Military intelligence: Special forces land in Crimea, conduct operation
by Elsa Court and The Kyiv Independent news desk October 4, 2023
Ukrainian special forces landed in Russian-occupied Crimea and conducted a combat operation, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) announced via a video published online on Oct. 4.
The video shows special forces using boats to land on a beach at night, where they unfurl a Ukrainian flag with the HUR emblem.
The operation involved a battle with Russian forces, who suffered significant losses, and Ukrainian forces have already returned from the operation, Hromadske reported, citing a HUR source.
"Unfortunately, there are losses among Ukrainian forces" as well, though not on the scale of on the Russian side, HUR spokesperson Andriy Yusov told Ukrainska Pravda.
"The special operation aimed at the liberation of Crimea continues," he added.
When or exactly where the operation took place was not made public.
Since the summer, there have been increasingly damaging attacks on Russian military targets across the peninsular, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014.
One key target has been the Black Sea Fleet, which is currently based in occupied Crimea. The fleet has suffered a series of major attacks over the past weeks, including strikes on a command post on Sept. 20 and on its headquarters on Sept. 22.
HUR previously announced that Ukrainian forces landed in Russian-occupied Crimea, raised the Ukrainian flag, and engaged in combat with Russian forces on Aug. 24.
The choice to conduct the operation was notable as it was the same day as Ukraine's 32nd Independence Day.
How Ukraine is destroying Russian military in Crimea | This Week in Ukraine Ep. 27 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8fiWEanlKI
“This Week in Ukraine” is a video podcast hosted by Kyiv Independent reporter Anastasiia Lapatina. Every week, Anastasiia sits down with her newsroom colleagues to discuss Ukraine’s most pressing issues.
Episode #27 is dedicated to the recent Ukrainian attacks in Russia-occupied Crimea.
Anastasiia is joined by the Kyiv Independent's reporter Igor Kossov.