Russian shore defenders in occupied Crimea scored a victory on Thursday, ambushing and killing nearly two dozen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s most highly trained and skilled special operations troops.
The early morning engagement took place near Tenderovsky Island, a narrow spit of land on the southeast coast of the Crimean Peninsula.
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According to Russian sources, five small boats loaded with Ukrainian troops from the 73rd a hand-picked unit specializing in clandestine maritime attacks, approached a low-lying sandy beach and attempted to land. Russian units say that after a “short battle” they sank three of the landing craft, killing at least 20 Ukrainian special operators.
The Russian milblogger Kot Dobrokhod said special operations infantry from Russia’s Baltic Fleet conducted the ambush and suffered two wounded from a drone strike. Other pro-Russian milbloggers claimed that one Ukrainian boat was able to escape, and one boat and one prisoner were captured.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry confirmed that an “unsuccessful raid” had taken place near Tenderovsky Island and special operators were killed and wounded, without offering details.
Photographs initially published by the pro-Russian military information channel Povernutie Na Voine showed six corpses clad in Ukrainian military uniforms aboard a blood-stained military boat.
Other images showed a pair of NATO-standard .50 caliber machine guns mounted on the boat, seven individual weapons and boxes of ammunition. The pro-Russia military information channel Readovka, reported Russian troops had captured a Ukrainian flag.
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Some Ukrainian milbloggers criticized the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s (AFU) senior officers for, allegedly, micro-managing field operators from safe offices during the mission.
“They [top officers] give orders and others give their lives. For me this train wreck started when there are four warriors sitting in a boat and behind a computer screen telling them where to sit there are 15 big military bosses, who say ‘they really know how difficult things are.’ It really sucks when you realize this is not a system that will bring victory,” wrote a poster on sierra.team. Kyiv Post could not confirm the allegations.
Since Russia’s Feb. 2022 invasion of Ukraine Kyiv special operations troops have generally fought effectively. Operators from the 73rd Naval Center are widely credited with successful amphibious raids targeting primarily Russian air defense and naval overwatch installations based in Crimea.
The secretive unit’s best-known operations include the July 2022 recapture of the strategic Zminiy Island in the western Black Sea and assaults that captured four Russian-controlled oil rigs off the south Crimea coast in Sep. 2023.
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