Russia’s Black Sea Drone Strike Hits the “Friendship”, Ukrainian Navy’s Only Unarmed Sailboat

A Russian naval drone attacked the Ukrainian training sailing vessel Druzhba in the port of Odesa, according to Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s defense minister, on May 26.

The Druzhba is an unarmed training sailboat. In 2021, the vessel began undergoing repairs ahead of a planned transfer to Ukraine’s Naval Institute, making Russia’s choice of target especially unusual and prompting discussion among military analysts.

“I understand why the ‘Oreshnik’ hit garages — after all, it was a ‘decision-making center.’ But why did a Russian naval drone heroically attack a sailboat yesterday? The entire strategic reserve of rum had long been removed from there,” Beskrestnov said.

One possible explanation is that the Russian drone operator failed to identify a more valuable target in the port area. In that case, the strike may have been launched at the nearest vessel within the drone’s range.

The Druzhba was built in 1987 at a shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, alongside similar vessels, including Khersones, Pallada, Mir, and Nadezhda, which were produced for Soviet maritime training institutions.

The vessel is classified as a frigate-type sail training ship. It has a full displacement of 1,354 tons, a length of 108.6 meters, a beam of 14 meters, a draft of 7 meters, and a sail area of 1,857 square meters. Its crew capacity is around 50 people.

Earlier, a Russian strike damaged a Panama-flagged civilian cargo ship on approach to Chornomorsk port on the morning of May 18, the third commercial vessel hit in Russian attacks off Odesa in a single day.

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