Ukraine attacks Russian warship in Baltic Sea... Concerns about war escalation due to unprecedented situation

Ukraine attacked a Russian warship in the Gulf of Finland.

This is believed to be the first case of a direct attack on a Russian warship in the Baltic Sea where civilian ships travel, raising concerns about an escalation of war.

According to the BBC on the 12th (local time), Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU) announced that it had struck the 'Naro-Fominsk' as part of a large-scale drone operation targeting Ustruga, a Russian oil export port on the Baltic Sea coast.

SBU explained that the Russian warship in question was a Buyan-M class small corvette equipped with Kalibr and Onyx cruise missiles.

Estonian Defense Minister Martin Herem said that the Russian warship was hit at around 5:30 a.m. on the 11th and that "we saw smoke rising and then returned to St. Petersburg."

However, the specifics of how the Russian warship was attacked and the extent of the damage have not yet been confirmed. Finnish military authorities also did not make any specific comments on this issue.

There are unconfirmed reports that a Russian combat helicopter was also hit, but the truth has not been confirmed.

The BBC pointed out that Ukraine and Russia have repeatedly attacked ships on both sides in the Black Sea since the outbreak of war, but attacking ships in the Baltic Sea is unprecedented.

This incident is attracting attention as an example of military tension expanding beyond the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea as the war continues for nearly five years.

In particular, the water area where the attack occurred is not only a relatively narrow waterway used by oil tankers as well as civilian ships, but also a place where undersea data cables are buried, raising security concerns.

However, Finnish authorities are dismissing this incident as a result of Russia's all-out war and that there is no additional security threat.

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said the situation in the Baltic Sea remained stable and safe and there was no threat to maritime traffic.

Emil Castelhelmi, an analyst at the Blackbird Group, a Finnish military research group, said, "The Baltic Fleet has not been attacked so far, but the Ukrainian side had an opportunity, so of course they took advantage of it," but said he did not view the incident itself as a sign of a serious escalation of war.

Ukraine has regularly carried out drone attacks against Russia.

On the 11th, an attack targeting Ustruga Port destroyed several oil storage tanks and caused a fire.

Ukrainian drones mainly flew along the Estonian border, and one reportedly briefly entered Estonian airspace from Latvia before heading to Russia.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgi Tychy dismissed claims that Ukraine attacked Russia using the Baltic country's airspace as baseless, but said, "An accident may occur when Russia changes the course of a drone in its own airspace by electronic means."