Ukraine said Wednesday that units of its special operations forces recently conducted a successful attack on Russian troops in Crimea.
Kyiv officials didn't specify when the strike took place, other than saying it occurred at night and involved two units of soldiers. Newsweek could not independently verify the authenticity of Ukraine's statements.
Crimea is recognized as Ukrainian territory by many countries, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion and annexation of the peninsula in 2014. The region has seen a dramatic increase in attacks on Russian positions in recent weeks, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly vowed to reclaim Crimea as part of his nation.
Andriy Yusov, a representative of Ukraine's defense intelligence service, told the news outlet Ukrainska Pravda that the military units from his country involved in the Crimean operation suffered some losses. But Russia's side saw "many" more personnel killed or wounded, he said.
"There was a battle with the Russian occupiers; many were killed and wounded among the invaders' personnel," Yusov said. "Unfortunately, there are losses among Ukrainian defenders too, though these are still not as many as among the Russians."
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense via email for comment.
Ukraine's defense intelligence service provided more details about the strike on Crimea in a post on Telegram.
"The Stugna and Bratstvo special operations units, as part of the Ukrainian Defence Intelligence's special unit headed by Tymur, landed on the territory of the Crimean peninsula and inflicted fire on the Moscow occupiers! Crimea will be Ukrainian! Glory to Ukraine!" the intelligence service wrote.
Ukrainska Pravda noted that the "Tymur" mentioned in the Telegram post likely refers to a commander of Ukraine's special operation forces units who is known by the alias Tymur. The outlet said Tymur was involved in Ukraine recapturing Snake Island from Russia in 2022 after Putin's navy briefly seized control of the Black Sea island.
A video posted on YouTube by Ukraine's defense intelligence service reportedly shows the special operations forces units arriving in Crimea by sea for the attack.
Tymur has also been linked to the secret mission that saw Kyiv forces plant a Ukrainian flag on Crimean soil on August 24, which is Ukraine's Independence Day. A Kyiv spokesperson told Ukrainian media following the mission that Ukrainian troops damaged four high-speed Russian boats and killed at least 30 Russian soldiers.
No Ukrainian troops died during the August strike, according to reports.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jon Jackson is an Associate Editor at Newsweek based in New York. His focus is on reporting on the Ukraine ... Read more
