Ukrainian special forces from the National Guard's "Omega" Center destroyed a Russian Su-24M frontline bomber in occupied Crimea, the National Guard announced on 17 July. The unit said the aircraft was preparing for a combat mission against Ukrainian territory when its drones struck.

The first drone hit the Su-24M's nose section, the second struck the fuel tanks, destroying the aircraft, according to the Omega unit's account. There was no independent confirmation of the strike, and Russian officials had not commented on damage at Saky by the time the unit posted its claim.

The claimed strike fits a broader Ukrainian effort to make Russian air operations from occupied Crimea increasingly costly. Repeated drone attacks on Saky have forced Moscow to defend rear airbases once considered beyond Ukraine's reach while risking aircraft used in strikes on southern Ukraine.

Combat divers, now flying drones 200 kilometers deep

The detail that distinguishes the operation is the unit behind it. Omega is the National Guard's special-purpose center, and the strike was carried out by its combat divers—naval special operators—using strike drones against a target deep in occupied territory.

Ukraine's National Guard has increasingly fielded long-range strike drones through its assault corps, including the "Azov" and "Khartiia" Corps, which the command says now operate at ranges exceeding 100 kilometers against Russian logistics, ammunition depots, command posts, air defenses, and aircrafts

Saky's month under fire

The strike is the latest in a sustained campaign against Saky, one of Russia's main aviation hubs in occupied Crimea, from which aircraft launch missile and guided-bomb attacks on southern Ukraine. Ukraine's Security Service struck the airfield on 24 June, again on 3 July, when it reported at least seven aircraft destroyed or damaged. Saky hosts Su-24 tactical bombers and Su-30SM fighters and lies roughly 200 kilometers from the nearest Ukrainian-controlled territory.

Each Su-24M strike removes an aircraft Russia uses to bomb southern Ukraine—and forces Moscow to divert more resources to defending its rear airbases against a threat that now comes from multiple Ukrainian services, using cheap drones, at growing depth.

Latvia has hardened security at key energy and water sites after intelligence flagged a Russian threat, Reuters reported. Its prime minister has asked NATO for more troops and air defense, warned of election meddling, and rebuked the European governments still shielding Russian gas.

Guarding the dam and the gas

Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs told Reuters that the country had raised its guard. He named a hydroelectric station above the capital and a large underground gas store. Asked to be specific, he pointed to the Incukalns gas facility, the wider energy sector and its companies, and the dam.

Undersea cables in the Baltic have already been damaged in suspected sabotage around the New Year. Russia recently closed seven rail crossings on its NATO borders without explanation. The Kremlin has brushed the warnings aside, calling them "scare stories."

Kulbergs cast the danger as growing. With Russia stalled in Ukraine, he said, its leaders want "a quick win, so the potential hybrid threat is larger than before." He added: 

"Anything is possible."

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An election under threat

Latvia, a NATO and EU member that borders Russia, ranks among Kyiv's firmest backers and Moscow's sharpest critics. That standing places it among Moscow's likeliest targets before an October national election.

His government is bracing for possible Russian meddling in the vote. Moscow denies the election-interference charges that Western capitals level at it. It has separately accused Latvia of opening air corridors for Ukrainian drones, showing no evidence.

Kulbergs turned his fire on the EU governments blocking the bloc's 21st sanctions package, singling out Bulgaria. One holdout is enough to keep the whole package stalled. The measures would sanction 250 people and entities and tighten the screws on Russian LNG.

Vetoing parts of it, he argued, carries a share of the blame for dead Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. Failing to move on Moscow's shadow fleet and its LNG sales, he said, keeps feeding the "Russian war machine."