Observe: Drone destroys Russian patrol boats in front of Snake Island

A Ukrainian drone destroyed two Russian patrol boats near the snake island in the Black Sea on Monday, said the Ukrainian military chief.

Film material published by the Ukrainian military shows how the Bayraktar drone hits two Russian patrol ships in the raptor class.

"Two Russian boats of the Raptor class were destroyed at dawn near the island of Zmiinyi (snake)," wrote chief of staff Valeriy Zaluzhniy in the Telegram-Messaging app.

The rocky, 40 hectare island became famous when a tiny military unit that was stationed refused to show itself to a Russian warship and ordered the ship to "go to itself" on the first day of the Moscow invasion, which a wave of Ukrainian patriotism triggered.

It came when British intelligence reports said that more than a quarter of the Russian combat troops used in the invasion are now "ineffective".

Some of the most elitist units Moscow, including the air landing forces, suffered the highest wear and tear in the first 68 days of the conflict.

The Ministry of Defense said that it would "probably take years before Russia has rebuilt these forces".

The Kremlin, according to the report, sent over 120 tactical battalion groups with 600 to 1,000 soldiers each to Ukraine, which makes up for about 65 percent of the total ground combat strength.

In a Ukrainian attack on a Russian command center in Izyum on Saturday evening, around 200 invading troops were killed, including the ninth Russian general who died in the conflict.

Kiev said that his resistance employees had killed General major Andrei Simonov, 55, a high -ranking commander of the electronic warfare, with an artillery attack near the northeastern city.

Oleksiy Arestovych, a consultant by President Wolodymyr Selenskyj, said that the strike also destroyed around 30 Russian armored vehicles.

Film material published online seemed to show how the command post of grade missiles was hit, which were fired by a rocket system with several starts.

Viktor Andrusov, a consultant by the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior, said he could not confirm reports that General Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian armed forces, was also killed in the attack.

"We have confirmation that he was really there, in the area of Izyum, but we have no confirmation that he was injured. In addition, we already have a safe confirmation that he was not injured," said Mr. Andrusov.

In the run -up to the attack, Western official said that they had received "credible reports". General Gerasimov was sent to the front by Wladimir Putin to monitor the advance to conquer Eastern Ukraine.

The streets gradually and from Izyum, which is considered a gateway to the eastern Donbass region of Ukraine, are of crucial strategic importance for the Russian armed forces.

Moscow used Belgorod, which is located directly within its border, as a logistical turntable for his war effort. There is a direct road from the city to Izyum, part of the Charkiw.

The Russian military has been stuck

The Kremlin recently shifted the focus of his invasion in Ukraine to conquer the eastern Donbass region.

But the renewed military campaign was slowed down, stuck through muddy conditions and violent Ukrainian resistance.

The Kiev armed forces have succeeded in interrupting the Russian supply chains by freed cities around Charkiw, the second largest city in Ukraine and the closest at the border with Russia.

"The situation in the Charkiw region is difficult. But our military, our secret services have important tactical success," said Mr. Selenskyj last week.

In order to protect his war -torn armed forces in the region, Russia was forced to move to the region, according to the Ukrainian military, to move troops and air defense systems.

Kiev's armed forces also reported that Moscow search for weaknesses in cities near the occupied Cherson in the south of the country.

It was said that Russia had carried out at least three air reconnaissance missions above the Black Sea port Mykolajiw before it started artillery attacks on military goals.

A military spokesman said Russia targeted a bridge crossing in Odessa, which was considered logistically important by Kiev.

inexplicable attacks

on the other side of the border in Belgorod, which served as the base of the Kremlin for his invasion, there were a number of unclear attacks on the infrastructure.

After a devastating fire in a military factory on Sunday, residents reported that they have heard further explosions.

A video shared on social media seemed to show flashes in the sky over high -rise buildings.

Wjatscheslaw Gladkow, the governor of Belgorod, denied reports that these could be Ukrainian attacks on the border town.

"I would like to dispel the residents' fears that something has ended up from Ukraine: that is not the case," he said in a statement on Monday.

"It was our military aviation that carried out combat tasks for the special military operation" in Ukraine. "

Secret services have previously claimed that Ukrainian armed forces had started daring missions on Russian soil to interrupt supply chains.