Putin’s bungling military ‘accidentally destroys one of its own ships during botched war games with missile strike killing three on board Baltic Sea trawler’
Russia has accidentally destroyed its own fishing boat in the Baltic Sea in a shocking friendly fire incident amid botched war games.
The fishing vessel – named Captain Lobanov – is seen with a cloud of smoke following a missile attack off the coast of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
There was an apparent attempt to cover up the acutely embarrassing blunder of Vladimir Putin’s Baltic Fleet, with it initially being reported that there had been an unexplained ‘explosion and fire’ on the trawler.
Three were killed and four injured in the suspected Iskander-M missile attack, with the affected sailors escaping on a lifeboat.
A relative of one of the crew members told the independent Russian media outlet Dozhd about the strike.
“When the survivors were taken away, everyone knew very well that three people had been killed,” the source said.
‘And everyone knew very well that a rocket had hit. But they decided to write that there was ‘fire’ on board.’
The fishing vessel – named Captain Lobanov – is seen leaving a trail of smoke after a missile attack off the coast of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad
Three were killed and four injured in the suspected Iskander-M missile attack, with the affected sailors escaping on a lifeboat
A Russian trawler named Captain Lobanov exploded in the Baltic Sea ‘as a result of a missile attack by Vladimir Putin’s own navy’
Captain Lobanov is believed to be hit by an Iskander-M missile
The captain’s cabin was completely destroyed in the attack, causing significant damage to this ship.
Earlier reports suggested the ship had sunk, but the wreckage was towed to port after the incident on Tuesday, when war games were underway in the Baltic Sea.
Survivors are now recovering in hospitals in the Kaliningrad region, although one is reportedly in serious condition.
The injured were reportedly interrogated by FSB security service officers and ordered ‘not to talk about the incident’.
According to reports, the naval exercises consisted of attacking a mock enemy, including a submarine.
Iskander-M hypersonic ballistic missiles and cruise missiles were used.
The costly mishap came as Russia punished Ukraine this morning with a new round of airstrikes, with about 90 missiles and 60 drones hitting key energy infrastructure, darkening the second city of Kharkiv and damaging several facilities, officials said.
It appeared to be the largest strike of the war on Ukraine’s energy network, knocking out the internet and hitting domestic and industrial electricity supplies across the country.
Dramatic footage shows the Dnipro hydroelectric power station – Ukraine’s largest – going up in flames after an attack there that also hit a bus, killing several civilians.
The dam – part of the hydroelectric power station that supplies electricity to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant – apparently remained intact, but the turbine chamber and penstock equipment were damaged.
“The fire in the station continues,” energy company Ukrhydroenergo said. “Emergency services and energy workers are on the ground trying to overcome the consequences of numerous air strikes.”
Residents of the second city of Kharkiv suffered water and power outages overnight and the city’s Transport Engineering Plant, a crucial facility that produces and repairs tanks, was also hit by some of the heaviest bombing of the war up to now.
Russian Telegram channel War Gonzo labeled it “judgment night and morning” – and the brutal attacks came shortly after Putin’s victory in the Russian presidential election, which he sees as a mandate to continue his invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this week, he had vowed revenge for what he saw as Ukrainian attacks on civilians in Russia’s Belgorod region.
He said: ‘We can respond in the same way. (We can) hit civilian infrastructure and any other similar objects that the enemy attacks.”
Putin’s missiles and fighter jets hit Ukraine in the biggest attack yet on its energy infrastructure
In this photo by Petro Andryuschenko, the advisor to the head of the Mariupol city administration, a burning trolleybus is seen on the damp of a hydroelectric power station after Russian attacks in Dnipro, Ukraine, Friday, March 22, 2024
Damage to the Dnipro hydroelectric power station is depicted
Self-defense unit volunteers stand near burnt-out cars in a residential area of the city of Belgorod after new airstrikes on March 22, 2024
“The world sees the targets of Russian terrorists as clearly as possible: power plants and energy supply lines, a hydroelectric dam, ordinary residential buildings, even a trolleybus. Russia is fighting against people’s normal lives,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the messaging app Telegram on Friday.
For the second day in a row, NATO warplanes were scrambled in Poland due to “the activity of Russian long-range aviation,” monitoring the flight path of Russian planes to ensure they did not threaten alliance territory.
Thirteen Tu-95MS aircraft – part of Putin’s nuclear arsenal but carrying conventional missiles – attacked several targets in Ukraine.
As air defenses were overwhelmed by these aircraft and missiles, Russia also attacked with kamikaze drones.
Explosions were recorded in Kanatovo, near Kirovograd, a reserve air base of the Ukrainian Air Force, as well as in Kremenchuk, Burshtyn, Khmelnitsky Odesa, Zhytomyr and Vinnytsia.
According to Mayor Serhiy Borzov, a large local hydroelectric power plant was completely out of service in Ladyzhyn, Vinnytsia region.