A video released by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry looks at the moment members of its Special Operations Forces took out a Russian ship during a battle along the Dnieper River.
According to the shorten shared on Twitter, Ukrainian forces detected Russian personnel while reconnaissing an island on the Dnieper using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Members of Ukraine’s 73rd Naval Special Operations Center were dispatched on two ships for a “planned attack” on the Russian-controlled island, according to the Defense Ministry.
The Ukrainian army claimed that two Russian servicemen were killed in the initial attack. After the naval forces withdrew, the Kiev UAV crew used a first-person view drone to target additional Russian ships along the river during the fight.
Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty
In total, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said, it destroyed one ship and damaged another. Another Russian service member was also killed in the drone strike. Storyful confirmed that the video of the attack was taken in the Bilozerskyi district in the southern region of Kherson, according to SkyNews.
According to English translations provided by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, a narrator in the video noted that the outcome of the Ukraine mission “would have been completely different” without the use of UAVs.
“The reality of modern warfare dictates new rules,” the narrator said at the beginning of the clip. “Only a drone can determine the outcome of the entire operation. Only a drone can determine whether you live or die, and we see evidence of this every day on the front lines.”
Since Kiev launched its long-awaited counter-offensive, fighting has been largely concentrated along Ukraine’s southern border, where the Dnieper River divides Russian-Ukrainian controlled territory. The 16-month war has also served as something of a blueprint for modern warfare, as both militaries are heavily reliant on their drone supplies.
The United States has supplied the Ukrainian military with US-made UAVs and munitions, including as part of a $300 million military aid package announced by US officials in May. However, Ukrainian officials have vowed not to use US-supplied drones to strike on Russian soil. reported The Associated Press.
Russia is still in control of large portions of southeastern Ukraine, but Kiev has successfully recaptured much of the territory initially lost after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged that your country’s current offensive campaign is advancing. “slower than desired”, Ukraine is expected to finally succeed in recapturing land occupied by Russia.
news week reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry by email on Friday afternoon for comment.