Revenge raids ordered across Crimea over missile destruction of Novocherkassk that may have killed 100
President Putin is “completely furious” at the sinking of the Novocherkassk warship and has ordered raids across occupied Crimea in an attempt to hunt down the resistance fighters that provided intelligence on its location, according to a Ukrainian partisan group.
“The flywheel of repression is spinning,” the Atesh group wrote on Telegram. “Local residents have been raided throughout the city, their smartphones are being taken away and their houses are being searched.”
The group added: “It is reported that Putin is completely furious over the destruction of the Novocherkassk large landing ship. An order was issued to punish the Crimean air defence forces. It is expected that many commanders will be removed and sent to the front to participate in assault groups.”
The ship was struck at port in Feodosiya, Crimea, by a British cruise missile fired from a Ukrainian supersonic Sukhoi Su-24 jet. It went up in a huge explosion as its load, reported to be Iranian-made Shahed suicide drones, detonated.
Satellite images released by Radio Svoboda appear to show that the enormous blast hit a second ship nearby, a UTS-150 training ship that can be seen partially submerged.
At least 52 men from 77 serving aboard the Novocherkassk have been reported missing or injured after the attack, according to the independent Russian media outlet ASTRA, including young conscripts and contract sailors. However, analysts believe the size of the explosion suggests that there may have been a far higher tally of injury and death.
Yan Matveev, the Russian military analyst, said: “In the worst case, up to 100 people could have died instantly. Local authorities announced the death of only one — apparently a port worker.
“The sailors will be called missing and relatives will obtain certificates of the death of their husbands and sons through the courts.
“At least a couple of dozen people from two shifts should have been there. Neither the Kremlin media, nor the ministry of defence, nor Z-military correspondents and other supporters of the war wrote a word about them.”
The Kremlin’s efforts to cover up its war dead have led to demands that mobilised family members be brought home through grassroots organisations such as ‘Put Domoy’ (‘The Way Home’).
Last month ‘The Way Home’ published a manifesto in November stating that: “Our loved ones were taken to Ukraine… Many will never return. Mobilization turned out to be a terrible mistake. We were punished for our law-abiding ways.”
The Kremlin has doubled down on its war efforts however, by announcing a new partnership with India to produce military equipment and stepping up attacks on Ukrainian civilians.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, hosted his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in Moscow as the Kremlin announced Putin would meet Narendra Modi next year. Speaking at a news conference, Lavrov said that cooperation with India was of a strategic nature and would help ensure security on the Eurasian continent. India has been a key buyer of Russian oil since the start of the invasion of Ukraine and has avoided condemning Russia or implementing economic sanctions. Trade between the two nations is worth $50 billion, Jaishankar said during his trip to Moscow.
On Tuesday night Russia fired missiles at Kherson’s railway station as 140 people tried to evacuate the city. At least one person was killed and several wounded, with eyewitnesses saying both the train and station were destroyed as they took shelter.
Despite the attack, Ukrainian railways said it had managed to continue the evacuation of the city, which has faced increasingly intense bombardment in recent weeks. “Several employees of Ukrainian Railways were injured,” Ukraine’s national rail operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, stated. “The passengers were transferred to another train, which successfully reached Kyiv at 7.20am.”
“President Putin is “completely furious” at the sinking of the Novocherkassk warship and has ordered raids across occupied Crimea in an attempt to hunt down the resistance fighters that provided intelligence on its location, according to a Ukrainian partisan group.”
putler has obviously never heard of satellite images, but it’s good he’s sending the orc commanders to the front, maybe he should send the person really responsible for those ships getting sunk, himself!
Putler is looking in the wrong place if he wants to find out where the leaked info came from, he needs to look into his own FSB and GRU…
What’s this India crap?
Never believe this kind of analysis. Putin is a leprous bastard who knowingly maintains a constant dehumanization around him. This abyss is the basis of this rottenness. I remain convinced that the leader of the Kremlin would be sadder to lose a new maritime flagship than a member of his family. Look at this degenerate. The absence of life in his eyes.
How can an enemy missile fly for about 3 minutes 40 km into NATO airspace without having been eliminated instantly???