On Sunday, April 26, 2026, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced that its Alpha Special Operations Center, carrying out tasks assigned by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had conducted another complex operation in the occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea, during which three Russian warships, an aircraft, a radar, and military infrastructure were hit.
RFS Ivan Khurs / Photo: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
The unmanned-system strikes were carried out overnight from Saturday to Sunday against the Russian Black Sea Fleet naval base in Sevastopol and the Belbek air base. The following were hit:
- the large landing ship RFS Yamal (156)/BDK-67 of Project 775M, NATO reporting name: Ropucha II;
- the large landing ship RFS Nikolai Filchenkov (152) of Project 1171 Tapir, NATO reporting name: Alligator;
- the signals intelligence ship RFS Ivan Khurs of Project 18280 Yuriy Ivanov, NATO reporting name: Yuriy Ivanov;
- the Lukomka training center of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy;
- the Headquarters of Radiotechnical Intelligence of the Air and Missile Defense Forces;
- the MR-10M1 Mys M1 coastal radar station;
- a MiG-31 heavy interceptor/strike aircraft, NATO reporting name: Foxhound, at the airfield at Belbek air base;
- the technical and operational section of the airfield at Belbek air base.
“Every such operation has a clear logic: we are methodically destroying key elements of the enemy’s military infrastructure — the fleet, aviation, intelligence, and air defense. These are not only direct equipment losses, but also the destruction of the enemy’s ability to control the airspace, cover its forces, and plan new attacks. This work will continue until Russia ends its aggression against our state,” said SBU chief Yevhen Khmara.
It should be recalled that on April 18 this year, the Alpha Special Operations Center carried out an operation in Crimea, during which, among other targets, three Russian warships were hit. These included RFS Yamal, previously damaged in a Ukrainian attack on March 24, 2024; its sister ship RFS Azov (151)/BDK-54, also hit twice; and the MR-10M1 Mys M1 radar.
This time, Ivan Khurs, which was undergoing repairs, was also hit. On May 24, 2023, the ship had been damaged in an attack by three Ukrainian unmanned surface vessels near the Bosporus Strait.
The governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation confirmed that one of the largest mass drone attacks on Sevastopol took place overnight on April 26. Russian air defenses reportedly shot down 71 drones. Civilian casualties were recorded: one person was killed and four were wounded, and urban infrastructure was damaged. However, Russia did not acknowledge any hits on warships or on the MiG-31.
Analysis
The true scale of the damage is not known at this time.
As for Project 775/775M vessels, known as Ropucha/Ropucha II, Ukrainian forces had previously succeeded in destroying the sister ships RFS Caesar Kunikov (158)/BDK-64, Novocherkassk (142)/BDK-46, and Minsk (127)/BDK-43. They also damaged Olenegorsky Gornyak (012)/BDK-91 and the former Ukrainian Konstantin Olshansky (BDK-56). As an interesting note, all Project 775 ships, 28 units in total, were built in Poland, at the former Bohaterów Westerplatte Northern Shipyard in Gdańsk, known since 2011 as Remontowa Shipbuilding. The ships are 112.5 m long and have a full displacement of 4,076 tons.
In the case of Project 1171 Tapir, Ukrainian forces sank RFS Saratov (150), previously named BDK-10, back in 2022. Vessels of this project are 113.1 m long, have a beam of 15.6 m, a draft of 4.5 m, and a displacement of 4,650 tons. Powered by two diesel engines, they reach a maximum speed of 16.5 knots and have a range of up to 10,000 nautical miles at 15 knots. Their armament consisted of a twin 57 mm ZIF-31B anti-aircraft gun. The crew comprised 55 officers and sailors. Their payload capacity is 1,000 tons, allowing them to transport between 300 and 425 troops, 20 tanks, or 45 armored personnel carriers.
In the case of the third ship, the matter is more interesting because, due to the nature of Ivan Khurs’ mission, its specialized equipment is classified and the vessel is a key asset of the Black Sea Fleet. It is a signals intelligence, or SIGINT, ship, built at the Severnaya Verf shipyard in St. Petersburg according to a design by the Iceberg Central Design Bureau. It is 95 m long and 16 m wide, has a draft of 4 m, a standard displacement of 2,500 tons, and a full displacement of 4,000 tons. The ship is powered by two 11D42 diesel generators, which provide a speed of 16 knots and a range of 8,000 nautical miles. Its crew consists of 131 officers and sailors. The ship’s armament comprises six 9K38 Igla man-portable air-defense missile systems, with a reserve of 32 missiles, and two 14.5 mm MPTU heavy machine guns, the naval variant of the KPV, with an effective range of up to 2,000 m.
On January 10, 2020, the ship came dangerously close to the U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Farragut (DDG-99), an Arleigh Burke Flight IIA-class vessel, in the northern Arabian Sea, nearly causing a collision.
Три військові кораблі, винищувач, обʼєкти ППО: СБУ уразила низку важливих військових цілей у Криму
➡️ https://t.co/EaMmlaHADA pic.twitter.com/JoqfXoDUoY
— СБ України (@ServiceSsu) April 26, 2026
It now turns out that Ukrainian drones hit a large number of important targets in Crimea last night:
– The Ropucha-class landing ship “Yamal”
– The Ropucha-class landing ship “Filchenkov”
– The intelligence collection vessel “Ivan Khurs”
– A MiG-31 fighter jet at Belbek Airfield pic.twitter.com/M2m1viPPFr— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) April 26, 2026