After hammering Russian ships on the open ocean, Ukraine’s drone boats appear to be taking the fight to new waters.

• Ukraine’s naval drones are now targeting Russia in waters other than the open ocean.

• It recently unveiled drones designed for use on rivers, including the Barracuda drone.

• The unit operating the Barracuda said it was able to destroy Russian bases and boats.

Naval drones used by Ukraine to hammer Russia’s Black Sea fleet are now targeting Russia in new waterways.

Ukraine’s 30th Marine Corps’ 40th Coastal Defense Brigade said last week that uncrewed “Baruda” drones were capable of penetrating Russian positions, dropping mines and striking Russian targets, damaging a Russian logistics base and a boat equipped with machine guns.

The strike comes as Ukraine fields more naval drones designed to seek out Russian targets over small bodies of water.

The brigade shared footage of the fight which appears to have been captured by a camera on a drone. A cruise ship can be seen navigating a wide stretch of water before entering a very narrow, gray-water channel.

A newly released video shows a camouflaged boat at the base, and then aerial footage shows a huge explosion followed by images of a destroyed building on the water’s edge.

The footage shows that, like many of Ukraine’s naval drone strikes, an attack on a limited inland waterway did not take place on the open sea; Ukrainian outlet Militarny reported that the strike took place on the Dnipro River.

Ukraine has used drones on land, air and sea to gather enemy intelligence and strike Russian targets, and its naval drones have helped weaken Russia’s Black Sea fleet. Ukraine does not have a suitable navy with powerful ships, but several cheap drones have damaged Russia’s expensive warships, forcing Russia to divert several ships away.

However, using drones in river environments or small bodies of water is a relatively new development for Ukraine, opening up a new range of targets for the newly developed technology.

Dedicated drones for those areas, like Barracuda or Ursula or Black Widow 2, are new technology compared to systems like Sea Baby or Magura drones for the open ocean. Ukraine is constantly upgrading its naval drones and creating new ones.

The Barracuda drone was first demonstrated in September by the 40th Separate Coastal Defense Brigade.

The 40th Separate Coastal Defense Brigade demonstrated the Barracuda in September, saying the drone is designed to perform “tasks humans can’t do,” including evacuating people from coastal areas and delivering munitions to dangerous areas.

It said a month ago that the drone is modular, making it easy to swap out different types of weapons, from mines to grenade launchers. It also shared that it uses artificial intelligence, though details are limited.

A special unit of the same name designed and launched the Barracuda and is currently the only one in the Ukrainian military to operate the drone.

In recent months, Ukraine said the Barracuda destroyed a Russian logistics ship and its crew and used naval mines to block channels between the islands.

Drones are being used more in this war than in any other conflict in history, with Ukraine relying heavily on them as it faces regular shortages of weapons, ammunition and manpower.

Drones give Ukraine a key advantage because they can be produced domestically and at a fraction of the cost of more conventional weapons, creating an asymmetric threat to expensive assets such as Black Sea Fleet warships or T-90 tanks on the battlefield. Ukraine’s defense minister said last week that the armed forces expected to receive about 3 million FPV drones by the end of the year, most of them home-made – although Russia is also rapidly developing and fielding similar technology.

Worried about the possibility of future conflict with Russia, many in the West are closely watching Ukraine’s strategy and new warfare techniques. A naval drone is one of the innovations Ukraine says it is willing to export to partner nations.

NATO allies and defense companies are working on the technology, particularly in the Baltic Sea, which is shared by NATO members and Russia. The US military is also exploring the potential of these weapons systems.

U.S. Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, NATO’s top allied commander in Europe, called the way Ukraine could move Russia’s navy via drones “the middle of things in the future.” He said that “there seems to be a big role for unmanned maritime systems in the future.”

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