Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
Ukraine’s war against Russia’s naval presence has shifted almost entirely to drones, missiles, and small marine units.
Along the Dnipro delta and the fringes of the Black Sea, Ukrainian marines have been running small, close-range operations against Russian positions and boats for more than a year.
On Sunday the Navy decided to show the public one of those engagements.
Ukraine’s Naval Forces posted combat footage showing the destruction of two Russian boats and the troops aboard them. The operation was carried out by the 34th Separate Marine Brigade “Borysfen,” part of Ukraine’s Marine Corps.
The Navy did not disclose where the engagement took place, when exactly it occurred, or what class of boats were hit. The Facebook video shared with the brigade’s statement was the only immediate evidence.
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What the Navy said
“The Russians once again thought they could slip through. They didn’t. Two enemy boats along with their crews were destroyed,” the Naval Forces said, as reported by Ukrainska Pravda.
The post added that “every attempt by the occupiers to turn the situation to their advantage ends the same way for them.”
Ukraine’s state news agency Ukrinform carried the same statement early Monday without additional operational detail.
A fleet under steady pressure
The strike lands amid a year in which Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been pushed progressively away from Crimea toward Novorossiysk, more than 300 kilometers from the front. Even that port has been reached.
A Ukrainian attack on August 12 damaged two Project 11356R frigates there, the Admiral Essen and the Admiral Makarov, according to Naval News.
Satellite imagery showed hits near the forward vertical launch cells on both ships, damage likely severe enough to disable their missile systems.
Days after that strike, Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said Moscow had little room left to maneuver.
“There is nowhere to run in the Azov-Black Sea region. They have two options: either go to the bottom or leave the waters,” he told Ukrinform on August 14.
