Ukraine’s military intelligence service said its forces regained control of several drilling rigs in the Black Sea that were used by Russia for parking helicopters and radar activities.
Special forces units seized a cache of helicopter ammunition and a Neva radar system used to track naval movements from platforms off the coast of Crimea, the GUR spy agency said on Monday. Ministry of Defense in a statement. A Russian Su-30 fighter jet that engaged Ukrainian forces on ships was damaged and withdrawn, GUR said.
The agency said intelligence units carried out a “one-time operation” to recover him Petro Godovenets i Ukraine drilling rigs, as well as the Tavryda i Syvash facilities. The Russian Ministry of Defense has made no mention of the operation.
Ukraine has cited slow progress on the southern front in recent weeks, with the military seeking to break through Russian defensive lines and regain territory. Last month, Ukrainian commandos staged an incursion into Russian-occupied Crimea, a symbolic operation on Ukraine’s independence day, Aug. 24, in an effort to show attacks behind the front lines.
The drilling rigs were purchased and installed in 2011 around the Odesa gas field, intended to be part of Ukraine’s oil and gas production infrastructure. Russia occupied them in 2015, a year after annexing Crimea from Ukraine, and moved them closer to the peninsula.
