This is the moment Ukraine obliterated Putin’s £300million ‘Black Hole’ with a naval blast leaving it permanently out of action.
In an operation hailed by the country’s intelligence agency, an underwater ‘sea baby’ drone blew up a multi-million-dollar Russian submarine in a Crimean port.
Varshavyanka-class submarines are a vital asset to Putin’s war against Ukraine due to their ability to absorb sound and remain difficult to detect by sonar.
The vessel, nicknamed the ‘Black Hole’, was in the port of Novorossiysk and carrying four launchers for Kalibr cruise missiles when it was blown up.
The explosion caused the submarine critical damage, effectively putting it out of action, Ukraine’s security services (SBU) said.
Not only was the sub destroyed, but it was forced to remain in the port due to other ‘sea baby’ strikes on Russian ships in Sevastopol Bay.
Crimea was invaded and annexed by Russian forces in 2014.
While the underwater ship’s pricetag is $400million, it could cost up to $500million (£375million) for Russia to replace it due to international sanctions.
The SBU described the military operation as the first time in history this sort of attack had been carried out.
It was a joint mission conducted by a branch of the SBU and the Ukrainian Navy.
The intelligence agency has been causing wider disruption to Russia’s naval activity in recent days.
The SBU used dronestoblew up an oil tanker from Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ on Wednesday last week.
This was the third attack on Putin’s unregulated ‘shadow fleet’ ships, which allow Moscow to export oil around the world, in two weeks.
Ukraine’s ‘sea baby’ strike on Russia comes after two days of talks in Berlin between Zelensky and US officials.
The two sides are discussing the US peace plan presented several weeks ago and amended during negotiations in Geneva and Florida.
The exact details aren’t publicly known but Zelensky has insisted he will not accept any territorial concessions.
Nonetheless, German Chancellor Merz said there was ‘a great deal of diplomatic momentum’ to end the war in a press conference on Monday.
The US delegation has also claimed that ’90 per cent’ of the sticking points between the two sides have been resolved.
Before the talks, Zelensky signalled a willingness to give up his long-standing ambition to join NATO as long as security guarantees are established in a peace deal.
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