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Naval drones destroyed 2 Russian patrol boats in occupied Crimea, military intelligence says

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Naval drones destroyed 2 Russian patrol boats in occupied Crimea, military intelligence says
Illustrative purposes only: A Ukrainian serviceman of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry controls a naval drone, Magura, during a demonstration for journalists at an undisclosed location in Ukraine on April 11, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images)

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.

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Purported footage of an attack by Ukrainian naval drones against a Russian boat depot in occupied Crimea overnight on May 30, 2024. (HUR/Telegram)

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.

Source: SBU has a new weapon – Grad-equipped Sea Baby drones
Naval drones used by the SBU have hit several Russian warships but until now have been kamikaze drones that explode on impact or in the near vicinity of a target.
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Martin Fornusek

Senior News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.

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