According to Oleksandr Kovalenko, a military and political observer from the Information Resistance group, the Russian military-industrial complex currently does not produce missile boats like the sunken Ivanovets.
Speaking on Hromadske Radio, he explained:
«These boats were manufactured from 1979 to 1996, with the last one in the series being the Chuvashia boat, built over nine years. While these boats don’t carry Kalibr sea-launched cruise missiles, they are equipped with P-15 Termit or P-270 Moskit anti-ship missiles. It was also possible to upgrade these missiles to X-35 missiles, capable of striking land targets. Thus, the loss of the Ivanovets is more significant and painful for them precisely because these boats are no longer in production».
On the night of February 1, soldiers from Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence Unit’s specialized Group 13 attacked the Ivanovets missile boat of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The boat was on a raid in Lake Donuzlav in occupied Crimea at the time and was attacked by surface kamikaze drones. The drones hit the boat’s hull multiple times, causing it to tilt towards the stern and eventually sink. The estimated cost of the boat is $60-70 million, and preliminary information suggests that the Russian occupiers’ search and rescue operation was unsuccessful.