One of Ukraine’s naval drones sank a Russian patrol ship docked in the Black Sea resort town of Gelendzhik, close to a luxurious mansion allegedly linked to Vladimir Putin.The domestically-produced Sargan-3000 destroyed a 200ft-long-vessel called the Emerald, killing some crew members and injuring others.The strike is the latest escalation in Kyiv's unmanned maritime campaign, demonstrating the extent to which Ukrainian naval drones have helped Volodymyr Zelensky exercise greater control in the Black Sea.Ukraine's navy published a satellite photo of the destroyed ship - operated by Russia's FSB security service - which appeared to have broken in half from the impact. The Russian town of Gelendzhik is less than 15 miles from a sprawling palace that was the focus of an investigation by the late opposition activist Alexei Navalny. In a video posted in January 2021, which gained over a hundred million views in a month, the Kremlin critic alleged that the closely guarded complex was built for the Russian dictator.Navalny claimed the property cost £1bn and was paid for 'with the largest bribe in history', funded by a circle of businessmen close to Putin.The nearly two-hour video showed a lavish compound decked out with ostentatious features, including an ornate tea house, an amphitheater and a helipad. One of Ukraine ’s naval drones sank a Russian patrol ship docked in the Black Sea resort town of Gelendzhik, close to a luxurious mansion allegedly linked to Vladimir Putin The domestically-produced Sargan-3000 destroyed a 200ft-long-vessel called the Emerald, killing some crew members and injuring others Russian President Vladimir Putin pictured on June 22 in Moscow, RussiaThe footage of the mansion was released after Navalny, an anticorruption campaigner, flew back to Russia from Germany and went straight into custody.Putin denied he owned the palace, with his longtime associate, businessman Arkady Rotenberg, saying he was the proprietor of the infamous property.In 2024, Navalny died in a remote Arctic prison. His widow accused Putin of orchestrating her husband’s death, saying it was caused by poisoning. The Kremlin denies involvement in his death, which Russian officials claimed was caused by natural causes. Earlier in July, Zelensky said that Russia had lost control of the Black Sea.'Together with the other branches of Ukraine's Defense and Security Forces, the Ukrainian Navy has achieved what many believed was impossible. Russia has lost the Black Sea,' the Ukrainian leader said.Before it was destroyed, the Emerald took part in a November 2018 attack on Ukrainian vessels in the Kerch strait, the narrow waterway separating the Russian mainland from the Crimea peninsula, which Russia occupied and annexed from Ukraine in 2014.Ukraine has struck around 136 vessels linked to Russia’s shadow fleet in the Sea of Azov in recent weeks, including blasting 19 tankers in a single overnight operation on July 14. Ukraine attacked 19 Russian tankers on July 14, as the nation steps up its war against Putin's shadow fleet Ukraine has been targeting Russia's shadow fleet in an attempt to hit the Kremlin's coffersLast night, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), in cooperation with the Naval Forces, destroyed two more tankers belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet: the Louise 1 and the Banda.The SBU's 'Mamai' maritime drones were deployed against the vessels, subject to Ukrainian sanctions. The Louise 1 was being used to transport Russian crude oil during the G7 and EU oil embargo, according to Ukraine, delivering goods from Russian ports on the Baltic and Black Seas while turning off its automatic identification system. The Banda also transported Russian crude oil from the ports of Ust-Luga, Kerch, Novorossiysk, and Nakhodka, the SBU claimed.'During the attack by the SBU's maritime drones, enemy aircraft attempted to engage them - firing machine guns and dropping bombs - but to no avail. 'Striking vessels of the “shadow fleet” systematically deprives the Kremlin of funds for the war. It is these tankers that, in defiance of international sanctions, are transporting Russian oil and filling the aggressor state’s budget with billions of dollars.'Therefore, every blow to the “shadow fleet” is a direct blow to the Russian Federation’s ability to continue its aggression,' the SBU wrote on Telegram.Authorities in at least three Russian regions reported deaths and injuries inflicted by Ukrainian drone and rocket strikes overnight, as Kyiv's campaign against Russian energy infrastructure continues.In Yaroslavl region, 155 miles east of Moscow and home to an oil refinery that has come under repeated attack, Governor Mikhail Yevrayev said that one man had been killed and another four injured.He said 19 drones had been downed over the region, but did not specify what had been targeted.In the Volga river region of Saratov, Russian media cited local authorities as saying there were casualties after a drone strike on the city of Engels, which hosts an airbase that has come under repeated Ukrainian attack in recent years.In Russia's far west, the governor of Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, said that a 15-year-old girl and her grandmother had been killed in a rocket strike on the village of Suzemka that injured a third person.Russia has been experiencing acute fuel shortages across its 11 time zones in recent weeks, as Ukrainian long-range drone strikes hit its oil refineries and other energy infrastructure.Ukraine says it is seeking to limit the oil revenue that funds Russia's four-year-old war on its neighbour, with thousands of Ukrainians killed in Russian strikes far from the front line across southeastern Ukraine. Both sides deny targeting civilians.Ukrainian officials said Russian ballistic missiles struck at least two districts in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Thursday, triggering fires and killing two people.