RIVER OF BLOOD
Dramatic moment boatload of seven Russian troops are BLOWN out of the water by Ukrainian kamikaze drone in deadly blitz
Watch the shocking moment the boat explodes
THIS is the dramatic moment a boat carrying seven Russian soldiers was blasted out of the water by a Ukrainian kamikaze drone.
The deadly blitz saw the vessel shot to pieces as bodies and debris were blown high into the air.
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Putin's assault soldiers and pieces of the boat smashed into the water causing a huge splash before most of the troops were seen swimming away.
They were headed towards Nestryha island in Kherson region, which Russia has been seeking to control since last year.
In scenes too graphic to show, the survivors of the explosion were killed by drone-dropped grenades as they scrambled onto the island.
A report on the ambush stated: “It is noted that there were several boats, on which landed more than 15 occupants."
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It added: “The Birds of Madyar [drone unit] disrupted the operation of the Russians and eliminated at least seven Russians.
“Note that Nestryha island is the last before the mouth of the river and actually the last island on the right bank.”
As such it is strategically important "as the positions on the island allow shelling the right-bank Kherson region with mortars and artillery”.
Both Ukraine and Russia have developed attack drones as military weapons to an astonishing extent during the war.
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Ukraine's sea drones upgraded to fire WARPLANE missiles &; attack land targets as shock vid shows chopper scuttle vessel
The boat explosion comes as Ukraine blitzed a major Russian oil refinery in a kamikaze drone strike on May 1 - sparking a huge inferno near Moscow.
Dramatic video from the scene showed flames raging from the Rosneft energy giant facility in the city of Ryazan.
The bombardment followed another earlier strike on two oil refineries in Krasnodar region, and coincided with Russian strikes on Odesa.
Five people were killed and more than 30 injured in a Russian cluster munition attack on a private law academy in Ukraine's Black Sea port city.
And on May 18 The Sun revealed how Ukraine has started using kamikaze sea drones bristling with warplane missiles and rockets to attack land and air targets.
A new video showed a fearsome jerry-rigged drone firing on Russian positions in a nighttime sea battle.
The grainy film shows the small, but powerful unmanned surface vessel (USV) launching a missile at a target.
A Russian aircraft films the incredible scene from above in the Kremlin-occupied Kinburn Spit area of the Mykolaiv region as it attempts to blitz the fast-moving weapon.
Rise of drones
By The Sun's Defence Editor Jerome Starkey and Foreign News Reporter Iona Cleave
KILLER drones have changed land warfare forever, but tanks will always remain king of the battlefield, a retired British general says.
Sir Richard Barrons argued the bloody battles in Ukraine have proved the power of unmanned aerial vessels (UAVs) but tanks are destined to adapt and head into an era of automation.
Speaking on The Sun's World at War, Barrons admired the new capabilities of drones and their armour-blitzing skills - but didn't give any credit to the arguments that tanks will vanish from the battlefield.
The former Joint Forces chief said: "If you're on a battlefield and people are dropping bombs on you, firing artillery at you, using machine guns and mines, you're going to want an armoured vehicle with tracks on it."
He questioned who would want to head into a fight without a big gun, effective sights and easy manoeuvrability over difficult terrain.
However, Barrons noted that as drones change the course of land warfare, tanks too are being forced to adapt and quickly.
"We're going to see an evolution of armoured vehicles and very soon they will turn up with counter-drone capabilities on them. And it'll all balance again," he said.
Russian already appears to be rising to the challenge with haphazard edits after tanks were spotted hiding underneath armoured mobile sheds to fend off UAV attacks.
Barrons spoke of the "significant effect" first-person-view (FPV) drones have had on the Ukrainian battlefield.
The cheap, kamikaze, tank-blitzing precision weapons have become one of Kyiv's biggest success stories since its military ran perilously short on munitions due to long-stalled Western weapons shipments.
And yet, the retired general noted that FPVs are "not as effective as they sometimes appear".
He said roughly only "1 in 10 drones makes it through the electronic interference".
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