In the last few days, April 26 — May 2, a series of attacks were carried out against the Russian occupation troops on Zmiinyi Island (Snake Island). The Russians, of course, deny everything and come up with their own propaganda tales about the destroyed Bayraktars and the Ukrainian fleet.
The AFU General Staff and the Operational Command South claimed the destruction of the 9K35 Strela-10 battery of three vehicles, a communications center, two Raptor craft, and a ZU-23\2 (Soviet 23-mm twin anti-aircraft guns — Ed. note). Yesterday, May 2, these videos began to slowly leak into the web.
One of the boats received a gliding bomb from the Bayraktar right on the Ladies Beach, the second one — to the southeast in the open sea.
From behind the kerbside (literally: in Russia), they began to howl that since the sinking of the Raptor was not shown, it means that it survived the bombardment. Naturally, if a 22-kilogram MAM-L (Turkish high-precision small-sized ammunition with a semi-active laser homing head — Ed. note) hit a 17-meter boat with a displacement of 23 tons, then it made it feel only better.
After all, high-explosive fragmentation ammunition, which has an explosive like in a mortar mine, cannot do anything to a boat with bulletproof armor — Solovyov can vouch for that.
In reality, they are either destroyed or out of order forever — an explosion in such a small volume means both damage to the engines and fragments in the wheelhouse, as well as breach in the hull.
Garrison isolation and fighting against propaganda
What tactical and operational tasks does Kyiv pursue in the western part of the Black Sea?
The first one is the isolation of the garrison. Landed enemy troops require supplies — fuel, water, ammunition, and food. All this must be brought in quantities.
Especially after the enemy has brought a tactical air defense battery on a tiny piece of land. Catching a vessel while unloading or garrison rotation is priceless.
Therefore, taking down tanks with fuel and water, air defense, and a boat group is just what the doctor ordered. They will either have to build up or evacuate people, solve the issue of supplies — and under this amazingly thin ice, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be waiting for them.
The second one is inflicting human losses on the enemy. As a result of the raids, nine persons from the Strelas, about four persons from the van body, and from 6 to 40 people from the Raptors — went to the underworld of Novorossia or were seriously injured with burns.
The latter would be even preferable, because sanitary evacuation from Zmiinyi is a big challenge, and treatment and compensation will not pay for themselves. Of course, there was a chair fire in Russia, and they also claimed to have destroyed three Bayraktars.
It’s just that the phone is out of charge to take pictures: however, there is a camera in both interceptors and the ships’ air defense, it would be interesting to see those pictures. Unless, of course, there is something to show.
The third one is the fight against propaganda. According to briefings by drug addicts from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Ukraine "lost" all Bayraktars, probably the entire two-year production of both factories in Turkey. But here they are flying — and after a series of strikes, the control stations are very much alive, and the objective control data has been obtained.
But the enemy cannot even show serial numbers from the downed gliders, arranging tours of the wreckage and photographing them, propping up these wreckage with bricks.
The Ukrainian fleet "was destroyed" back in February — but here it is, setting sail to the Odesa Bay, hiding behind smoke, to work out anti-amphibious measures.
This is important: the former second army of the world is making up victories out of desperation.
Clear access to sea
All of the above is just a tactic. The operational task is the same — to clear the western part of the Black Sea with the constant losses of large ships such as Moskva and Saratov, as well as with a series of attacks on boat groups and attacks by corvettes.
To minimize the action of enemy ships in the Black Sea region with the threat of new losses and cut off the enemy's supply in Pryazovia.
Don't forget about the economy as well. Now Ukrainian grains are supplied to Bulgaria by train, where they are transshipped into dry cargo ships — not only the volume is important here, but also the price of delivery. But if the war of attrition continues, the lifting of a blockade of our ports is the most important task.
In addition, we hold significant forces against a possible landing in Lyman or near Ochakiv — all these requests for the West to give us anti-ship missiles, constant UAV operations, and mining are for a reason.
Therefore, the more Russian sailors are terrified that they will ship out and fall off the face of the earth, the more peacefully we will be able to sleep, and use part of our forces to put pressure on the pressure cooker near Kherson.
In general, Ukraine continues to inflict fire damage on the enemy throughout the theater of operations. And "pops", smoke, and a negative growth in the number of manpower are becoming normal — from Bryansk to a tiny occupied piece of land in the Black Sea. About $ 4.2 million in killed boats, an air defense battery, a dozen or three killed and wounded — the "thousand cuts" strategy as it is.
Context.
- Earlier,
reported that in March, Russia mined the eastern part of the Black Sea from Odesa to the Bosphorus. - We also reported on the UK's plans to design new missile boats for Ukraine.
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