Ukraine said Monday it carried out an underwater drone attack that seriously damaged a Russian Kilo-class submarine docked in the port of Novorossiysk, marking the first known attack of its kind.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said its underwater drones “Sub Sea Baby” struck a Russian submarine equipped with four launchers for Kalibr cruise missiles used to target Kiev and other parts of the country.
The operation was carried out by the Ukrainian Navy and the 13th Main Directorate of Military Counterintelligence of the SBU.
Video released by the SBU shows several ships docked at the Novorossiysk naval base in Russia’s Krasnodar region before a major explosion occurred.
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Ukraine’s security service said its underwater drones “Sub Sea Baby” struck a Russian submarine on Monday, December 15, 2025. (Ukraine Security Service via APTN)
The base has become a key refuge for the Russian fleet as Ukraine intensifies attacks on Sevastopol and other occupied Crimean ports.
The SBU said the submarine was forced to remain in Novorossiysk due to other Ukrainian operations, including the use of Sea Baby surface drones that drove Russia’s Black Sea Fleet out of Sevastopol Bay.
A spokesman for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet denied that the attack caused any damage, writing on Telegram that no submarines or crews were injured.
President Vladimir Putin visits the destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov at the Black Sea Fleet naval base in Novorossiysk, Russia, on September 23, 2014. (Sasha Mordovets/Getty)
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The submarine attack comes as Russia continues to launch large-scale drone and missile attacks on Ukraine and as the United States works to end Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war.
A mother weeps at the coffin of her son, Oleh Borovyk, a Ukrainian soldier who died in fighting with Russian forces near Pokrovsk, during his funeral ceremony in Boiarka, Ukraine, on December 3, 2025. (Evgeni Maloletka/AP)
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his negotiating team met with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, in Berlin on Sunday to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy also had conversations with European leaders earlier this week on a broader political framework to end the war, secure long-term protection for Ukraine and support the country’s post-war recovery.
