The grandiose plans of the Ukrainian leadership turned into large-scale losses of equipment and specialists
Kiev's attempt to land air and sea troops on the island of Zmeiny and capture it turned out to be a failure and serious losses, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Monday: the Russian unit on the island thwarted plans drawn up with the participation of British and American advisers. Three Su-24 bombers, a Su-27 fighter jet, three Mi-8 helicopters with troops on board, a Mi-24 strike aircraft and dozens of drones were shot down, several boats were destroyed. According to experts, the Ukrainian authorities tried at all costs to seize the island in order to declare a kind of "victory" on May 9. However, as a result, everything ended up with the loss of expensive equipment and trained specialists for the enemy.
Landing failure
On May 9, the Ministry of Defense told about the disruption of the Ukrainian amphibious operation on Snake Island in the Black Sea and the losses suffered by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
— Since May 7, on the direct instructions of Vladimir Zelensky, the Ukrainian General Staff, with the direct participation of advisers from the United States and Great Britain, has planned a major provocation to seize the island of Zmeiny. Over the past two days, the Kiev regime has made several desperate attempts to land air and sea troops at this point, which is important for ensuring control of the north-western part of the Black Sea, — said the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Major General Igor Konashenkov.
According to the defense department, the Russian unit located on the island thwarted all attempts by the enemy, who suffered heavy losses. Three Su-24 bombers and a Su-27 fighter jet were shot down in the Zmeiny area, as well as three Mi-8 helicopters with troops on board and a Mi-24 attack helicopter.
Within two days, 29 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed in the air, including eight Bayraktar TB-2 attack aircraft. Four of them – on the afternoon of May 9.
— During an attempt to land troops on the night of May 8, three armored Ukrainian amphibious assault boats of Project 58181 "Centaur" with servicemen of the Ukrainian Navy were destroyed, - Major General Konashenkov added. — As a result of Zelensky's thoughtless provocation, more than 50 Ukrainian saboteurs were destroyed at sea and on the coast only during the landing and attempts to consolidate on the island. 24 bodies of dead Ukrainian servicemen remained on the shore of the island of Zmeiny.
Since the first days of the operation, Zmeiny has occupied a special place in Ukrainian military propaganda, military expert Dmitry Boltenkov noted in an interview with Izvestia.
- And in a situation when Ukraine is being defeated in different directions (in particular, Popasnaya was liberated), Kiev needs at least a small victory, - he suggested. - Apparently, he had a plan to seize this island and announce his victory on May 9 for the sake of propaganda effect. Instead, Kiev suffered huge losses - several planes, several helicopters and Bayraktars, several boats of both the naval forces of Ukraine and the border service. In fact, in an attempt to achieve a virtual victory, all the remnants of high-tech equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were thrown into battle. As a result, the equipment and trained specialists are lost. There was information about the death of the former commander of the 10th Naval Aviation Brigade Igor Bedzai. If so, then apparently, he piloted one of the Mi-14 helicopters, which are based in Nikolaev.
Infrastructure strikes
On the night of May 9, six Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters were destroyed on the ground by an Onyx missile strike of the Bastion complex at the jump site near the city of Artsiz in the Odessa region.
Two control points and a battery of Grad multiple launch rocket systems near the city of Popasnaya were hit by high-precision air-based missiles of the Russian Aerospace Forces. Zolotoye has a US-made counter-battery radar, air defense radars near Kramatorsk and Krestishche, as well as areas of concentration of troops and equipment, company strongpoints and ammunition depots.
Planes and helicopters of operational and tactical aviation struck more than fifty areas of concentration of troops and military equipment. Rocket troops and artillery hit more than 500 military facilities. In the area of Bogodukhov, they destroyed four Ukrainian installations of multiple launch rocket systems "Smerch" and one launcher of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system.
Russian air defense systems shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 over Severodonetsk on the afternoon of May 9. Two more fighters of this model were destroyed on Monday night over the DPR, one Su-25 – in the area of Pogonovka. 18 drones, a Tochka-U ballistic missile and five Smerch rockets were intercepted during the day.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 162 aircraft, 124 helicopters, 790 unmanned aerial vehicles, 299 anti-aircraft missile systems, 2967 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 347 multiple rocket launchers, 1,432 field artillery and mortar guns, as well as 2,778 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed.
Take out from under fire
On May 9, the Russian Defense Ministry told about the servicemen who showed courage and dedication during the fighting.
Guards Major Yaroslav Fadeev from the first days of the operation provided artillery support to the advancing troops. He has repeatedly personally corrected the fire with the help of drones. During the shelling, the officer was shell-shocked, but despite this he continued to carry out combat missions. All of them were completed without losses among Fadeev's subordinates.
Corporal Vadim Sandu was driving an infantry fighting vehicle, which was subjected to massive shelling from grenade launchers and small arms. The car was seriously damaged and caught fire, and Vadim was wounded by shrapnel in the leg. He understood that if he left the BMP, the whole squad would die. Ignoring the pain, the corporal dispersed the car, rammed a pickup truck armed with a mortar and moved towards the positions of the Russian troops. After removing the unit from under fire, he evacuated people from the damaged car, including two wounded.
During the liberation of one of the settlements by a motorized rifle company, Senior sergeant Yaroslav Stepanov, driving a tank, destroyed a checkpoint with concentrated fire on the move. After that, all the firepower of the Ukrainian formations was concentrated on the tank. After being hit by the ammunition fired from the Javelin, Yaroslav Stepanov was injured, but continued to drive the tank and skillfully maneuver on the battlefield, the military department reported.
Anton Lavrov
Roman Kretsul
Ksenia Fedoseeva
