Footage shows Ukrainian drones blasting Russian boats: officials
Dramatic video captured two Russian military patrol boats being blown up by Ukrainian drones in the Black Sea, the Ukrainian military said.
Footage shows a Turkish-made Bayraktar drone hovering over and striking the high-speed vessels, the Ukrainian military said.
“Two Russian Raptor boats were destroyed at dawn today near Zmiinyi (Snake) Island,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, praised the drone technology.
“The Bayraktars are working,” Zaluzhnyi was cited as saying in the statement.
The coastal patrol Raptors, which are about 55 feet long, can carry up to three crew members and 20 troops. They are armed with machine guns.
There was no immediate reaction from Moscow to the ships being hit.
A song about the Bayraktar drone has gone viral in Ukraine, Vice reported.
“Stupid rams barged on our lands from the East,” the lyrics go, according to the outlet. “To resurrect the country that does not exist/ A diligent shepherd that drives them afar …Bayraktar!”
The song — which Ukrainian artist Taras Borovok recorded in February — has become so popular that an internet-based radio station has called itself Radio Bayraktar, according to the outlet.
Snake Island became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance after a radio exchange went viral in which Ukrainian border guards rejected demands from a Russian warship to surrender.
One memorably radioed the defiant message, “Russian warship, go f— yourself.”
The Russian ship involved — the Moskva — sank in the Black Sea last month following what Moscow said was an explosion on board.
Ukraine said it had hit the warship with missiles.
