CNN showcases ‘Ukrainian drones that attacked Crimean Bridge’
CNN claims that its journalists have gained rare access to a secret Ukrainian naval facility that was used to set the stage for a maritime drone attack on the Crimean Bridge earlier this month, when two civilians were killed.
In a report on Sunday, the American TV network said Ukrainian officials had gone to great lengths to conceal the details about the base, which it claimed was located on the banks of a “secret lake.” However, their reporters were still allowed to film the sea drones.
The developer of the drones, “who asked to remain anonymous,” told the outlet that work on the boats started only after the launch of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, adding that they were designed and produced by Kiev.
CNN described the drones as five-meter-long vessels weighing up to 1,000kg with an explosive payload of up to 300kg, a range of 800km, and a maximum speed of 80kph. These drones, it added, are “increasingly allowing the Ukrainians to attack and surveil the Russians in the Black Sea and on the Crimean peninsula.”
The network’s sources claimed that Kiev had used those drones to launch attacks on the Crimean Bridge earlier this month and the port city of Sevastopol, which serves as the key base of the Russian Black Sea fleet, in October last year.
The outlet also shared POV footage of the latter raid filmed from one of the sea drones as it attempted to approach what appeared to be a Russian warship under torrential gunfire. At the time, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said Kiev had attempted to stage a “terrorist attack” on the Black Sea Fleet, which resulted in minor damage to a trawler vessel.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian drone raid on the Crimean Bridge earlier this month damaged a section of the roadway and killed a married Russian couple, injuring their teenage daughter. President Vladimir Putin called the attack “brutal” and pointless from a military perspective as the infrastructure is no longer used to transport combat equipment.
In response to the incident, Moscow intensified missile strikes on Ukrainian military facilities in the port city of Odessa, including those used to manufacture and store naval drones.
