A Ukrainian drone destroyed a helicopter attempting to unload troops on Snake Island in footage released over the weekend.
Wall Street Journal foreign affairs correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov shared the done footage on Saturday, citing as its source the Southern Command of the Ukrainian military.
Snake Island has really become a shooting gallery as Russian landing craft and helicopters keep getting destroyed. Video from Ukraine’s Southern Command. pic.twitter.com/fb0ECGX0i9
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) May 8, 2022
Figures that are likely Russian soldiers can be seen descending from the chopper shortly before the aircraft is destroyed.
It’s possible the action could’ve resulted in multiple casualties.
Drone aircraft are more commonly used for air-to-ground strikes.
The Russian military’s standard practice of overwhelming the enemy with columns of tanks has proven a flawed strategy against an enemy armed with so-called “loitering” drones, that can wait to engage the enemy.
The Ukrainian military published footage of a drone destroying a landing craft in the same engagement.
Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 destroyed another Russian ship. This time the landing craft of the “Serna” project. The traditional parade of the russian Black Sea fleet on May 9 this year will be held near Snake Island – at the bottom of the sea. pic.twitter.com/WYEPywmAwX
— Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) May 7, 2022
The Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone has been used to telling effect in the Russo-Ukrainian War, with some pointing to its record in recent conflicts as evidence that drones will prove essential to the future of warfare.
More footage captured from the air showed Ukrainian aircraft striking buildings on the strategically important island.
#Ukraine: The Ukrainian Air force is still alive- seen here are two Ukrainian Su-27 striking Russian facilities on the famous Snake Island in the Black Sea, in remarkable footage filmed by a TB-2 drone.
As we can observe, there is serious damage. pic.twitter.com/ogN3gOU8uJ
— ?? Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 7, 2022
Analysis of satellite imagery of the Russian-occupied island indicated that every structure utilized by the invading force had been destroyed in the weekend bombardment of the island by Ukraine.
New image from today shows that almost all structures near the central lighthouse location have been destroyed over the last 24 hours by Ukrainian TB2 drones https://t.co/SjOSyWcPDU
— Oliver Alexander (@OAlexanderDK) May 7, 2022
The Black Sea island provides its occupier with means to control shipping and naval control of Ukraine’s borders, famously becoming a target of a since-destroyed Russian warship on the first day of the war.
