Filenews 29 March 2024 - by David Axe
Throughout the Cold War, the Soviet Navy's AGI "spy boats" lurked along the shorelines of U.S. and allied forces in order to detect and attempt to intercept military radar and other systems.
Today, larger and more sophisticated spy ships have replaced AGIs. One of them, the Yury Ivanov-class intelligence ship Ivan Khurs, which belongs to the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet.
For about a year, the Ukrainian army has been pursuing the 4,000-ton Ivan Khurs with 131 crew members with drones and missiles. On Sunday, according to Ukrainian forces, Kiev fired a cruise missile at the ship, which was anchored in Russian-occupied Sevastopol. The Ukrainian side said the same attack damaged three other landing ships.
Ten months ago, in May, Ukrainian naval drones with explosives pursued the Ivan Khurs while the Russian intelligence ship was sailing 75 miles northeast of the Bosporus in the western Black Sea.
"The drone had to travel more than 310 miles in an extremely difficult operation," an official source told Ukrainian news outlet Pravda. "The start of the mission was delayed due to bad weather. The operators' connection to the drone was severed repeatedly."
The drone approached the Russian vessel and exploded, but did not cause any damage to the "Ivan Khurs", since it was then spotted sailing towards Sevastopol.
The Ukrainians continued to target this ship. The Ivan Khurs is equipped with radar warning receivers (RWR) and other electronic means of surveillance that enable it to detect the radars and missile batteries of the Ukrainians. Especially those lined up along the Black Sea coast. The same radars and missiles that have detected and shot down Russian warplanes over the Black Sea and sunk Russian warships.
As the Ukrainians have destroyed or damaged about a dozen of the Black Sea Fleet's three dozen old ships, the Russians are trying to avoid further strikes. And that's why they need to map Ukrainian forces on the Black Sea coast.
The Ukrainians, for their part, should continue strikes to prevent Moscow from mapping their coastal forces. In short: they need to sink the "Ivan Khurs".
It is unclear how severely damaged the Russian intelligence vessel was after Sunday's raid. Satellite images showed signs of fire at its stern. It may remain functional. Maybe not.
Either way, "Ivan Khurs" is in the foam. Most likely, the Ukrainians are not done with him – and a third attack is imminent.
