Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) said Wednesday that Ukrainian forces struck the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s missile carrier Admiral Essen during an overnight attack on Russia’s naval base in Novorossiysk.
The strike took place overnight on Sept. 8-9 and was carried out by the Ukrainian military intelligence agency’s Active Operations Department in cooperation with other Ukrainian Defense Forces units, the agency said.
The Admiral Essen, a Russian Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate, is armed with Kalibr cruise missiles, which Russia has repeatedly used to strike targets across Ukraine.
Ukraine’s military intelligence said the vessel was hit and a fire broke out on its deck superstructure. It did not immediately provide an assessment of the ship’s damage.
The attack came as Ukrainian drones also struck targets in and around Novorossiysk, Russia’s largest Black Sea port in Krasnodar Krai.
Russian officials initially said drone debris hit industrial facilities and residential buildings, with Novorossiysk Mayor Andrey Kravchenko reporting no casualties. Later, Krasnodar Krai Governor Veniamin Kondratyev claimed that four people, including a child, were killed and 29 injured. He said three private houses, five apartment buildings, an Orthodox church and a kindergarten were damaged.
Video and images circulating on Russian social media showed a fire at or near the port’s fuel oil terminal, suggesting the facility was also targeted.
The Novorossiysk fuel oil terminal is part of Russia’s largest seaport and handles almost 20 million tons of fuel products annually. Ukrainian forces have repeatedly targeted the port and military assets based there since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The latest attack also follows a major Ukrainian strike on Novorossiysk on Aug. 12. Ukraine said that operation hit several Russian warships, including the Admiral Makarov and Admiral Essen, both Kalibr-capable frigates, as well as the Buyan-M corvette and Vasily Bykov patrol ship.
Ukrainian authorities said that operation involved a combination of missiles, drones and unmanned surface vessels and targeted Russian assets more than 300 kilometers from the front line. Strikes also hit grain and oil facilities at the port, temporarily disrupting the operation of all three of Novorossiysk’s grain terminals.
Separately, Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces Commander Robert “Madyar” Brovdi said the Sept. 9 operation also destroyed several Russian missile boats in the port, a Su-33 fighter and a Mi-8 helicopter near Anapa, around 50 kilometers northwest of Novorossiysk, as well as two air-defense radar systems in the Gelendzhik area.
Brovdi also claimed that Ukrainian aerial and naval drones have struck more than 250 vessels belonging to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet since July 6.