The Russian Armed Forces they announced today that prevented the disembarkation of Ukrainian special forces commandos in occupied southern Ukraine and assured that they killed “up to 25 military personnel” and arrested another, a report partially confirmed by Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that its soldiers “destroyed a Ukrainian saboteur group of the 73rd Naval Special Operations Center that had attempted to land by speedboat” near the Tendrivska Isthmus in the occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson.

“After a short battle, four vessels of the disembarked group were destroyed and sunk, while the fifth one hit its stern,” the ministry added.

“The losses of the enemy amount to 25 Ukrainian servicemen. One soldier was captured,” according to the Russian military.

Ukrainian special forces also said fighters from the 73rd naval special operations center “heroically fell during a combat mission,” in a statement issued last night.

The announcement does not reveal the number of dead or when and where they were killed.

The special forces said only that the soldiers were killed covering “the withdrawal of the main forces of the group”, which “had carried out a special mission”.

Bridgehead

The Rybar channel on the Telegram platform, which is close to the Russian military and is watched by more than two million people, reported that a group of Ukrainian commandos attempted to land yesterday, Wednesday, on the Tendrivska Isthmus.

According to this source, the Ukrainian military arrived with five inflatable boats, three of which were sunk by Russian fire, one floated ashore and the fourth bounced astern and managed to escape.

Four dead Ukrainians and one injured were found inside the inflatable that washed ashore, according to Rybar.

The Dva maiora channel, which is also close to the Russian military, released photos showing corpses in military uniform inside a small boat. AFP is unable to confirm the authenticity of these photos.