The Ukrainian armed forces have announced that they have regained control of multiple crucial gas and oil drilling platforms near Crimea in the Black Sea, which had been under Russian occupation since 2015.
In a post by Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, on X, formerly Twitter, he said, “‘Boyko Towers’ are gas and oil drilling platforms off the coast of occupied Crimea in the Black Sea.
“Russia occupied them in 2015 and used them for military purposes when the full-scale invasion began.
“The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine deprived the Russians of many monitoring and intelligence capabilities by knocking them out of these towers.
“This step was crucial not only in Ukraine’s struggle for the Black Sea but also for more space for its coastal and air operations.”
While conducting the mission, there was an encounter between Ukrainian special forces aboard boats and a Russian fighter jet. The jet sustained damage and had to withdraw.
The Ukrainian military intelligence reported that they also managed to capture valuable items, including helicopter munitions and a radar system capable of monitoring ship movements in the Black Sea, from the platforms.
Al Jazeera reported that the Ukrainian statement went unanswered by the Russian defence ministry at the moment, but the ministry had previously announced that Russian fighter jets had taken out several Ukrainian speedboats in the vicinity in recent days.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledged to exert maximum effort in the pursuit of regaining control over Crimea, which Russia forcibly incorporated into its territory in 2014. Zelenskyy has called upon global partners to stand behind Kyiv’s endeavours to reclaim the peninsula.
Frances Ibiefo
Follow us on:
