Ukrainian Drones Sinks Russian Cargo Ship Carrying Drone Parts in Caspian Sea
Ukraine has carried out an audacious drone strike on the Caspian Sea port of Olya, in Russia’s Astrakhan region, hitting one cargo vessel that Kyiv says was being used to transport arms from Iran.
U.K.-based maritime security firm Ambrey confirmed to TWZ that this is the first time a direct attack of this kind had been made on Olya and that it resulted in one ship sunk. It also appears to be the first time that Ukraine has successfully targeted any kind of vessel in the Caspian Sea area.
According to the Ukrainian military, the attack on Olya yesterday was carried out by units of the country’s special operations forces, in coordination with other branches of the armed forces.
The cargo vessel that was hit was the 400-foot-long, 4,900-gross-ton Port Olya-4, and imagery from the port shows the ship partially submerged, while it was alongside at anchor. Extensive scorch marks on the bridge and superstructure of the Russia-flagged vessel suggest that this was the likely point of impact. Unconfirmed reports, relayed by Ambrey, suggested that all of the crew had been rescued.
The Ukrainian Special Operations Forces and other AFU units "struck" the Caspian Sea port of Olya sinking the general cargo ship, "Port Olya 4." The ship was reportedly carrying components for Shaheds and ammunition from Iran. Imagery of the sunken vessel shows extensive fire… pic.twitter.com/g1lTIkmOpF
— OSINT Intuit 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇬🇧 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 🇬🇪 (@UKikaski) August 15, 2025
It’s unclear what kind of drone Ukraine used to target the port, with no clarification from the Ukrainian military on this point. Kyiv has relied heavily on drones for long-range attacks against targets in Russia and occupied Crimea.
The Ukrainian military said the Port Olya-4 was being used to carry drone components and ammunition from Iran. The drone components reportedly included parts for the Shahed-type drones that Russia has employed heavily in its regular strikes on Ukraine. Russia is now building more than 2,000 of these long-range one-way attack drones each month, with that number only expected to grow in the coming months.
While the precise nature of the cargo cannot be confirmed at this point, both the U.S. Treasury Department and Ukrainian military intelligence report that the vessel regularly transits the Caspian Sea, bringing cargo between Iran and Russia.
Source: The War Zone
