Russian Maritime Drone Hits Ukrainian Sail Training Ship In Port Of Odesa

A Russian maritime drone struck the Ukrainian sail training ship Druzhba in the port of Odesa, according to Ukrainian officials and local media reports.

Serhiy “Flash” Beskrestnov, an advisor to Ukraine’s Minister of Defense, said the vessel was attacked while docked in the Black Sea port city. Photos shared on social media showed an explosion near the ship.

The reason for targeting the vessel has raised questions in Ukrainian media because Druzhba is a training ship and not an active combat vessel.

Beskrestnov mocked the attack in a social media post, saying the ship’s “strategic reserve of rum” had long been removed.

Some Ukrainian media reports suggested the drone operator may not have found a more important target in the port area and instead attacked the nearest vessel.

Ukrainian authorities confirmed there was an explosion in the port area but did not comment on the condition of the ship.

Druzhba was built in 1987 at a shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, for the Soviet Union’s maritime education system.

The vessel was one of several sister ships, including Mir, Pallada, Nadezhda, and Chersones.

The three-masted sailing ship is about 109 metres long and was designed to carry around 140 cadets and 50 crew members. It also had diesel engines in addition to its sails.

The ship was assigned to the Odesa Maritime Academy and operated training voyages in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, Northern Europe, and the Indian Ocean.

In 1990, the vessel carried Soviet and American cadets on a joint training voyage that included a stop in New York.

By the 2000s, the ship was laid up in Odesa because it needed repairs. Restoration work began in 2021 with plans to transfer it to Ukraine’s Naval Institute.

Russia has continued drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and port infrastructure during the war, including recent strikes on Odesa and Kyiv.

At the time of reporting, Ukrainian officials had not released details about possible damage to the vessel, and Russia had not commented on the reported strike.

Reference: militarnyi