Russian defector aids Ukraine in disabling Serpukhov missile ship: HUR reveals Operation Rybalka details

This was part of Operation Rybalka, which lasted from 2023, a HUR representative, Andriy Yusov, said.

"In early April of this year, there was information about an incident, smoke, with the small missile ship Serpukhov, which is part of the Baltic Fleet and is based in the city of Baltiysk," he said at a press conference where a former Russian sailor with the call sign Goga was also present.

The operation resulted in a large amount of important information, as well as putting the Serpukhov out of commission for at least six months, said the Defense Intelligence representative.

The operation was assisted by a former Russian military man, a sailor with the call sign Goga, who got in touch with the HUR through the I Want to Live project in 2023.

As part of the cooperation, the sailor agreed to disable the Serpukhov ship on which he served. In addition, Goga gave the Ukrainian military intelligence classified information about the Baltic Fleet and the military-industrial complex of the aggressor state.

The former Russian soldier is currently in Ukraine and is ready to continue the fight against the Kremlin regime as part of the Russian Freedom Legion, Yusov added.

Goga said that he served in the Baltic Fleet for 11 years. In 2022, he was the only soldier on his ship who did not support Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Ukrainian intelligence reported on April 8 that the Serpukhov missile ship burned down at the Russian naval base in Baltiysk, Kaliningrad Oblast, with its communications and automation equipment completely destroyed.

The Serpukhov is a small missile ship of the 21631 Buyan-M project, which was launched in 2015. The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that Serpukhov was equipped with a long-range missile system Kalibr-NK.