Battle of the Tendra Spit

The battle of the Tendra Spit was an engagement that took place on the Tendra Spit, a narrow spit of land in the Kherson Oblast, on the Black Sea, northwest of the Crimean Peninsula from the night of 28 February 2024^[1][2] to the morning of 29 February 2024.^[3][4]

Battle

Five boats loaded with Ukrainian soldiers from the 73rd Naval Center of Maritime Special Operations, a hand-picked unit specializing in clandestine maritime attacks, approached a low-lying sandy beach and attempted to land.^[5] As Ukrainian troops approached the landmass, they came under fire from Russian forces.^[6] According to Russian Milbloger Kot Dobrokhod and the Kyiv Post, the ambush was carried out by infantry members of the Russian Baltic Fleet.^[7][8] After suffering heavy losses, Ukrainian forces were forced to withdraw.^[9] Russian sources later posted multiple photos to social media showing the aftermath of the failed landing and weapons captured from the Ukrainians. Six bodies of Ukrainian soldiers can be seen in the photos.^[10] Other images showed a pair of Western suppiled M2 Browning machine guns mounted on a boat, seven individual weapons and boxes of ammunition. The Russian information channel Readovka reported Russian troops had captured a Ukrainian flag.^[11]

Aftermath

Russian units claimed that they sank three landing crafts and killed 20 Ukrainian soldiers.^[12] The Russian defense ministry claimed that up to 25 Ukrainian personnel were killed while one was taken prisoner. Four boats were also captured, while a fifth vessel managed to escape.^[13][14] Russian milbloggers claimed that one boat and one prisoner were captured and that one boat managed to escape. A Russian Telegram account posted a picture of the captured Ukrainian soldier who was blindfolded with duct tape.^[15] The press service of the Special Operations Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces posted about the operation on Telegram acknowledged losses but did not specify casualties.^[16]

Later, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry claimed that 4 soldiers had been killed despite images showing Ukrainian 6 soldiers dead.^[17]

According to Kot Dobrokhod, two Russian soldiers were wounded by a drone strike.^{[citation needed]}

On 2 March, Ukrainian reserve Major General Serhii Hryhorovych [uk] said that "the operation on the Tendra Spit had no strategic or tactical value". He also called for the officers who sent Ukrainian Special Forces soldiers to the Tendra Spit to be punished.^[18]

References

This page was last edited on 2 April 2024, at 02:00