Russia claims that Ukrainian special forces boats were destroyed in the Black Sea

According to the Russian defense ministry, an aircraft attacked and destroyed four military boats carrying up to 50 members of the Ukrainian special forces who were operating in the Black Sea.

The incident occurred around midnight Moscow time. The Russian defense ministry made the announcement on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday morning. They stated that the boats were carrying landing groups of Ukrainian special operations forces, but did not provide specific details about the location of the incident in the Black Sea.

In addition to this, Russian defenses also repelled a seaborne drone attack near Sevastopol Bay in Russian-annexed Crimea. The governor of Crimea, Mikhail Razvozhayev, confirmed the incident and stated that anti-submarine forces had completed their work, without giving further details.

Sevastopol is the base of Russia's Black Sea fleet. However, the reports from Russia have not been independently verified.

The military activities in the Black Sea have escalated between Ukraine and Russia since the collapse of a United Nations-brokered deal to ensure safe navigation for grain ships last month.

In recent weeks, Ukraine has attacked Russian ships in its waters and conducted raids in the Crimean Peninsula using military speedboats. They claimed to have raised the country's flag in Crimea during a special operation to mark Ukrainian Independence Day.

Last week, Moscow also claimed that one of its jets destroyed a Ukrainian reconnaissance boat near Russian gas production facilities in the Black Sea, as well as a United States-made speedboat carrying Ukrainian soldiers east of Snake Island, although no further details were provided.

SOURCE: aljazeera