A Russian warship was attacked by Ukrainian drones in the Gulf of Finland on Wednesday, Finnish officials have confirmed, although few details about the attack are still known.
Ukraine's Security Service has announced that the target of the attack was the Russian ship "Naro-Fominsk", as part of a wider drone operation against the Russian oil export depot in Ust-Luga, on the Baltic Sea coast.
This attack, believed to be the first time that Ukrainian drones have hit a Russian ship in an area of the Baltic Sea open to civilian maritime traffic, has raised questions about the possibility of expanding Ukrainian operations in this region.
Finland, one of Kiev's closest European allies, has called the incident a direct consequence of Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine.
However, the Finnish military has given few details about the attack, which is suspected to have taken place in a narrow part of the bay, some distance from the Finnish coast.
Finland's Foreign Minister, Elina Valtonen, has insisted that the situation in the Baltic Sea remains stable and safe, stressing that there is no threat to maritime traffic.
Meanwhile, defense officials have reportedly drawn Kiev's attention to the fact that the Gulf of Finland is a relatively narrow waterway, used by oil tankers and civilian ships, and contains underwater data transmission cables.
Estonian Defense Minister Martin Herem, whose country borders the bay, told public broadcaster ERR that the ship was hit at around 05:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
"We know that smoke was then seen coming from the ship. The ship itself turned towards St. Petersburg," he said, without giving details of how the attack was carried out.
According to the BBC , it is not yet known the extent of the damage or whether there were any casualties among the Russian warship's crew. Moscow rarely releases such details.
