Russia Accidentally Sank Own Ship During Baltic Navy Drills

Russia has accidentally sunk one of its own ships with a missile during naval drills off the coast of the Kaliningrad region, killing three crew members and injuring four others, according to local media reports.

During a Baltic Fleet exercise on March 19, a missile mistakenly blew up the trawler Captain Lobanov, independent television channel TV Rain (Dozhd) reported, citing a relative of one of the crew members. Three crew members were killed, four more were wounded, and the captain's cabin was destroyed, the source said.

Authorities reported at the time that a "fire" broke out on the ship, and that just one person was killed.

"When they were taking away the survivors, everyone knew perfectly well that three people had been killed," the source told TV Rain. "And everyone knew perfectly well that a missile had hit. But they decided to write that there was a 'fire.' I wonder what kind of fire it was, if the captain's cabin was completely gone, it was simply blown away."

The surviving crew members were taken to a hospital in the city of Pionersk, with one person in a serious condition.

The source claimed that officers with Russia's Federal Security Service interrogated the crew members, ordering them "not to talk about the incident."

Newsweek couldn't independently verify the report and has contacted Russia's defense ministry for comment by email.

A video circulated by Russian Telegram channels appears to show the ship on fire in the sea.

"It looks like Russians drowned their own ship during an exercise. Way to go!" said Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, on X (formerly Twitter).

At the time of the reported incident, state news agency Tass said Russia's Baltic Fleet was conducting drills in the area.

Citing the Baltic Fleet's press service, the news agency reported that the corvette Boikiy destroyed a mock submarine during an exercise on March 19.

The crew of the corvette worked on "searching, detecting and destroying a mock enemy submarine using an anti-submarine weapon system," the fleet said in a statement.

Rochan Consulting, a firm which specializes in open source intelligence, conflict reporting and analysis, assessed in September 2023 that Russia's Baltic Fleet no longer has the ability to launch large-scale amphibious operations, as it has "had its capacities degraded" throughout the war in Ukraine.

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