Failed To Attack Russian Warships In The Black Sea, Three Ukrainian Crewless Speed Boats Destroyed

JAKARTA - Russian warship Ivan Khurs, who maintains gas pipelines in the high seas, has successfully fended off Ukrainian surface drone attacks in the waters of the Bosporus Strait in Turkey's exclusive economic zone, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov reported on Wednesday.

"After a terror attack on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines on September 26, 2022, the Russian Armed Forces took steps to protect the facility. And that was not without reason," he said, quoted by TASS May 25.

"At 5:30 a.m. today, Ukrainian soldiers armed with formations made efforts that failed with three high-speed drones to attack the Black Sea Fleet ship Ivan Khurs to provide safe operations from the TurkStream and Blue Stream gas pipelines in the exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Turkey," said Lt. Gen. Konashenkov.

"All enemy ships were destroyed from standard weapons of Russian naval vessels 140 km northeast of the Bosporus Strait," he added.

In a statement posted on Telegram, Russia's Ministry of Defense said the warship had protected the TurkStream and Blue Stream gas pipelines, which brought gas from Russia to Turkey, partly across the Black Sea.

It is considered to increase tensions in the Black Sea, after last week Russia agreed to extend grain exports through the region.

After losing the use of the Baltic Sea pipeline, Russia strongly wants Turkey to become more of a center for Russian energy exports.

Turk Stream brought gas to the west from the Russian Park peninsula across the width of the Black Sea to a point west of Bosphorus on Turkey's European coast.

Meanwhile, Blue Stream crossed the eastern Black Sea from north to south, making a landing at Turkey's Samsun port, about 700 km east of Bosphorus by sea.

Intermediate reconnaissance ship Ivan Khurs was built at the Severnaya Verf Shipyard, St. Petersburg in northwestern Russia, under Project 18280.

The ship is named after the Head of the Soviet Navy's Main Staff Reconnaissance Department, Rear Admiral Ivan Khurs, and became the first serially made ship. The ship began operating with Russia's Black Sea Fleet in June 2018.

Project ship 18280 is designed to provide communications, Fleet command, and control, conduct electronic reconnaissance and electronic warfare, as well as track other countries' missile defense systems. In April 2019, Ivan Khurs tracked a US missile destroyer, USS Ross (DD-563) that entered the Black Sea.