The special forces of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, "Group 13," with the help of Ukrainian Magura V5 naval attack drones, attacked the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation in temporarily occupied Crimea. The Russians tried to destroy the marine drones as they approached Narrow Bay; for this, they lifted combat aircraft into the sky 32 times, according to DIU. In particular, Su-27/30/35, MiG-29, Be-12, and An-26 aircraft and Ka-27/29 and Mi-8 helicopters were used. Ukrainian intelligence reports that the occupiers tried to destroy the targets with small arms.
"However, nothing prevented the special forces of the DIU of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine from successfully completing their combat mission: as a result of the strike, two Russian boats were destroyed — according to preliminary data, the high-speed landing craft KS-701 Tuna," the department reports.
The Main Intelligence Directorate recalled that in just five months of 2024, the Group 13 special forces had already destroyed the Ivanovets missile ship, the large landing ship Caesar Kunikov, the corvette Sergey Kotov, and the Mongoose high-speed patrol boat. The Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation went to the bottom thanks to the Magura V5 marine attack drones.
The Center for Strategic Communications of the Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine notes that the Russian Federation is now paying great attention to the protection of the Crimean Bridge. Even combat aviation is involved for this purpose.
"Although one of the components of the protection of this bridge has actually been knocked out — this is the surface component. That is, in fact, this bridge is no longer guarded from the sea. On the other hand, they have greatly strengthened the air component," says Captain 3rd Rank Dmitry Pletenchuk, head of the Center for Strategic Communications of the Southern Ukrainian Defense Forces.
According to Pletenchuk, the occupiers are using an entire fleet to cover an illegal structure called the Crimean Bridge. And fighting enemy aircraft over the sea is not an easy task.
"This is actually a fleet, perhaps represented by all the vehicles that are generally available to the armed forces and the fleet of the Russian Federation. These are several Su models, starting from the 24th and ending with the latest 35th, and even more. I will say that we saw a very, very rare 'beast' in the air. They had one there — 'there are no analogues in the world,'" Pletenchuk said.
The Ukrainian Defense Forces say that at the moment there are doubts about whether or not to hit the Crimean Bridge. However, these plans are not being abandoned in Ukraine. "And again, there are many questions about expediency as of now. Therefore, we will see how the course of events will develop. The bridge has already been in the crosshairs several times," Pletenchuk added.
