Finnish officials have confirmed that a Russian warship was attacked in the Gulf of Finland on Wednesday. While specific details of the strike remain limited, Ukraine's SBU security service stated the operation targeted the ship Naro-Fominsk. This was part of a wider drone operation aimed at Russia's Ust-Luga oil export depot located on the Baltic coast.
The SBU described the vessel as a Buyan-M type small corvette equipped with Kalibr and Oniks cruise missiles. The strike is thought to be the first instance of Ukrainian drones attacking a Russian ship in an area of the Baltic Sea open to civilian maritime traffic.
Estonian Defence Minister Martin Herem told the public broadcaster ERR that the ship was hit at approximately 05:30 (03:30 GMT) on Wednesday. While he did not specify the method of attack, he noted that smoke was seen coming from the ship afterward and that the vessel proceeded back toward St Petersburg. The extent of the damage or casualties remains unclear, as Moscow rarely provides such information.
The attack occurred during a period of drone activity from midnight until about 06:00 on Wednesday. Herem stated that drones attacked the Ust-Luga region, mostly flying close to the Estonian border within Russian airspace. He noted that one drone briefly entered Estonian airspace from Latvia before heading toward Russia. Although Nato aircraft based in the Baltic states were in the air during this time, Herem said it was not considered safe for them to destroy the drones.
Several storage tanks at the Ust-Luga terminal are thought to have been hit overnight on Wednesday, with fires at the port visible from across the Estonian border.
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen maintained that the Baltic Sea remains stable and safe, asserting there is no threat to marine traffic. Defence officials have reportedly stressed to Kyiv that the Gulf is a narrow waterway used by civilian vessels and oil tankers, and contains subsea data cables.
Military analyst Emil Kastehelmi, co-founder of the Black Bird monitoring group, stated that the Baltic Sea fleet had been untouched until this point, but there was a "window of opportunity for Ukraine and they understandably tried to use it." Despite the strike being unprecedented in this region, Kastehelmi told the BBC he does not view it as a serious escalation.
Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyy said late Wednesday that Moscow's claims regarding the use of Baltic state airspace for the attack were "baseless." However, Tykhyy acknowledged that "incidents might occur when Russia diverts drones from its airspace using electronic warfare."
