Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense released footage of a cross-river night raid outside the Russian controlled city of Novaya Kakhovka on January 24. I was able to geolocate the footage to a hotel and outdoor recreational center called the “Fisherman’s Farm,” which Ukraine claims was being used by Russian forces as a command post. This attack is particularly interesting as there has been little military activity by Ukrainian forces on the left side of the river since the capture of Kherson. There have been instances of limited small boat operations being used to probe defenses and plant flags for media purposes, but direct engagements have been almost unseen.
Today landing on Nova Kahovka really happened,ended badly for Ukrainians pic.twitter.com/npdOrDMhAO
— ZOKA (@200_zoka) January 24, 2023
Footage of the raid from soldiers’ POV shows very little, but footage from the drone gives a pretty good vantage point of what was happening. From the drone we can see the Ukrainian forces came under return fire and what looks to be an artillery barrage. The footage does not show any engagements inside or near the buildings of the complex, but rather wooded areas around the shoreline.
In the post, Ukraine claimed that the raid resulted in the deaths of a dozen Russian troops and the retrieval of “comprehensive data on the number, composition and locations of enemy reserves” before their forces returned back to the right bank of the river. In the posted footage we can see at least one Ukrainian soldier was wounded, but an exact number of Ukrainian casualties is unknown. I have not been able to find any responses by Russian media or officials commenting on this particular operation. It also is unknown if the fires were set intentionally or caused by return fire.
