Naval drones destroyed 2 Russian patrol boats in occupied Crimea, military intelligence says
Naval drones operated by Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) hit two Russian patrol boats, likely the KS-701 Tunets (Tuna) model, in occupied Crimea overnight on May 30, a source in the agency told the Kyiv Independent.
The military intelligence agency publicly confirmed the statement soon after, publishing a video of the attack and saying that the two vessels had been destroyed.
The agency said that its Group 13 unit attacked a boat depot with Magura V5 naval drones in Vuzka Bay, which lies at the Chornomorske town on Crimea's western coast.
In order to thwart the attack, Russian forces scrambled their aircraft 32 times, including Su-27/30/35 and MiG-29 jets, Be-12 and An-26 aircraft, and Ka-27/29 and Mi-8 helicopters, the statement read.
Russian troops also responded "randomly" with fire from small arms and 30 mm cannons.
Earlier the same day, Russian authorities claimed that a Ukrainian missile attack damaged two transport ferries in the port city of Kerch in eastern Crimea.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Russian air defense downed eight long-range U.S.-supplied ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missiles and eight drones overnight.
Ukraine has carried out a number of successful attacks against Russian targets in Crimea and its vicinity, heavily degrading the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Magura drones destroyed the Russian Sergey Kotov patrol ship on March 5, and the Ropucha-class landing ship Caesar Kunikov was sunk by drones on Feb. 14.
Chris York
