A strike on a Russian barge and tugboat in the Sea of Azov could have been carried out by Russian forces themselves. This is not the first instance of "friendly fire," citing the head of the Center for Strategic Communications of the Southern Defense Forces of Ukraine, Dmytro Pletenchuk.
"Now, from the Navy's point of view, I can say the following motto: 'It wasn't us.' Currently, we are not aware of any actions taken from our side. Nothing like that happened. Therefore, I cannot comment on this. I don't have any such information at the moment," he said.
Pletenchuk added that the Russians might have been trying to test their maritime drones, "which they boast about having and will definitely use."
"You know, friendly fire is a common practice for them. Last time, the Northern Fleet was conducting exercises and they destroyed a fishing trawler with a missile. This is quite acceptable for them. Therefore, I consider it possible that this was a similar incident," Pletenchuk said.
Russian media reported that on June 8, the tugboat Engineer Smirnov and the barge Section-179 were attacked in the Sea of Azov by Ukrainian drones. This is the first drone strike in the Sea of Azov since the start of the full-scale war. However, Ukraine has not officially confirmed the strike.