Ukrainian drones supposedly sank a NATO frigate during exercises – media

During NATO’s multinational naval exercise REPMUS/ Dynamic Messenger 2025, a team led by Ukraine simulatedly “ sunk “ an Alliance frigate using naval drones.

This is reported by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The exercises were held in Portugal. The so – called “ red” team played the role of a hypothetical enemy, while the “ blue” team represented NATO forces . The “ red” team included units from the United States, Great Britain, Spain , and other countries, and was led by Ukraine.

According to a source who participated in the exercises, the scenarios involved protecting ports and sea convoys. In all scenarios, the Ukrainian -led team defeated the Alliance forces .

According to the rules of the exercises, victory was awarded to the side that was able to successfully attack the enemy ships . During the simulated attack, the “ reds” inflicted so many conditional hits on the NATO frigate that in a real battle it would have sunk.

The source noted that Alliance forces were unable to detect the weapons used in the attack .

The Ukrainian side also demonstrated several versions of the Magura V7 naval drone . One of them was equipped with reconnaissance equipment and an explosive charge, the other with a machine gun.

The publication notes that these exercises demonstrated the effectiveness of unmanned systems and their ability to pose a serious threat to naval forces when used in conjunction with combat experience and thoughtful planning.

A NATO spokesperson confirmed the exercises and called them an important milestone for the Alliance, as it was the first time the Ukrainian fleet coordinated the actions of a hypothetical enemy during such exercises .

As previously reported, NATO has begun large-scale ten-day exercises in the Arctic, involving more than 25,000 military personnel from 14 countries.

As a reminder, the results of international exercises demonstrated a significant gap between the theoretical developments of Western strategists and the harsh reality of combat operations. Ukrainian drone operators demonstrated complete superiority over outdated defense methods, which caused dissonance among NATO representatives.