Boats destroyed as battles rage in the Black Sea

UKRAINE and Russia yesterday claimed to have destroyed each others' boats in battles on the Black Sea.

- Will Stewart

Footage reportedly showed a Ukraine kamikaze drone blitzing a Russian landing boat. It was claimed that some Russian troops were killed and a military helicopter airlifted the wounded.

But Vladimir Putin's forces in turn insisted that they had inflicted heavy casualties on Ukraine. Moscow said planes destroyed four US-supplied rigid inflatable speedboats as they sought to land near Cape Tarkhankut on the coast of Russian-annexed Crimea.

Ukraine has previously sought to stage several landings on Crimea but disputed the Russian claims over the four boats.

Russian Telegram channel War Gonzo said: "This time the enemy failed to reach the coast of Crimea in order to film a video of the landing and shoot at a camp of tourists."