Ukraine claims first-ever battle between naval drones

Ukraine’s Navy said one of its Sargan-3000 uncrewed surface vessels destroyed a Russian drone boat in the Black Sea, describing the engagement as the first battle in history between two uncrewed naval vessels.

The Navy said its Defense Intelligence partners spotted the Russian craft before the Sargan-3000 closed in and destroyed it using a remote-controlled 12.7mm machine gun turret known as the Protector RWS.

The Navy’s statement, released on its official channels, did not give a date, exact location or details about which type of Russian drone boat was destroyed.

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate, known as HUR, identified the target before the Ukrainian Navy carried out the strike, according to the announcement.

Screengrab from video posted to social media

The Sargan-3000 is the same class of Ukrainian drone boat that sank the Russian border patrol ship Izumrud near Gelendzhik in July 2026, one of several Black Sea Fleet vessels Ukraine’s uncrewed boats have destroyed or damaged since the full-scale invasion began. Earlier in the war, similar Ukrainian sea drones sank the missile corvette Ivanovets and the landing ship Caesar Kunikov, part of a campaign that has pushed much of the Black Sea Fleet away from Crimea and back toward Novorossiysk.

In May 2025, a Ukrainian naval drone reportedly shot down a Russian Su-30 fighter jet with an air-to-air missile, another claimed first for uncrewed surface vessels.

Russia has been building its own naval drones in response. A Russian KAMA-type uncrewed surface vessel, built by the Izhevsk-based firm ZALA, was destroyed by Ukrainian forces near Snake Island on September 8, 2026, though in that earlier case Ukraine used a guided munition dropped from an aerial drone rather than a rival boat.