Inside the daring Ukrainian special forces raid on Russian-held sea platform

A Ukrainian special forces team exfiltrates from a raid on a sea platform used for Russian drone strikes (Picture: Special Operations Forces of Ukraine/Facebook/NavalSOFCenter)

A Ukrainian commander has revealed details of an ‘extremely dangerous’ night raid on a mining platform used by Russia for deadly Shahed drone strikes.  

A special forces team using a small boat landed on the improvised military facility in the Black Sea before capturing equipment and blowing up a mast and antennae.

Codenamed ‘Operation Citadel’, the rapid mission was conducted by an elite unit which has been carrying out commando raids on Russian forces across the warzone. 

Using night vision, the team with the 73rd Naval Centre of Operations took video of the operation – with the clip reminiscent of the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops.

The operators mounted the platform near illegally occupied Crimea before checking rooms, wiring up explosives and returning by small boat to the southern Ukrainian coast.  

Captured by Russian forces, the station had been supporting the Kremlin’s ability to increase the range of Iranian-made surveillance and kamikaze drones and to monitor ships in the region, which is vital to Ukraine’s valuable grain shipments.  

The commander with the 73rd, which is equivalent to the US Navy Seals or British Special Boat Service, told Metro.co.uk how the daring mission was carried out on exposed water within range of Russian firepower.  

The captured mining platform was being used for Russia fire on Ukrainian targets (Picture: Special Operations Forces of Ukraine/Facebook/NavalSOFCenter)

The team took video as they swept the facility in the rapid operation (Picture: Special Operations Forces of Ukraine/Facebook/NavalSOFCenter)

‘The operation was planned very carefully because its execution was extremely dangerous,’ he said.

‘The operators had not only to successfully complete the task, but to return from it unscathed.

‘My servicemen were tasked to operate in the enemy’s aircraft patrol zone, as well as in the immediate vicinity of Russian patrol boats.  

‘That is, they could be noticed at any moment. That is why the special operation was carried out quickly and at night.’

Footage of the clandestine operation released by the country’s Special Operations Forces (SOF) last month shows the well-armed team searching the platform and planting explosives.  

‘The boats of the 73rd Center came up close to the mining platform’, the commander said.

‘After carrying out special actions, the object was mined. 

‘The combat group then moved to a safe distance and blew up the mast with the antenna.

‘In addition, Special Operations Forces operators seized important enemy equipment.’ 

The Ukrainian special forces team filmed the explosion (Picture: Special Operations Forces of Ukraine/Facebook/NavalSOFCenter)

The platform was being used to support Iranian-made Mohajer-6 drones, which can be used for either reconnaissance or ground attack and can be fitted with weaponry including anti-tank guided missiles, according to the Royal United Services Institute.

The rig had also been fitted with a ‘Neva B’ radar station for detecting surface objects including ships, helping Russia to operate in the north-western Black Sea.  

Making a rapid withdrawal from the facility in a small boat, they filmed a large explosion from a distance as the mast and antenna were blown up.  

The commander, who did not want to be named, told Metro.co.uk that the platform was part of Russia’s military infrastructure facilitating the relentless waves of deadly Shahed drone strikes which have targeted civilian areas across Ukraine. 

‘We conducted reconnaissance and discovered that one of the illegally captured mining platforms in the Black Sea was being used by the Russians to strengthen their terrorist activities on the territory of Ukraine,’ he said.  

‘They installed a transponder antenna on the platform, which increases the range and operating radius of the Iranian-made Mohajer-6 UAVs.  

‘This drone was used by the enemy for reconnaissance and subsequent strikes by Shahed kamikaze drones on critical infrastructure facilities in the south of Ukraine. In particular on the port in Izmail, through which Ukrainian grain is transported.’ 

A series of Ukrainian special forces and regular military operations, often integrating the two elements, have broken Russia’s military dominance of the western Black Sea. 

This is despite the fact that Kyiv does not possess a single large warship.

Naval drone strikes — including the destruction of the Sergey Kotov patrol ship overnight between March 4 and March 5 — have helped to degrade the Kremlin’s presence.  

The team operated in a zone patrolled by Russian ships and planes (Picture: Special Operations Forces of Ukraine/Facebook/NavalSOFCenter)

Kyiv has used the pushback to reopen its economically valuable Black Sea grain corridor, although Volodymyr Zelenskyy has cast doubt on how much longer it will be able to operate without the supply of modern arms from the country’s Western allies.  

The Ukrainian president told CNN: ‘I think the route will be closed.

‘To defend it, it’s also about some ammunition, some air defence and some other systems.’ 

Mr Zelenskyy spoke last week as Russia seized the initiative on the eastern front and Ukraine continues to wait for a decision on a crucial $60 billion package of US military aid.  

Ukrainian forces have also been frustrated by shortages of ammunition as the grinding conflict enters a third year since Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion.  

The 73rd Naval Centre has taken the fight to Russian forces behind enemy lines (Picture: Special Operations Forces of Ukraine/Facebook/NavalSOFCenter)

But the 73rd and naval drone warfare teams have given high-profile examples of how Ukrainian forces can use ‘in house’ and Western-supplied technology to inflict severe damage on the enemy.

Based in southern Ukraine, the secretive SOF unit is unique in the country’s military for operating on the frontline and deep behind enemy lines in occupied territory, on land and water.

Previous operations which been made public have included the combined forces mission to reclaim the symbolic and strategically important Black Sea outcrop of Snake Island.

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s SOF told Metro.co.uk: ‘We are grateful to our international partners for helping Ukraine.

‘This support allows us to fight for independence and to save the life of the Ukrainian nation as our army becomes more technological.

‘We know from our own experience that each first-person view drone saves dozens of lives of servicemen on the frontline, each new air defence system saves hundreds of civilians in Ukrainian cities and each unit of heavy weapons successfully repels the Russian occupation army. 

‘News about a possible termination of support to Ukraine and statements about possible so-called “negotiations” with a terrorist group called the “Russian Federation” are very disturbing for us.’

The Ukrainian flag is raised on Snake Island (Picture: Special Operations Forces of Ukraine/Facebook/NavalSOFCenter)

The spokesperson emphasised that Ukrainian troops are on Europe’s ‘frontline’ against the ‘terrorist and tyrant’ Russian president, who began the military aggression against Ukraine in 2014.

‘Ukrainians have been fighting for their country for 10 years,’ the representative said.  

‘Today it is clear that we are fighting not only for our own independence and life, but for the security of the whole world.

‘Based on historical facts and the general security situation in the world, it is not difficult to draw the conclusion that Russia will not stop at Ukraine.

‘Russia’s goal is to destabilize the world order, and its next target is the countries of Europe.

‘By helping Ukraine, in particular with weapons, the world also protects itself from a terrorist and tyrant who seeks more death and destruction, the conquest of new lands and the subjugation of peoples.’ 

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