A Russian Black Sea Fleet helicopter discovered and destroyed a naval mine of reportedly Ukrainian origin floating adrift in the water northeast of the Bosphorus Strait, according to Ministry of Defense reports.
Official statements say that a loose mine was destroyed by machine gun fire from a Ka-27 helicopter that had been deployed by the ‘Sergey Kotov’ patrol ship 180 kilometers (111 miles) of the strait.
#Ukrainian mine found in the #BlackSea was destroyed by a Ka-27 helicopter – #Russian Defense Ministry via RIA News pic.twitter.com/QdWZhdLsf5
— MikeReports (@mikereports) July 19, 2023
“While performing tasks in the southwestern part of the Black Sea, the patrol ship Sergey Kotov of the Black Sea Fleet detected a thwarted drifting Ukrainian mine 180 kilometers northeast of the Bosphorus Strait,” the report reads.
“By the decision of the commander of the ship, a Ka-27 helicopter was scrambled into the air, the crew destroyed the mine with machine-gun fire.”
Drifting mines have been encountered before in the region. The Russian defense ministry has called it “unprofessional and irresponsible” by the Ukrainian military, but Kyiv has not claimed ownership of the mine as Russia also deployed it’s own protective measures around it’s ports in the Black Sea.
