Both Ukraine and Russia claim successes in ongoing combat in the Black Sea

Both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries have claimed successes in what appears to be ongoing combat in the Black Sea, and especially over Russian-occupied Snake Island.

Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa region military administration, said Sunday that a Russian helicopter on the island had been struck and destroyed Saturday night. The military released a drone video purportedly showing the strike.

He also said a small landing boat with a capacity of about 80-100 personnel had been eliminated, as well as two Raptor-class patrol boats.

Bratchuk said that, according to preliminary information, about 40 Russian soldiers had been killed.

A satellite image from Sunday morning showed at least one column of smoke rising from the island.

The Russian Ministry of Defense Sunday gave a very different version of events.

Major General Igor Konashenkov said that, during Saturday night, two more Ukrainian Su-24 bombers and one Mi-24 helicopter of the Ukrainian Air Force were destroyed by Russian air defense systems over the island.

Both sides also reported attacks near the port of Odesa. The Russians said they had taken down a Bayraktar-TB2 combat drone near Odesa, while the Ukrainian military said it had intercepted two cruise missiles launched by Russian aircraft.

Bratchuk said that altogether 10 Russian cruise missiles had been fired at the Odesa region on Saturday. The runway at the main airport had been hit again. A residential district had also been hit.