The Russian military claims to have killed “up to 25 soldiers” from a “Ukrainian sabotage” group who tried to board a speedboat. For its part, Kiev suggested that the navy soldiers “died heroically during a combat mission”.
The Russian military claimed to have repelled the landing of special forces commandos from Kiev in occupied southern Ukraine this Thursday, February 29, claiming that “up to 25 soldiers” had been killed and others captured.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that its troops “destroyed a Ukrainian sabotage group from the 73rd Naval Special Operations Center that attempted to board a speedboat” near the Tendrivska Isthmus, located along the occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson region.
“At the end of the rapid battle, four boats of the landing group were destroyed and sunk, while the fifth turned back,” the ministry added.
“Enemy losses amounted to 25 Ukrainian soldiers. One serviceman was taken prisoner,” according to the Russian military.
“heroically dead” according to Kiev.
Ukrainian special forces also said fighters from the 73rd Naval Special Operations Center “died heroically during a combat mission,” in a statement released overnight Wednesday into Thursday. The press release did not reveal the number of deaths, nor the date and place of their deaths.
The special forces simply explained that the soldiers were killed while covering the “withdrawal of the main forces from the group”, who had completed a “special mission”.
Ukraine has been trying for months to cross the Dnieper River, whose left (east) bank is occupied by Russian troops in the Kherson region. Ukrainian forces managed to establish at least one bridgehead near the village of Krinki further north in 2023 but never allowed Kiev’s forces to advance south.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in February that the Russian military had regained control of Kryniki, which Ukrainian authorities denied.
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