The recent destruction of the cargo vessel Port Olya-4 by Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SOF) highlights the complexity of such operations, Defense Express reports. The 123-meter-long ship regularly transported Shahed-136 drones, drone components, ammunition, and other Iranian weaponry from Iran to Russia via the Caspian Sea.Owned by the shipping company MG-Flot, Port Olya-4 had been involved in moving Russian military cargo since 2021. Following the start of active Russian-Iranian cooperation, the vessel frequently sailed between the Iranian port of Amirabad and Port Olya, south of Astrakhan in the Volga Delta.Photographs of the strike show the ship at anchor close to shore, with its bridge completely destroyed and the vessel partially submerged. Ukrainian SOF confirmed the ship was loaded with drone components and ammunition from Iran at the time of the attack. While the exact weapon used has not been disclosed, long-range drones are believed to have been involved. The strike prompted a security alert in Astrakhan Oblast during the night.Hitting and especially sinking a ship with drones is far from easily accomplished. First, the vessel must be tracked—complicated by the fact that Russian ships often turn off their transponders. According to maritime traffic monitoring services, Port Olya-4 was near Iranian waters on August 1 and passed by Azerbaijan close to the Russian border on August 12, illustrating the challenges of monitoring such moving targets.On August 14, Ukrainian forces struck the seaport Olya and a vessel loaded with components for Shaheds in Russia's Astrakhan region.