Ukraine is developing a new generation of maritime drones concealed within commercial shipping containers to target Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the Washington Post reports.
The covert system, described by analysts as “dirty war”, aims to bypass naval defences by disguising attack platforms within ordinary cargo vessels. The containers would deploy sea drones near Russian naval routes, allowing them to strike warships with minimal warning.
While the head of Ukraine’s Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), Vasyl Maliuk, boasts of Ukraine’s daring drone attack on Russian air bases last weekend, military experts warn that Operation Spiderweb could be a “bloody continuation of this terrible conflict.”
Russia and Ukraine have long wanted to break out of the stalled war of attrition. While Russia is actively advancing on the front line, seizing populated areas in several Ukrainian regions and moving closer to Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine is planning targeted drone strikes in a move that experts view as an attempt to derail the negotiation process and force Russia to retaliate.
On Friday, the Russian Defence Ministry said the Russian Armed Forces had launched a massive strike on Ukraine’s engineering bureaus, enterprises producing and repairing weapons and military equipment. The Defence Ministry described the strikes as a retaliation to Kyiv’s Operation Spiderweb.
In order to prevent leaks about the impending drone attack, Maliuk warned only Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, ignoring his entourage and even a key deputy. Moreover, Kyiv did not notify Washington of the attack, although Ukraine later claimed to have issued a warning, presumably to avoid international condemnation.
In addition to delivering containers with small drones to Russia, the SSU has also reportedly taken a leading role in developing naval drones. Unnamed sources told the Washington Post that European intelligence officers helped develop these naval drones. Ukrainian intelligence services are also considering sending naval drones to attack ships of Russia and its allies in the North Pacific.
A major target for Ukraine has been the Kerch Strait bridge connecting Russia to Crimea. Security service agents have struck the bridge three times since 2022, but the latest blast on Tuesday did not cause damage.
“Dirty war” gains momentum
However, Ukraine’s readiness to conduct risky espionage operations has led to recurring tensions between Washington and Kyiv, sources in the United States and Ukraine said. An example was the August 2022 assassination of Daria Dugina, the daughter of a Russian writer who was a prominent advocate of war against Ukraine. According to the New York Times, US intelligence learned that Ukrainian spies had organised the plot and informed them that Washington strongly objected to such actions.
Countries bordering Ukraine could also become new battlefields as the war drags on. Transnistria, a breakaway region from Moldavia on Ukraine’s western border, serves as an example. Ukraine, using Russian defectors and other local forces, considered an operation to attack Russian forces, but decided not to open a new front for now, according to the sources.
All other countries bordering Ukraine: Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, as well as Germany, the Baltic States, Norway and Finland, are affected by the risk of escalation. Most of these nations support Ukraine, with Ukrainian intelligence services using Eastern European capitals as centres for their operations, according to the Washington Post.
In response to possible attacks from the Black Sea, Russia has accelerated the deployment of electronic warfare equipment on commercial ships. However, the mobility of the container system complicates countermeasures, potentially prolonging the maritime threat.
