Russia’s defense ministry said Monday it had destroyed four speedboats carrying Ukrainian soldiers in the Black Sea this morning.
“In the northwestern part of the Black Sea (…) the naval aviation of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed four American-made Willard Sea Force military launches” who wore “Landing Parties of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”said the ministry.
Speaking to the Telegram messaging platform, the ministry said the Ukrainian boats were heading for Cape Tarkhankut, located on the western Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
On Wednesday, the ministry said it had destroyed four military boats in Kiev with some 50 special forces on board, without providing further information.
On August 24, Ukraine announced that it had carried out a rare military operation on the Crimean peninsula, symbolically raising the Ukrainian flag.
Ukrainian special forces emerged from the sea and landed west of the peninsula before departing “without loss”, Ukrainian military intelligence said.
Russia also announced on August 22 that it had “destroyed” a speedboat carrying Ukrainian soldiers near Serpents Island in the Black Sea, after claiming that a reconnaissance ship had been destroyed the same day.
Also Monday, Russia’s defense ministry said it shot down a Ukrainian drone over the Crimean peninsula, as well as a second unmanned aerial vehicle in Russia’s Kursk region, close to the border with Ukraine.
Ukrainian drones “were destroyed in the skies over the Black Sea near the Crimean peninsula and over the territory of the Kursk region by the air defense systems in service”reported the Russian Defense Ministry.
In a note published on the Telegram messaging platform, the ministry says the two attacks took place around 1 a.m. (11 p.m. on Sunday in Lisbon).
On Sunday, the Ukrainian navy said six Russian soldiers were killed in an attack on a Russian military patrol boat as it was conducting a landing operation in the northwestern Black Sea.
“Six occupants (…) were killed and another two (…) were injured”The Ukrainian navy said in a statement, accompanied by a video showing the Russian army jumping off the boat to unload material, possibly weapons, when a huge explosion occurs.
Ukraine has intensified attacks on the Black Sea and Crimea, mainly using ‘drones’, which have already caused serious damage, such as the Russian warship Olenogorsky Gornyak and the Kerch Bridge, which connects the peninsula to the Russian mainland .
Russia said on Saturday it shot down three Ukrainian naval drones in the Black Sea that targeted the Kerch Bridge, a strategic structure that was hit as early as the summer.
Source: DN
