Military intelligence: Ukraine regains control of oil rigs in Black Sea.

Ukraine has regained control of a set of oil drilling platforms located in the Black Sea, Ukraine's Military Intelligence (HUR) announced[1] on Sept.

11. The rigs had been occupied by Russia since 2015, following the 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea[2]. Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces turned the platforms into a military site, adding equipment like radar and helipads, according to HUR.  

The multi-phase operation involved a battle between Ukrainian special forces on boats and a Russian SU-30 fighter jet, shown in a 13-minute video[3] HUR released about the operation. The SU-30 jet was damaged and forced to retreat, HUR said, adding that Ukraine took helicopter ammunition and a Neva radar system from the site.

A still from a video Ukraine's Military Intelligence (HUR) produced about the operation to regain control of the 'Boyko Towers' oil drilling platforms, published online on Sept.

11, 2023. (Ukraine's Military Intelligence / Facebook)

As a result of the operation, Ukraine regained control of the 'Petro Hodovalets' and 'Ukraine' drilling platforms, informally known to Ukrainians as the Boyko Towers, as well as the 'Tavryda' and 'Syvash' mobile rigs, HUR said. The Boyko Towers[4] got their name from the controversial politician Yuriy Boyko, who was involved in the purchase of the rigs in 2011 as Energy Minister under pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych[5].

Ukrainian journalists investigated the purchase and reported that the tender process was corrupt, as intermediary companies had massively inflated the price, siphoning millions of dollars from the state budget.  

Military: Russia's illegal Crimean bridge still unable to function normally Russia's illegally-built Crimean bridge, which connects occupied Crimea to Russia's Krasnodar Krai, is still unable to function normally after a July explosion damaged the bridge, Southern Operational Command's spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk reported on Sept.

10.

[6] Elsa Court

News Editor

Elsa Court is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She was previously an intern at the Kyiv Post and has a Master's in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University.

Before joining the Kyiv Independent, she worked at the Netherlands Red Cross programme to arrange hosts for Ukrainian refugees and as a freelance writer and editor.

Elsa is originally from the UK and is based in the Netherlands.

References

  1. ^ announced (gur.gov.ua)
  2. ^ illegal annexation of Crimea (kyivindependent.com)
  3. ^ video (www.facebook.com)
  4. ^ Boyko Towers (www.opendemocracy.net)
  5. ^ pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych (kyivindependent.com)
  6. ^ Military: Russia's illegal Crimean bridge still unable to function normallyRussia's illegally-built Crimean bridge, which connects occupied Crimea to Russia's Krasnodar Krai, is still unable to function normally after a July explosion damaged the bridge, Southern Operational Command's spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk reported on Sept.

    10. (kyivindependent.com)

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