Ukraine claims its forces staged a brief raid in occupied Crimea – Times of India

KYIV: Ukraine’s defence ministry claimed on Thursday that its special forces had staged a brief raid inside the occupied Crimean Peninsula overnight and clashed with Russian forces. If confirmed, the incursion, though apparently small, would suggest the Ukrainian military’s growing ability to strike far behind Russian lines even if such attacks are unlikely to have a significant effect on the direction of the war.
According to a statement by the defence ministry’s intelligence directorate on the Telegram app, special forces soldiers working with Ukraine’s navy landed on Crimea‘s western tip. “Ukrainian defenders clashed with the occupier’s units,” the statement said. “As a result, the enemy suffered losses.” A video that the ministry posted showed a soldier manning a mounted machine gun on what appeared to be a moving boat at nighttime and a Ukrainian flag pinned to the wall of a building.
The claim came on Ukraine’s Independence Day.
President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials have said that they intend to retake Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014. But while Ukraine has struck military targets in Crimea repeatedly with missiles and drones, there have been few if any previous reports of Ukrainian troops setting foot on the peninsula during the war.