Video shows Ukrainian drone take out Russian boat on Dnieper River

A video posted by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry breaks down the moment that members of its Special Operation Forces took out a Russian boat during a battle along the Dnieper River.

According to the clip shared on Twitter, Ukraine’s forces detected Russian personnel while conducting reconnaissance of an island in the Dnieper using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Members of the 73rd Naval Center of Special Operations of Ukraine were then sent out on two boats for a “planned attack” on the Russian-held island, according to the defense ministry.

Ukraine’s military claimed that two Russian servicemen were killed in the initial attack. After the naval forces retreated, Kyiv’s UAV crew used a first-person view drone to target additional Russian boats along the river during the fight.

In total, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said, it destroyed one boat and damaged another. An additional Russian service member was also killed in the drone attack. Storyful confirmed that the video of the attack was taken in the Bilozerskyi district in the southern Kherson region, according to SkyNews.

According to English translations provided by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, a narrator for the video noted that the outcome of Ukraine’s mission “would have been completely different” without the use of UAVs.

“The reality of modern warfare dictates new rules,” said the narrator at the beginning of the clip. “Just one drone can determine the outcome of the entire operation. Just one drone can determine whether you live or die, and we see evidence of this every day on the front line.”

Since Kyiv launched its long-anticipated counteroffensive, fighting has been largely concentrated along the southern border of Ukraine, where the Dnieper River splits Russian- and Ukraine-controlled territory. The 16-month war has also served as a model of sorts for modern warfare, as both militaries rely heavily on their drone supplies.

The U.S. has supplied Ukraine’s military with American-made UAVs and ammunition, including as part of a $300 million military aid package announced by U.S. officials in May. Ukraine officials have vowed, however, to not use U.S.-supplied drones to attack on Russian soil, reported the Associated Press.

Russia is still in control of large portions of southeastern Ukraine, but Kyiv has successfully regained much of the territory initially lost after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged that his country’s current offensive campaign is moving “slower than desired,” Ukraine is expected to be ultimately successful in retaking Russian-occupied land.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry via email Friday afternoon for comment.