk on the night of 2-3 May had been carrying eight Kalibr cruise missiles with a range of up to 2,000 km and tasked with protecting the Primorsk oil terminal from Ukrainian drones. The terminal, owned by the Russian state-run company Transneft, is the largest on the Baltic Sea and is used to export oil and gas products via Russia's shadow fleet.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!