Ukraine has carried out a secret service raid in Crimea – and has said it’s the first of many (Picture: GUR / East2West News)
Ukrainian special forces staged an audacious attack on annexed Crimea this week – and commanders have warned Vladimir Putin ‘it’s only the beginning’.
A squad of 16 elite troops raided the peninsula in the south of Ukraine – which has been under Russian occupation since 2014 – during the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Footage showed the Artan Special Forces Unit using five jet skis and a high speed boat to land on the west coast before taking on the Russians in a fierce firefight.
Ukraine says it inflicted ‘heavy losses’ on their enemy but admitted to also suffering losses of its own, including one soldier who was captured by Russian soldiers.
Their mission has been highly publicised in the aftermath with videos showing Ukrainian forces planting the national flag on the shoreline during the incursion.
But now Ukraine has warned Russia that many more similar covert sabotage operations are on the way – only this time they will be kept under wraps even more strictly.
Artan commander Viktor Torkotiuk suggested missions, which are not being revealed, are already underway and ‘will become known only later’.
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‘This is not the first and not the last operation of the Security and Defence Forces of Ukraine on the Crimean peninsula,’ he said.
‘Most of them will become known only later. This is a systematic, planned and coordinated work of all units involved.
’The enemy will feel the consequences of our work for a long time.
‘By our actions, we constantly remind the Russian invaders of the inevitability of liberation of all occupied territories.’
Ukraine’s special forces raid on Crimea
Ukraine’s Artan Special Forces Unit carried out a raid on Crimea in the early hours of Wednesday (Picture: GUR / East2West News)
A squad of 16 elite troops landed on Crimea’s west coast and was embroiled in a fierce firefight with Russian soldiers (Picture: GUR / East2West News)
A small team of Ukrainian military intelligence officers travelled 222 miles across the Black Sea from Vylkove, on the Danube estuary, to Crimea.
The area, according to international law, is in-fact Ukrainian territory, despite being occupied by Russia.
Upon arrival, they immediately engaged in intense combat and a commander said: ‘The reconnaissance men of the Artan Special Forces unit of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine landed on the western coast of the peninsula, as well as on Tendra and Kinburn Spits.
‘The Special Forces men engaged in a fierce battle with the Russian invaders in the occupied territories, inflicting significant losses on the enemy.’
Russia detained one of the raid team, who has been named as Alexander Lyubos, 46, and shown on Russian TV.
Alexander Lyubos, 46, a Ukrainian military intelligence fighter, was captured by the Russian FSB security service during the raid (Picture: East2West News)
Alexander Lyubas told interrogators he was a private from Unit 0336 and that their mission was to plant the Ukrainian flag (Picture: Zvezdanews / East2West News)
His hands tied behind his back, he stated on a channel run by the Russian Defence Ministry that he was a private from Unit 0336 of the Chief Directorate of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.
Under interrogation from his captors, he said the mission’s aim had been to plant a Ukrainian flag on Crimea.
‘On the way back from a combat mission in Crimea, the Artan soldiers also fought at sea,’ a Ukrainian commander added.
‘The enemy tried to pursue the Special Forces in fast patrol boats with air support.’
Ukrainian forces filmed themselves holding the national flag, allegedly standing on the shores of Crimea (Picture: GUR / East2West News)
The Ukrainian unit travelled 222 miles across the Black Sea to raid Crimea (Picture: GUR / East2West News)
Kyiv military intelligence spokesman Andrey Yusov said: ‘There was a battle with the Russian invaders.
‘There were many dead and wounded among the invaders’ [Russian] personnel.
‘Unfortunately, there are losses among the Ukrainian defenders, which are still not comparable to the Russian ones. A special operation aimed at de-occupying Crimea continues.
‘We appeal to all residents of the peninsula to wait and assist the Defence Forces in every possible way in the return of Ukrainian territories.’
Ukraine says it inflicted ‘heavy losses’ on Russia – and also lost men of its own in the fight (Picture: GUR / East2West News)
Troops used jet skis and a speed boat to make the journey (Picture: GUR / East2West News)
Russia claimed to have ‘repulsed’ the raid and ‘liquidated’ the ‘sabotage’ team and an FSB statement said: ‘One of the saboteurs was captured.
‘An interrogation revealed that the subversive group was planning to take photographs and videos of its members against the Ukrainian flag as a backdrop on the territory of the Republic of Crimea.’
The Putin-appointed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, claimed a body in a wetsuit had been found with two bullet wounds.
He said he had ‘died in a shootout with Russian border guards’.
In the region of Kharkiv this week, Russia carried out a shocking missile attack which hit a cafe and shop, killing at least 52 civilians, including a six-year-old boy.
On Friday, horrifying images emerged of a 10-year-old boy dressed in pyjamas being pulled from the rubble of what was left of his home after the strike hit the village of Hroza.
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