Ukraine has struck more than 105 Russian warships in the Sea of Azov in just nine days through a relentless sea-drone offensive targeting Moscow’s shadow fleet, Kyiv’s top drone commander has announced in a statement. This comes as the NATO member state Lithuania separately warned that Russian intelligence has been gathering reconnaissance data in preparation for “targeted” attacks on critical infrastructure across the Baltic region.
Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, said that between July 6 and July 13, the campaign had successfully struck 105 watercraft in the Sea of Azov, decimating the supply corridor Russia depends on to fuel its occupation of Crimea.
“Between July 6 and July 13, we successfully struck 105 watercraft,” Brovdi said in a statement published July 13, adding that the latest overnight operation alone saw the “Free Ukrainian Bird” drone units hunt down 15 vessels: seven tankers, five cargo ships, one ferry and two tugboats.
The campaign, dubbed internally “Operation MoLoChKa,” represents the single largest destruction of Russian maritime logistics assets since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, and has been escalating steadily each day.
Ukrainian officials reported 28 ships hit in a single overnight attack on July 11, 90 vessels struck across the first seven days of the operation, and the total climbing to 105 by the morning of July 13.
⚡️ Overnight, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces struck the first 20 vessels of Russia’s shadow fleet in the Black Sea – Madyar
“The first round of the naval battle is over: 116 shadow fleet vessels in the Sea of Azov. Now it’s the Black Sea – 20 in one night: tankers and a… https://t.co/Zs6QXKcAfV pic.twitter.com/NJwUnVnxV3
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) July 15, 2026
Azov: A Graveyard for Russia’s Fuel Fleet
The Sea of Azov is a key supply route for Russian forces in Crimea and other occupied parts of southern Ukraine. The shadow fleet tankers being systematically targeted carry fuel from mainland Russia southward through the Kerch Strait and across the Azov to Crimea, keeping the occupied peninsula’s military logistics and civilian fuel supply functioning.
Ukraine has stepped up attacks on logistics and energy infrastructure in Crimea in recent weeks, contributing to fuel shortages and prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency in the peninsula.
According to Brovdi, the maritime operation has expanded to Russian logistics infrastructure in temporarily occupied Crimea, with transfer facilities on the peninsula coming under attack every night, vessel traffic through the Kerch Strait suspended, and cargo unloading operations reduced to a minimum.
Ukraine’s drone forces said they had struck eight vessels subject to sanctions in the Sea of Azov, each with a deadweight of around 7,000 tonnes, meaning the fully loaded tankers carry up to 50,000 tonnes of fuel per vessel.
The scale of the losses, if confirmed by independent verification, would represent not only a tactical blow to Russian logistics but a significant financial hit to the network of shell companies and intermediaries that operate the shadow fleet on Moscow’s behalf.
‘Sea Baby’ Drones: Ukraine’s Weapon of Choice
The Sea Baby is an unmanned surface vessel developed and operated by Ukraine’s SBU. The upgraded variant unveiled in October 2025 features an operational range of 1,500 kilometres, can carry payloads of up to 2,000 kilograms, and reaches speeds of 49 knots. The platform supports multiple weaponised variants, including a gyro-stabilised remote machine gun with automatic target recognition and a ten-tube Grad-class multiple rocket launcher, with AI-assisted targeting systems and the ability to launch reconnaissance drones mid-mission.
In an interview with Reuters last month, Brovdi pledged to effectively cut off Crimea from Russia through a campaign of systematic strikes, a goal that Operation MoLoChKa appears to be dramatically advancing.
Russia halted Don-Azov channel shipping, affecting grain trade, after Ukraine’s attacks, according to reporting from late June.
Lithuania Sounds Warning on Russia’s Infrastructure Plot
Simultaneously, with the sea campaign in the Azov, NATO’s eastern flank was placed on heightened alert Tuesday after Lithuania’s intelligence services released a formal assessment warning that Russian intelligence operatives had been conducting reconnaissance of critical infrastructure targets across the Baltic region, with particular focus on underwater cables, railway lines, energy distribution networks and telecommunications hubs.
Lithuanian Defence Minister Laurynas Kasciunas told reporters in Vilnius that the threat had moved beyond general concern into a pattern of specific targeting behaviour, describing intelligence indicating that Russia was “systematically mapping” key nodes in Baltic infrastructure with the apparent goal of launching “targeted” disruptions.
“We are not talking about general hybrid pressure. We are talking about specific, targeted preparation for physical attacks,” Kasciunas said in a remark, adding that the Lithuanian government had shared its intelligence assessment with NATO allies and has been working with partners to harden identified vulnerable points.
The warning echoed a similar alert issued by the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation earlier this month, which said it had disrupted a suspected Russian intelligence operation targeting undersea data cables in the Baltic Sea.
On the other hand, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, at the Ankara summit last week, stated that the alliance had agreed on new protocols for protecting undersea critical infrastructure, a priority that has risen sharply up the alliance’s agenda following a series of suspected sabotage incidents since 2022.
Von der Leyen Unveils New Ukraine Package as War Grinds On
Against the twin backdrop of Kyiv’s maritime offensive and Russia’s widening hybrid pressure on NATO’s eastern flank, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a new package of military and economic support for Ukraine on Tuesday following a meeting in Brussels with Ukrianian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who arrived from Paris where he had attended the inaugural meeting of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Von der Leyen said the EU would accelerate delivery of defence equipment and expand joint procurement mechanisms for air defence components, framing the announcement in terms of strategic urgency.
Russia is not slowing down. We cannot slow down either, Von der Leyen said, adding that the Union remained committed to Ukraine’s path toward EU membership as a central pillar of European security.
Ukraine’s president Zelensky separately said he had signed additional bilateral security agreements with Poland and the Czech Republic on the sidelines of his Brussels meetings, adding to the string of defence pacts he concluded at the NATO summit in Ankara the previous week. He also reiterated calls for the alliance to accelerate delivery of Patriot interceptors and ATACMS long-range missiles, arguing that Russia’s continued bombardment of Ukrainian cities demonstrated that the air defence gap remained the conflict’s most urgent unsolved problem.
Russia Bombs Odesa, Strikes Hit Kharkiv
On the ground, Russia continued its sustained bombardment of Ukrainian cities. At least four people were killed and fourteen wounded in overnight strikes on Odesa, Ukraine’s southern port city, with the regional military administration reporting drone and cruise missile attacks targeting residential areas and civilian infrastructure in the early hours of Tuesday.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city and the target of sustained Russian pressure since the war began, was also struck overnight, with regional officials reporting fires across multiple districts.
Ukrainian air defences intercepted the majority of incoming drones and missiles, though the volume of munitions Russia has been launching since the NATO summit has tested the country’s remaining interceptor stockpiles, underscoring the urgency of the supply requests Zelensky has been pressing on allies from Paris to Brussels to Ankara.
With the war in its fifth year, and Russia showing no sign of reducing its aerial campaign against Ukrainian civilians, the Sea of Azov offensive and the European investment in Ukraine’s air defences represent Kyiv’s most tangible current effort to change the military calculus before the next round of negotiations with Moscow’s interlocutors, through whatever channels remain viable.
