Throughout the Cold War, Soviet Navy AGI “spy boats” lurked along US and allied coastlines to detect and attempt to track military radars and other systems.
Today, larger and more sophisticated spycraft have replaced AGIs. One of them, the Yury Ivanov-class intelligence-gathering ship Ivan Khurs, owned by Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy.
For about a year now, the Ukrainian military has been pursuing – with drones and missiles – the 4,000-ton Ivan Khurs with a crew of 131. On Sunday, according to Ukrainian forces, Kiev fired a cruise missile at the ship in question, which was anchored in Russian-occupied Sevastopol. The Ukrainian side reported that during the same attack it damaged three more landing ships.
Ten months ago, in May, Ukrainian navies drones with explosives, they pursued the “Ivan Khurs” while the Russian intelligence vessel was sailing 75 miles northeast of the Bosphorus in the western Black Sea.
“The drone had to travel more than 310 miles in an extremely difficult operation,” said an official source in the Ukrainian Pravda. “The start of the mission was delayed due to bad weather conditions. The operators’ connection to the drone was repeatedly interrupted.”
The drone approached the Russian vessel and exploded, however it did not cause any damage to the “Ivan Khurs”, as it was later spotted sailing towards Sevastopol.
The Ukrainians continued to target this particular ship. “Ivan Khurs” is equipped with radar warning receivers (RWR) and other electronic means of tracking that enable it to detect the radars and missile arrays of Ukrainians. Especially those lined up along the shores of the Black Sea. The same radars and missiles that have detected and shot down Russian warplanes over the Black Sea and sunk Russian warships.
As the Ukrainians have destroyed or damaged about a dozen of the Black Sea Fleet’s three dozen old ships, the Russians are scrambling to avoid further strikes. And that’s why they need to map Ukrainian forces on the Black Sea coast.
The Ukrainians, for their part, should continue the “strikes” in order to prevent it Moscow to map their coastal forces. In short: they must sink “Ivan Khurs”.
It is unclear how badly the Russian intelligence-gathering vessel was damaged after Sunday’s raid. Satellite images showed signs of fire on its stern. It might still be functional. Maybe not.
Be that as it may, “Ivan Khurs” is in the foam. Most likely they are Ukrainians that they are not done with him – and that a third attack is imminent.