Ukraine Claims It Recaptured Oil And Gas Platforms Near Russia-Annexed Crimea

In a message posted on the Telegram messaging app, it said that Ukraine's forces had retaken the drilling platforms known as the "Boiko Towers" in a "unique operation".

Ukraine's forces have regained control from Russia of several gas and oil offshore drilling platforms.

Source : @DefenceU

New Delhi: Ukraine's military intelligence (GUR) on Monday said that Kyiv's forces have regained control from Russia of several gas and oil offshore drilling platforms close to Crimea, news agency Reuters said.

In a message posted on the Telegram messaging app, it said that Ukraine's forces had retaken the drilling platforms known as the "Boiko Towers" in a "unique operation".

According to Reuters, the military intelligence authorities said the platforms had been occupied since 2015 by Russia, which seized and annexed Crimea in 2014, and had been used by Moscow for military purposes since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

"For Ukraine, regaining control of the Boiko Towers was of strategic importance and, as a result, Russia lost the ability to use them for military purposes," GUR said in a video posted on Telegram.

"Russia has been deprived of the ability to fully control the waters of the Black Sea, and this makes Ukraine many steps closer to regaining Crimea," it further stated.

Russia, however, didn't comment on the report.

According to GUR, during the operation, there was a clash between Ukrainian special forces on boats and a Russian fighter jet, which was damaged and forced to retreat.

GUR also captured other "valuable trophies" such as helicopter munitions and a radar system that can track the movement of ships in the Black Sea, it said.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian soldiers today searched for the bodies of Russian soldiers in Blahodatne as they hoped to exchange for their own comrades, living and dead.

They called it the "road of death" after the number of Russian soldiers killed there when Ukrainian forces retook the southeastern village of Blahodatne at the start of their counteroffensive in June.

"Here's what we do. We gather up their bodies. We arrange exchanges for our prisoners who are alive. And for bodies. Our boys," Vasylii, a 53-year-old volunteer, said. "You know, so that a mother can go and visit the cemetery."

Russia and Ukraine have conducted regular exchanges of prisoners of war, as well as the bodies of dead soldiers, since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.