On Thursday, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that Russian forces had intercepted a Ukrainian special forces raid on the Tendra Spit, a narrow sandbar in the Black Sea, within the Russian-occupied part of Kherson. The ministry claimed that up to 25 Ukrainian personnel from a commando group attempting to land on the spit via speed boats were killed when the special operators were ambushed.
Ukraine confirmed the operation’s failure but reported a lower number of casualties. According to Ukrainian authorities, only four members of the country’s 73rd Marine Special Operations unit died during the attempted landing. The operation involved several boats setting off towards the Tendra Spit, where a gun battle ensued with Russian forces, forcing the Ukrainian troops to retreat.
The 73rd Naval Special Operations Center have previously participated in the operation to liberate Zmiinyi (Snake) Island on July 7, 2022. The center’s soldiers were conducting a combat mission on the Tendra Spit, aimed at securing a foothold, further details regarding the objectives and the course of the operation remain undisclosed. The 73rd Maritime Center is a part of the Special Operations Forces’ special intelligence, which, since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, has been actively preventing Russian troop landings, notably at the Kulbakyne airfield in Mykolaiv.
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