Operation Rybalka: HUR damaged Serpukhov ship and received secret data about Russia's Baltic Fleet

HUR representative Andrii Yusov, spokesperson for the "I want to live!" project Vitalii Matviienko and a former Russian sailor with the call sign "Goga" who defected to Ukraine said this at a press conference at Ukrinform.

"In early April of this year, there was information about an incident, smoke at the small missile ship Serpukhov, which is part of the Baltic Fleet and is based in the city of Baltiysk. Now we can say that it was a part of Operation 'Rybalka,' which lasted from 2023," Yusov said.

According to him, as a result of this operation, "a large amount of important information was obtained, which helps the Ukrainian Security and Defense Forces, and the modern small missile ship Serpukhov, which was put on combat duty in 2015, was disabled for at least six months."

Yusov said that a former Russian service member, a sailor with the call sign "Goga," who became a member of the Freedom of Russia Legion, had helped carry out the operation. In particular, in 2023, he got in touch with Ukrainian military intelligence through the "I want to live!" project and, as part of the cooperation, agreed to disable the Serpukhov missile ship on which he was serving. He also provided Ukrainian intelligence with secret information about the Baltic Fleet and Russia's military industry.

"The enemy does not fully understand what we received, what we learned about," Yusov said.

He said that the disabled Serpukhov ship is the carrier of Kalibr and Onyx missiles, which the enemy uses to strike Ukrainian territory.

"This is our first operation in the Baltic Fleet. For the enemy, it was a shock and a big surprise. After this operation, there were reshuffles, investigations, and punishments in the Baltic Fleet. It is clear that some heads dropped," Yusov said.

He called this operation another successful step by the Freedom of Russia Legion, which demonstrates that Russians are ready to fight against Putin's regime.

At the same time, the safe exit of the "Goga" sailor was a separate operation. Now he is in Ukraine and is ready to continue fighting against the regime of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin as part of the Freedom of Russia Legion, together with the Security Forces of Ukraine, Yusov said.

The former Russian sailor "Goga," in turn, said that he had served in the Baltic Fleet for 11 years. In 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, he became the only military man on his ship who spoke out against the war and did not hide his views.

"I tried to resign. I said that I could not serve in the army. The commander was shocked when he read this. The commander immediately sent me for a psychological examination. He thought that I was not normal if I went against the Russian authorities. He sent me to a psychologist, a psychiatrist, handed over my report to the command and the prosecutor's office - to all authorities to decide what to do with me next," the Russian said.

In the end, according to the sailor, the prosecutor's office opened an administrative case against him. "The prosecutor read the report on my dismissal, said that I could not do that, and that this was the first and last warning. And he let me go. No sanctions were applied to me. I continued to serve on my ship," the former Russian sailor said.

After that, he tried to resign through the court, but he was not dismissed. In 2023, he contacted the "I want to live!" project and began to cooperate with the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate.