Wounded Russian sailors evacuated after Ukrainian naval drone attack – report

Earlier on Aug. 1, Russia’s Defense Ministry that its Black Sea Fleet had thwarted an assault by three naval drones on Sergey Kotov and Vasili Bykov patrol boats. Moscow’s message said the attack took place 340 kilometers (211 miles) from Sevastopol, claiming that all attacking drones were destroyed.

Simultaneously, Russian self-styled "war correspondents" claimed that the container ship Sparta-IV, was also targeted. Earlier media reports suggested Sparta-IV was carrying weapons from Syria. The captain of the ship, Alexei Tereshenko, was previously charged by Ukraine’s SBU security service in June.

Babel's source revealed that Russian sailors from one of the attacked ships were requesting evacuation for the injured, thus contradicting the official narrative of successfully repelling the drone strike.

According to this information, Ka-29 helicopters were dispatched for the evacuation, with orders to transport the deceased and wounded to the Nakhimov Higher Military Naval School in occupied Sevastopol.

Babel also released intercepted communications between helicopter crews and Russian coast guard aviation services, which included details of the ships' locations and the number of casualties. These intercepts indicate that at least one person was killed and five – wounded.

It remains unclear which specific ship was hit in the attack.

Babel notes that Russia categorizes the container ship Sparta-IV as civilian. However, their source states that the vessel is equipped with heavy-caliber weaponry and houses armed crew and military personnel onboard, thereby qualifying the ship as a valid military target.