The Ukrainian Navy, working with Special Operations Forces, struck Russian forces overnight on March 5 at the Sivash offshore drilling platform in the Black Sea, at the Holitsynske gas field, and for the first time hit a Russian helicopter on the platform using a drone, the Navy’s press service said.
According to the Navy, Russia had used the platform as a site for observation and communications relay, as well as for deploying electronic warfare systems and short-range air defenses. Those systems were used to control strike drones that attacked infrastructure in the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions and threatened civilian shipping.
During the operation, Ukrainian uncrewed surface vessels and aerial drones hit Russian command and communications systems. Ukrainian forces also shot down a Ka-27 helicopter with an FPV drone as it attempted to land on the rig’s helipad.
The Holitsynske gas field lies on the Black Sea shelf, 70 kilometers northwest of the Crimean coast. The Sivash rig is a jack-up offshore platform equipped with a helipad. Russia seized it, along with other Chernomorneftegaz assets, after the 2014 annexation of Crimea. In September 2023, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (GUR) carried out an operation to retake the platform, but it was later recaptured by Russian forces.
