© Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine The Ukrainian military once more “overcame” NATO naval units.
In NATO’s REPMUS/Dynamic Messenger 2025 drills, a Ukrainian-led squad acting as the “adversary” uncovered a weakness within NATO’s maritime capabilities and “destroyed” at least one allied frigate, as reported by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), which obtained details about the exercise.
A Ukrainian participant directly involved in the drills informed the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that five scenarios were executed off the Portuguese coast, encompassing harbor and convoy defense, as well as strikes on convoys. The “red” side prevailed over NATO’s “blue” forces in each of these scenarios. Ukrainian Magura V7 marine drones were deployed—compact, unmanned, high-velocity vessels capable of either colliding with enemy ships or engaging them with onboard weaponry.
Since the onset of the extensive Russian incursion in 2022, the Ukrainian Navy, employing these marine drones, along with missiles and other arms, has effectively pushed the Russian fleet from the western Black Sea, despite lacking substantial ships of its own.
Notably, in April 2022, the missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was taken down.
Consequently, the Russian fleet was compelled to relocate its primary base from Sevastopol in occupied Crimea to Novorossiysk, situated further east. Nonetheless, even at that port, a Ukrainian underwater drone targeted a Russian submarine the previous December.
According to a Ukrainian source, the “red” contingent in the REPMUS/Dynamic Messenger 2025 exercise was comprised of American, British, Spanish, and other components, but the overall command was under Ukrainian authority.
The purpose was to evaluate novel technologies in a context that mirrors real-world combat as closely as possible, simulating electronic warfare, acoustic surveillance, and other elements.
The Ukrainian side contributed various models of the Magura V7 sea drone. One was outfitted with surveillance technology and an explosive payload, while another featured a machine gun. Other participating nations also utilized unmanned vessels.
The exercise rules stipulated that actual attacks on “enemy” vessels were prohibited. Victory was determined by achieving the first lock-on to the enemy, which was documented via video.
For instance, if a ship’s radar detected a drone before the ship spotted it visually, the attack was deemed successful. Conversely, if the ship’s crew identified the drone first, it was considered intercepted.
Numerous units were engaged across the five exercise scenarios. Alongside naval drones, aircraft and sizable warships were employed by both factions.
At the conclusion of the fourth week, Kyiv announced the victory of the “red” team. The exercises highlighted that unmanned systems, combined with battlefield expertise and strategic planning, represent a substantial risk to NATO naval forces, as the Alliance is not yet adequately ready for such assaults.
In one replicated assault on a convoy, the Red Team inflicted so many notional “strikes” on the frigate that it would have been destroyed in an actual engagement. After several “hits,” the NATO sailors even typed in the chat: “Are you going to attack us or not?” — unaware that the attack was already underway.
A Ukrainian source clarifies: “The issue wasn’t their inability to intercept us — it was their inability to even detect our drones.”
NATO gained a similar insight on land the previous autumn. During the Hedgehog exercise in Estonia, around ten Ukrainian drone experts managed to render two NATO battalions inoperable.
Brussels acknowledged at the time that they were “astonished” by the inadequate preparedness of allied forces for a drone-centric conflict akin to the ongoing one in Ukraine.