Two More Svetlyaks: Kerch Is Not a Safe Harbor for the FSB's Coast Guard

Overnight into August 6, drones found two Project 10410 Svetlyak-class patrol ships of the FSB Coast Guard, the Balaklava and the Kerch, tied up in the port of Kerch in occupied Crimea. The Security Service of Ukraine confirmed both were damaged. The same operation set the Slavneft-YANOS refinery in Yaroslavl burning for the second night running, more than 700 kilometers from the border. One night, two very different target sets, one message: nothing parked under a Russian flag is out of reach, not even inside the FSB's own harbor.

Two Hulls, One Night

The SBU's statement, carried by Interfax-Ukraine and UNN, was dry and specific: two Project 10410 Svetlyak patrol ships of the Russian FSB's Coast Guard, the Balaklava and the Kerch, were damaged in a drone attack on the port of Kerch. The service did not name the drone type, and it rarely does. What it did say is worth quoting: the SBU is "consistently working to reduce Russia's military-economic potential," and military facilities and energy enterprises serving the aggression will keep getting hit.

The energy half of that sentence played out in Yaroslavl. Per SBU claims relayed by Interfax-Ukraine and Mezha, at least six explosions were heard at the Slavneft-YANOS refinery, fires broke out in four separate sections, four RVS-2000 crude storage tanks were damaged with two burning, and the ELOU-1 and AVT-3 processing units caught fire. The Kyiv Independent notes this was the second consecutive night YANOS was hit. The plant is one of Russia's five largest, with a reported capacity near 15 million tonnes a year, feeding gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to central Russia and the Moscow region. Treat the damage specifics as reported estimates until satellite imagery settles the question.

One night, two target sets: the August 6 overnight package, schematic. Graphic: Project Leaflet.

Moscow's own framing of the night tells you the scale. The Russian defense ministry claimed its air defenses intercepted 605 Ukrainian drones overnight, a figure reported by Al Jazeera and, as always with Russian MOD arithmetic, best read as a claim rather than a count.

The Svetlyak Hunt Is a Campaign Now

The FSB Coast Guard's workhorse: Project 10410 Svetlyak class profile. Graphic: Project Leaflet.

A Svetlyak is not a capital ship. Per United24 Media, the class displaces about 375 tonnes, carries a crew of 28, makes better than 30 knots, and mounts a 76mm or 30mm gun with heavy machine guns on top. These are the workhorses of the FSB Border Guard: escort duty, strait policing, boarding parties, the daily muscle of the occupation's maritime perimeter.

That is exactly why Ukraine keeps shooting at them. In June, Defense Express reported an SBU Alpha drone strike that disabled a Svetlyak's mast antennas, counting it as the third of the class hit in roughly two months. In mid-July, Euromaidan Press and United24 Media tracked two more Svetlyaks struck at Kerch on consecutive days. Add the Balaklava and the Kerch, and open-source reporting now points to at least seven claimed hits on the class since spring. Damage levels vary from antenna farms to burned-out superstructures, and not every hull is a write-off. But the pattern is unambiguous: someone in Kyiv has decided the FSB Coast Guard should not have a functioning patrol fleet in the Black Sea, and they are working the list.

Why It Matters

The FSB's ships are the connective tissue of occupied Crimea's sea lines: they screen the approaches to the Kerch Strait and the bridge, shepherd tanker and cargo traffic that sanctions are supposed to be strangling, and police the Azov coastline. Every hull in a repair yard is a gap in that screen. And the economics are brutal in Ukraine's favor: a 375-tonne warship with 28 sailors aboard is an expensive thing to lose to a drone that costs a rounding error of its price. Russia's options are all bad. Disperse the ships and thin the patrol net. Concentrate them and feed the target list. Keep them in Kerch and accept that the port is now a shooting gallery. The channel has watched Sevastopol empty out over two years of naval drone pressure; Kerch appears to be next in the queue.

What to Watch

First, imagery. Commercial satellite passes over Kerch and Yaroslavl in the coming days will grade the SBU's claims, and we will update when they do. Second, basing behavior: if FSB hulls start showing up in Novorossiysk or further up the Azov coast, that is the tell that Kerch is being written off as an anchorage. Third, the refinery math: YANOS has reportedly burned repeatedly this year, and every re-strike shortens the repair cycle Russia can sustain. Fourth, retaliation: Moscow's recent pattern has been to answer deep strikes with massed drone and missile nights against Ukrainian cities, and there is no reason to expect this week to break the habit.

The full-motion version of this war moves through the channel first. Follow t.me/TheLeaflet for the raw feed, and The Daily Sitrep for the analysis once the smoke clears.

Sources

Security Service of Ukraine statements via Interfax-Ukraine and UNN; Mezha; The Kyiv Independent; United24 Media; Euromaidan Press; Defense Express; Al Jazeera. Battle damage figures are combatant claims and reported estimates pending independent verification. Graphics: Project Leaflet originals.