Ukraine’s security service says it targeted the corvette Naro-Fominsk during a wider drone operation against the Ust-Luga oil terminal. Little is known about the damage, and Finland says the Baltic remains safe.
Finnish officials have confirmed that a Russian warship was attacked in the Gulf of Finland on Wednesday, though few details have emerged. Ukraine’s SBU security service said it targeted the vessel, the Naro-Fominsk, as part of a broader drone operation against Russia’s Ust-Luga oil export depot on the Baltic coast. The strike is thought to be the first time Ukrainian drones have hit a Russian ship in an area of the Baltic open to civilian shipping. It has raised questions about whether Kyiv could widen its attacks.
What is known about the strike
Estonian Defence Minister Martin Herem told the public broadcaster ERR that the ship was hit at about 05:30 local time (03:30 GMT) on Wednesday. He did not say how it was attacked. “We know that smoke came from the ship afterwards,” he said. “The ship itself went back towards St Petersburg.”
The SBU described the vessel as a Buyan-M type small corvette armed with Kalibr and Oniks cruise missiles. There were also unconfirmed reports that Russian combat helicopters had been destroyed. The extent of any casualties or damage is unclear, and Moscow rarely releases such details.
Finland’s military has given few details. The incident appears to have taken place in a narrow stretch of water some distance from the Finnish coast.
Finland’s response
Helsinki is one of Kyiv’s closest European allies. Finnish officials described the incident as a direct result of Russia’s continued full-scale war. Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen insisted the situation in the Baltic Sea remained stable and safe, and said there was no threat of any kind to marine traffic.
Defence officials are understood to have told Kyiv that the Gulf is a relatively narrow waterway used by oil tankers and civilian vessels, and that it also contains subsea data cables.
The Ust-Luga attack
Several storage tanks at the Ust-Luga terminal are thought to have been hit overnight on Wednesday, and fires at the port were visible across the border in Estonia. Mr Herem said Ukrainian drones attacked the Ust-Luga region from midnight until about 06:00, mostly flying close to the Estonian border but remaining in Russian airspace. One drone briefly entered Estonian airspace from Latvia before heading on towards Russia. Nato aircraft based in the Baltic states were airborne, but Mr Herem said it was not considered safe for them to shoot the drones down.
Ukrainian drones are regularly launched into Russia from northern Ukraine.
Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyy said late on Wednesday that Moscow’s claims that Kyiv used Baltic states’ airspace to attack Russia were “baseless”. He acknowledged, however, that “incidents might occur when Russia diverts drones from its airspace using electronic warfare”.
A wider escalation?
Military analyst Emil Kastehelmi, co-founder of the Black Bird monitoring group, said the Baltic Sea fleet had until now been untouched. “There seemingly was a window of opportunity for Ukraine and they understandably tried to use it,” he said.
Russian and Ukrainian vessels have been targeted repeatedly in the Black Sea since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. Mr Kastehelmi said that although the latest strike in the Baltic is unprecedented, he did not consider it a serious escalation.
