Russia flew hundreds of warplane sorties against a small group of Ukrainian sea drones, according to the ArmyInform. The drones belong to Group 13, a Ukrainian military-intelligence unit. The unit is running out of Russian warships to sink and now strikes land targets from the sea, its commander, known by his call sign Thirteenth, said.

Years ago, Russia entered its all-out war against Ukraine with a commanding navy and treated the Black Sea as its own. A country left with almost no warships has since answered with cheap robot boats, turning expendable machines into the tool that now contests that sea.

More than 500 sorties to hunt one small drone group

Group 13 hunts Russian warships with Magura sea drones—uncrewed attack boats. Russia flew more than 500 aircraft sorties against a group of eight to 10 Magura drones at the time, the commander said. Moscow spent more on locating the drones than the unit's entire mission cost, he added. Missions have grown longer, too. What once took a day now takes three, four, or five days.

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The commander split the unit's rise into three stages: victory at sea, an end to Russian air dominance over the water, and now strikes on land from the sea. The bar set in 2023 and 2024 is unrealistic to hold in the Black Sea today, he said, because there are no ship targets left, and what remains is harder to reach. A struck S-400 air-defense system does not pay off like a sunk warship, he added.

The bill for Russia

The damage runs past destroyed hardware. Each Russian sailor killed leaves a family pension to pay and training to write off, the commander said. He pointed to the Syrian Express, Russia's sea supply line to Syria. It once ran a short route and now goes through the Baltic Sea, and the whole bill runs into the millions, he said.

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The unit's capabilities came together in a strike on the Ivan Khurs, a Russian reconnaissance ship, its first target. The later sinking of the missile boat Ivanovets killed 40 Russian crew in minutes, the commander recalled. He expects the unit to be remembered as revolutionaries, likening its sea drones to the first tanks more than a century ago.