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https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/07/26/harried-by-ukraines-drone-boats-a-russian-navy-warship-goes-hunting-for-grain-ships/?sh=656f42d26fe9

Harried By Ukraine’s Drone Boats, A Russian Navy Warship Goes Hunting
For Grain Ships
David Axe
Forbes Staff
I write about ships, planes, tanks, drones, missiles and satellites.
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4 Jul 26, 2023,04:58pm EDT
The corvette 'Sergey Kotov.'
The corvette 'Sergey Kotov.'RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY PHOTO
For 11 months, a fragile truce allowed Ukraine to ship 32 million tons
of grain from Odesa and smaller ports out of the Black Sea to global
markets. This despite the Russian navy controlling much of the Black Sea.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative collapsed on July 17 after Russia
unilaterally withdrew from the agreement. It surely is no coincidence
that Moscow killed the deal at the same time Ukrainian forces were
advancing along several axes as part of their long-anticipated 2023
counteroffensive.

An embargo is only as good as its enforcement, of course. So it should
come as no surprise that the Black Sea Fleet is positioning at least one
of its 30 warships, the corvette Sergey Kotov, in the southern Black Sea
within striking range of the main sea routes from Odesa to the Bosporus
Strait.

With the end of the BSGI, commercial shippers are reluctant to risk
their ships on the 720-mile round trip through the Bosporus to Odesa and
back.

But Russian commanders aren’t waiting for shippers to change their
minds. “There is a realistic possibility that it will form part of a
task group to intercept commercial vessels Russia believes are heading
to Ukraine,” the U.K. defense ministry warned with regard to Sergey Kotov.

The corvette isn’t a large warship. Displacing just 1,700 tons, she’s 15
percent as big as a U.S. Navy destroyer is.

Sergey Kotov’s crew numbers just 80. But she’s heavily armed for a
vessel her size, with a 76-millimeter gun and Kalibr land-attack cruise
missiles. She certainly can threaten an unarmed cargo ship.

As built, Sergey Kotov and her five Black Sea Fleet sister ships lacked
major air-defenses, however. After the Ukrainian navy sank the Black Sea
Fleet cruiser Moskva with a Neptune anti-ship cruise missile in April
2022, the fleet hastily chained a Tor air-defense vehicle to Sergey
Kotov’s deck. It’s unclear how effective this ad hoc air-defense is.

Despite scuttling its sole large warship, the frigate Hetman
Sahaydachniy, in Odesa in the early days of Russia’s wider war on
Ukraine starting in February 2022, the Ukrainian navy has deployed
Neptune and Harpoon missiles, aerial drones and explosives-laden
unmanned boats and successfully contested control of the western Black Sea.

All that is to say, Sergey Kotov is not safe. On Monday, two Ukrainian
drone boats got within gun range of the corvette before the Russian crew
blew the boats out of the water. “There are no casualties,” the Kremlin
stated. “The Black Sea Fleet’s ship Sergey Kotov continues accomplishing
assigned missions.”

Ukraine’s cheap, speedy unmanned surface vehicles are a growing problem
for the Black Sea Fleet. USV raids have kept most of the fleet bottled
up in its ports for most of the 15 months since Moskva’s sinking.

Sergey Kotov might not survive her foray into the southern Black Sea. In
the meantime, however, she might be just enough of a threat to spook
shipping companies and enforce a blockade of Ukraine’s grain ports.

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David Axe
David Axe
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I'm a journalist, author and filmmaker based in Columbia, South Carolina.

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MyForbes User
4 hours ago

Close the Turkish Strait to all ruzzian commercial traffic until the
grain is allowed to leave from Ukrainian ports. Simple as....What would
ruzzia do? Attack Turkey, a NATO member? What did ruzzia do when Turkey
shot down ruzzia's fighter jet over Syria? Nothing...Why? Turkey is a
NATO member. NAT...

See more

polsen
1 hour ago

Mr. Axe, as a former soldier I do a lot of daily reading about the war
in Ukraine. I've found your articles to be some of the best and most
insightful out there. Keep them coming!

Adam J.
6 hours ago

The West never met any of it's obligations under the grain deal, the
main one being the Russian Agricultural Bank was to be reconnected to SWIFT.