Warships from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet over the night Tuesday-Wednesday bombarded shore positions in Ukraine’s Odessa region, damaging shore infrastructure but losing two combat aircraft in the process, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday, March 16.
Serhy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odessa regional defense command, in a statement said it appeared the Russian Federation (RF) intention was to find out the locations of UAF defensive positions, and to probe the sector’s air defenses.
According to heavy news reporting from the Odessa region, on Tuesday six RF warships led by the cruiser Moskva appeared off-shore. Three transport warships normally used for carrying troops and combat vehicles were following at a distance.
Bratchuk said that the ships were easily visible from the shore but, as of Wednesday morning, had made no attempt to land troops.
A statement from Ukraine’s Southern Forces Command (USC) said that overnight RF warships fired on the shoreside village of Novoselivka. It was not clear from the statement whether the RF naval fires hit military or civilian targets.
Maksm Marchenko,head of the Odessa Defense Command, in a statement said that UAF air defense troops shot down two RF Su-34 combat jets shortly after dawn on Wednesday. According to the USC an RF helicopter also was downed.
The aircrew of both Sukhoi jets were seen to eject, however, UAF forces did not see RF navy attempts to rescue them, UAF statements said. Water temperatures typical in the Black Sea in mid-March can kill an unprotected swimmer in less than an hour. Marchenko said the RF pilots did not survive, without providing evidence.
