A dramatic new video has been released claiming to show Ukrainian forces conducting a brave night raid on energy infrastructure in the Black Sea.
It purportedly shows soldiers from Ukraine‘s Ministry of Defence (GUR) firing at the Petro Godovanets drilling rig, while explosions can be heard in the background.
There is a bright light coming from the rig in the distance, though it’s not clear if the rig was set on fire or struck in the attack.
UkraineNewsLive posted the video on social media platform X, claiming: “GUR soldiers fire a 12.7 mm machine gun at the burning Petro Godovanets drilling rig during a night raid in the Black Sea.”
Another account going by the name WarTranslated added that the Ukrainian troops were part of “the special unit “Dozor” of the State Border Guard Service and the GUR”. The account called it “an attempt to storm” the rig.
The footage remains undated and unverified, but it was first released by the Ukrainian broadcast channel TSN on Sunday, which called it “exclusive”.
According to a translation, the captions underneath read: “The Ukrainian military managed to push the Russians out of the Petro Godovanets.”
In September 2023, Ukrainian forces announced that they had regained control of the drilling rig after it was seized by pro-Russian authorities in Crimea after the 2014 annexation.
One year on, it’s now unclear who controls Petro Godovanets – located between Crimea and Odesa in the northwestern Black Sea – which is part of the infrastructure known as the Boyko Towers.
The location saw fighting at the start of the war, which has been raging for over two years, as the towers are a key assets that can serve as bases to deploy forces from, and for helicopter pads and long-range missile systems.
The Black Sea has also been important for Ukraine in terms of wiping out Russia‘s naval powers, particularly its prized Black Sea Fleet, which has mostly been lost after a series of devastating strikes earlier this year.
This forced Russia to move many of its naval assets from the port of Sevastopol in Crimea to Novorossiysk in southern Russia after sustaining £375 million in damages.