Senior Warrant Officer Denis Nikitin of the Russian Navy was killed in an attack by an unmanned boat of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on November 10th, as reported on the official website of the Black Sea District Cossack Society.
The AFU targeted the Black Sea Fleet base in one of the coastal settlements in Crimea. The attack involved four drone boats aiming at Russian landing craft of the 11770 Serna project. Nikitin was commanding one of these boats and died while trying to save the vessel from being hit by a Ukrainian drone.
Nikitin was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage. He is survived by his wife and two daughters, aged 17 and 16. The sailor was also a member of the "Nevsky" rural Cossack society. His funeral took place on November 20th in Novorossiysk.
On November 14th, the deceased Chief of Staff of the 810th Separate Marine Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet, Guard Lieutenant Colonel Yan Sukhanov, was buried in Sevastopol. Sukhanov's unit participated in the battles for Mariupol and the Azovstal plant.
