The navy spokesman announced on Saturday that the Ukrainian military intelligence and navy had damaged an offshore gas platform once used by Russian forces.

The occupants used this location to spoof GPS in order to make navigation for civilians dangerous. Dmytro Pltenchuk posted on Facebook that we cannot allow such a thing to occur.

He posted a night-time video showing the explosion and fire on a platform offshore. He claimed that Russian forces had placed equipment and military personnel at the platform a half-day before the attack.

There were no civilians. Pletenchuk stated that the platform was not functioning normally.

He gave no more details.

Information could not be independently verified. Moscow has not yet responded.

Ukraine lost control over numerous offshore gas and oil platforms after Russia captured the Crimea in 2001. Some of these, it claims, have been used by Russian forces for military purposes.

Ukraine managed to drive the Russian navy out of the western Black Sea by using sea drones. This allowed Kyiv to establish a vital maritime transit route that transported 60 million tons in the last year. (Reporting and editing by Alex Richardson; Reporting by Pavel Polityuk)

(source: Reuters)