Breaking News
Ukraine Hits Russian Black Sea Rig And Shows How Aerial And Sea Drones Carried Out The Strike.
Ukraine’s Navy says it struck the Sivash jack-up platform off occupied Crimea, destroying a Russian anti-tank missile crew and surveillance gear used to watch the Black Sea. The hit advances Kyiv’s campaign to degrade Russian sensors around Crimea and reduce stand-off threats to Ukrainian vessels and drones.
On November 3, 2025, Ukraine’s Navy struck a Russian-occupied offshore drilling platform in the Black Sea used as an observation and firing post, as reported by the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The target was the Sivash jack-up rig off occupied Crimea, part of the Boyko Towers network repurposed by Russia for surveillance. Video published by the Navy shows the attack sequence and its effects on the platform. The incident matters because it pairs Ukraine’s expanding sea-air drone tactics with a campaign to degrade Russian sensors around Crimea.
Ukraine confirms sea and FPV drones hit the Sivash rig off Crimea, striking an elite Russian unit and degrading surveillance and ATGM threats (Picture source: Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine)
According to the Ukrainian Navy, the strike eliminated an enemy anti-tank missile team positioned on the rig and destroyed reconnaissance and observation equipment installed there. The service also rebutted Russian messaging that circulated a clip purporting to show a Ukrainian boat destroyed by a Lancet loitering munition, stating the footage actually depicted a successful Ukrainian kamikaze drone hit on the platform. Taken together, the published material attributes the effect to a coordinated unmanned operation against a militarized offshore site.
How the operation unfolded is suggested by the released imagery and prior disclosures about Ukraine’s maritime drones. Footage from maritime outlets indicates a combined use of unmanned surface vessels and first-person-view aerial drones against the Sivash rig, with the attack impacting both the jack-up structure and topside positions. In the video, an overhead UAV appears to provide real-time spotting while a sea drone closes to deliver an explosive payload. Crucially, several recent briefings and videos have shown Ukraine employing USVs that carry and launch multiple FPV “kamikaze” drones, a tactic designed to overwhelm point defenses and prosecute targets above deck, consistent with what is visible in the Sivash strike material.
The platform’s military value lay in height and line-of-sight. Ukrainian official and open-source reporting describe Sivash as part of a surveillance hub fitted with radar, optics and radio-reconnaissance systems monitoring routes between Odesa, the Danube approaches and Crimea. Neutralizing those sensors reduces Russia’s situational awareness over the north-western Black Sea and complicates cueing for shore-based missiles and aircraft. It also removes an elevated firing point for anti-tank teams that had been engaging small craft and unmanned vessels moving along Ukraine’s coastal corridor.
The strike also fits a broader Ukrainian effort to unpick Russia’s air- and sea-denial architecture around Crimea. Within the same 48-hour window, Ukraine’s defense intelligence reported disabling key components of an S-400 “Triumf” battery and associated radars, including a 92N6E multifunction engagement radar, on the peninsula. Eroding these sensors creates gaps in Russian coverage over the Black Sea approaches, making coordinated sea-air drone sorties like the Sivash attack more survivable and repeatable.
Geopolitically, successful strikes on militarized energy infrastructure underscore the steady shift of the Black Sea battlespace in Ukraine’s favor since 2023, when repeated USV and UAV operations pushed major Russian naval units east and complicated their freedom of action near Odesa. They signal to regional actors and commercial shippers that Ukraine can contest Russian observation posts beyond the shoreline, which matters for sustaining grain and metals export lanes. Militarily, the employment of carrier-type sea drones launching multiple FPVs points to a maturation of Ukraine’s unmanned “stack”, linking overhead surveillance, sea-borne delivery and close-in loitering attacks to defeat layered defenses on fixed maritime targets.
Strategically, attriting exposed nodes like Sivash yields cumulative effects: fewer eyes on the sea, fewer safe perches for ATGM crews, and more friction for Russian command and control of coastal defenses. It also pressures Moscow to disperse or harden ad-hoc outposts across the remaining Boyko Towers, stretching manpower and logistics while inviting further strikes. For Kyiv, the message is that offshore platforms turned into pickets are now within routine reach of modular, scalable unmanned packages, with follow-on operations enabled by the ongoing degradation of Crimea’s radar network.
Ukraine’s Navy frames the hit on Sivash as a precision action with tactical and informational gains: the removal of an elite detachment and its optics, and the public dismantling of a narrative that sought to portray a Ukrainian setback. If replicated along the chain of offshore sites and paired with continued strikes on air-defense sensors, this approach will further narrow Russia’s maritime surveillance reach and widen the window for Ukrainian freedom of maneuver at sea.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.