ON VIDEO | Russian ship destroyed by Ukrainian drone near Kherson

A video released by the Ukrainian navy shows the moment an aerial drone killed at least six Russian servicemen by destroying their ship as they were unloading it on a beach near Kherson.

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The attack took place in the northwestern Black Sea region, the Ukrainian navy said in a message published on Telegram on Sunday.

According to several experts, the Ukrainian army used a Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone, already used at the start of the war in Ukraine.

Since the 2022 Russian invasion, kyiv has invested heavily in aerial drone technology.

The release of the video is likely a campaign to boost the morale of Ukrainian forces who are bogged down in a counter-offensive that has cost thousands of lives, reports Business Insider.

Moscow, for its part, claimed on Monday to have destroyed four fast military launches with Ukrainian soldiers on board in the Black Sea.

On the night from Sunday to Monday, “in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, (…) the naval aviation of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed four American-made Willard Sea Force fast military launches (carrying ) landing groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram.

According to the ministry, the Ukrainian boats were traveling towards Cape Tarkhankut located in the west of the annexed Crimean peninsula.

Also on Monday, Moscow said it had shot down a Ukrainian drone off the coast of Crimea as well as a second aircraft in the Russian region of Kursk, bordering Ukraine.

On August 24, Ukraine was pleased to have carried out a rare commando operation in the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, and to have raised the national flag there.

Ukrainian special forces units had come from the sea, landing in the west of the peninsula, before leaving “without losses” according to Ukrainian military intelligence.

Russia also announced on August 22 that it had “destroyed” a speedboat carrying Ukrainian soldiers near Serpents Island in the Black Sea, after claiming that of a reconnaissance ship the same day.

Last month, U.S. officials told the New York Times that about 70,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion last year (compared with about 120,000 Russian troops killed in combat).

Since February 2022, at least 9,500 Ukrainian civilians have also been killed, according to the United Nations.

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