Ukrainian strike drones from the K-2 brigade are now hitting Russian tankers in the Black Sea, and no tankers are left in the Sea of Azov because of the work of K-2 and other units, Oleksandr Starina, commander of the Strike Wings battalion, said on Army TV. The brigade is part of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces.
Starina said K-2 and other Unmanned Systems Forces units have hit about 150 Russian ships in total. Some were destroyed completely. He said that is very hard to do, so the usual aim is to stop the ship. The drones most often hit the control section, where the equipment the ship needs to keep moving is housed.
The attacks on tankers were something new for the Russians and caught them off guard, Starina said. They froze, and for about the first month of the tanker hunt they did not resist at all. "It was a know-how for them," the commander said.
Russia later began using its air force too, and used helicopters very often. When the drones patrol closer to Novorossiysk, Russian planes take off to intercept them, the commander said.