Ukraine’s largest naval ship in over a decade, the reconnaissance vessel Simferopol, was sunk by a naval drone in the Danube delta near Odessa, Russia’s Defence Ministry reported.

One crew member died, several were injured, and some remain missing. Commissioned in 2019, the vessel represented a major boost to Ukraine’s naval capabilities.

The strike marks the first reported destruction of a Ukrainian ship by a sea drone, amid Russia’s growing use of unmanned military technology.

Separately, Russian missiles targeted a Kyiv facility preparing Turkish Bayraktar drones.