Artem Dekhtyarenko, a spokesman for the Security Service of Ukraine, made the announcement on the United News telethon.
"Of course, we cannot disclose all the technical characteristics so as not to help the enemy, but we can note that these are new generations of drones, which the Security Service team of specialists together with the Navy and other colleagues have been working on improving. For example, Sea Baby 2024 is a new generation drone that is even more deadly. It differs from the previous model in appearance and technical characteristics. It is capable of delivering almost a ton of explosives over a distance of more than 1000 kilometers. This means that the Security Service can reach a target almost anywhere in the Black Sea," Dekhtyarenko said.
According to the spokesperson, in 2022, there was no alternative to the Security Service’s maritime strike drones in the world. Existing Western drones were large and unmaneuverable, and could easily be detected by enemy radars. In addition, Western drones did not have a combat unit because they were used for logistics or reconnaissance.
"Today, a drone costing UAH 8.5 million destroys an enemy warship worth tens of millions of dollars," he said.
In total, according to Dekhtyarenko, these drones hit 11 Russian ships and the Crimean bridge. The spokesman emphasized that each of the operations was developed with the participation of the Security Service’s Head Vasyl Malyuk.
The Security Service of Ukraine announced the unveiling of the first Sea Baby maritime drone from the new batch, named "Avdiivka," which was produced as a result of a large-scale volunteer fundraiser.