• Molnupiravir is given to thousands of vulnerable patients to treat against Covid
• The antiviral, made by US pharma giant Merck, forces mutations in the virus

By Emily Craig

Published: 19:28 EDT, 25 September 2023 | Updated: 20:44 EDT, 25 September 2023

By Ted Thornhill, Mailonline Travel Editor

Published: 04:47 EDT, 23 September 2023 | Updated: 04:47 EDT, 23 September 2023

Thrilling gang warfare drama Top Boy came to an explosive conclusion earlier this month after more than a decade – with Netflix and Canadian rapper Drake helping to see the series to a satisfying conclusion after it was dropped by Channel 4.

The show became one of Netflix’s most-viewed shows in the week that its third and final season post-renewal went out.

Viewers tuned in to see what became of Ashley Walters’ Dushane and Kane Robinson’s Sully as their warfare with other drug gangs in the fictional Summerhouse estate in Hackney, London, reached a dramatic climax.

But the show had humble beginnings on Channel 4 when it first aired in 2011 – and featured a number of actors who were relative unknowns at the time, and have since gone on to appear in huge Hollywood productions.

Michaela Coel, Letitia Wright and Benedict Wong are among the stars to have used Top Boy as a springboard to launch themselves into Marvel movies, while others have since starred in big dramas, Netflix films and other blockbusters. 

It bodes well for the breakout stars of the rebooted series such as Micheal Ward – some of whom are already picking up plaudits across the industry.

Michaela Coel 

The Ghanaian-British actress, 35, appeared in series two of the show in its Channel 4 era, as Kayla – a woman charged with killing her own boyfriend. 

Her 2013 appearance was brief – across just two episodes – but Coel went on to star in E4 sitcom Chewing Gum and Black Earth Rising before writing and starring in I May Destroy You – a powerful BBC drama about a woman seeking to rebuild her life after being raped on a night out that won BAFTAs and a Primetime Emmy.

She famously turned down $1million from Netflix for rights to the show after it refused to let her retain the ownership rights, and was named one of Time magazine’s most influential people. It noted: ‘You don’t just watch Michaela Coel shows; you experience them.’

She published a book, Misfits, based on her experiences of racism and misogyny, in 2021. And since then, she has appeared in Marvel blockbuster Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as Aneka, a member of the royal family’s bodyguards in the fictional African nation of Wakanda.

Letitia Wright

Letitia Wright, 29, appeared in the first series of Top Boy as Chantelle, a drug dealer on the Summerhouse estate. She left after the first series as her character goes to work for a rival gangster.

She also made other early career appearances in the likes of Casualty and Doctor Who – but came to the fore as the star of coming-of-age drama Urban Hymn, set against the backdrop of the 2011 London riots. 

An appearance in the Netflix reboot of Black Mirror was then followed by the role that many know her best for – as Shuri, the quick-witted inventor sister of superhero T’Chala in Marvel flick Black Panther. 

She made appearances in subsequent comic crossover films Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame – but she was unexpectedly thrust into the lead role of Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever when star Chadwick Boseman died of cancer and Shuri was written into an expanded role.

Benedict Wong

Wong, 52, was a prolific actor before appearing on Top Boy – in radio and on stage, with a role in 2002 thriller Dirty Pretty Things. His profile grew as he appeared in sitcom 15 Storeys High opposite the late Sean Lock with guest appearances on programmes such as The Bill and comedies like The Peter Serafinowicz Show and The IT Crowd.

But it was after his role in Top Boy, as scheming rival drug dealer Vincent, that he was catapulted into stardom and became a fan favourite with Marvel moviegoers as Wong, the sardonic and deadly serious sorcerer who befriends Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange and helps him to master mystical powers.

Appearing in both seasons of the original Channel 4 programme, he recruited characters including Letitia Wright’s to run a cannabis farm.  

Around the same time, he began making appearances in big films like Johnny English: Reborn and Alien sci-fi prequel Prometheus. But it is his appearances as Wong in Doctor Strange, its sequel, and other interconnected Marvel films and TV shows that have brought him a huge new audience of adoring fans.

Micheal Ward 

The young actor first appeared in Top Boy in the rebooted Netflix series as Jamie – a fearsome rival gangster on the Summerhouse estate – in 2019, at the same time that he appeared in controversial crime drama Blue Story.

The film was at the centre of an incident in Birmingham in which police were attacked by a group armed with machetes; cinema chain Vue later said that 25 incidents of violence were reported in screenings on the first day.

However, Ward was praised for his performances in both Top Boy and the music-led gang film – the latter of which earned him a Rising Star BAFTA – and since then he has appeared opposite Colin Firth and Olivia Coleman in Sam Mendes’ racial drama Empire of Light, and worked with Steve McQueen on his BBC anthology series Small Axe.

Next year, he will appear in The Book of Clarence as part of a star-studded ensemble cast including the likes of David Oyelowo and James McAvoy, and will feature opposite Bill Nighy in sports drama The Beautiful Game.

Sharon Duncan-Brewster 

Duncan-Brewster, 47, was an established TV actor before appearing in Top Boy – appearing as central character Crystal in ITV prison drama Bad Girls, with parts in EastEnders as Trina as well as appearances on Holby City, Waking the Dead and Doctors.

But after appearing in Top Boy as Lisa, mum of central character Ra’Nell in seasons one and two, the actress has appeared in Sex Education, Star Wars prequel Rogue One and even the FIFA series of football games, where she appears as the mother of fictional footballer Alex Hunter as he dreams of making it big in the game.

But she has received high praise following her appearance in Denis Villeneuve’s rebooted Dune as scientist Liet-Kynes. Her performance in the sci-fi flick led to Vanity Fair branding her ‘Dune’s secret weapon’ that ‘brings (her role) to life’. 

This year, she has continued her intergalactic ascension with a voice role in Disney+ sci-fi series Star Wars: The Bad Batch.

Nicholas Pinnock

Pinnock, 50, had long established himself as a stage actor but prior to Top Boy had made only guest appearances in UK programmes such as Casualty, Doctors, EastEnders and Holby City.

But it was when he appeared as central character Leon in series one of Top Boy that his career found new energy. His reformed gangster spent his episodes trying to warn others off of a life of drug-dealing, with tragic consequences. He then went on to appear in The Ice Cream Girls on ITV.

In 2020, he starred in legal drama For Life, as a man who obtains a law degree behind bars while serving time for a crime he didn’t commit, which was produced by rapper Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson. Pinnock previously told Hollywood news website Gold Derby that Top Boy won him the role – because the musician was a fan.

He is currently appearing in Sky Atlantic series Django, a reimagining of the classic Italian spaghetti western from the 1960s.

Paul Anderson

Anderson, 44, appeared in Top Boy in 2013.as Mike, a psychotic would-be rival drug dealer to main character Dushane, fresh out of prison after committing armed robbery.

A year later, he starred in Troubles drama ’71 before appearing in The Revenant alongside Leonardo Di Caprio.

Now, he’s best known for starring opposite Cillian Murphy as his right-hand man, Arthur Shelby, in Peaky Blinders, and appeared in the modernised 2018 Hollywood retelling of Robin Hood.

Weruche Opia

Weruche Opia appeared in the second series of Top Boy as drug dealer Nafisa – before landing roles in hits like Bad Education and surreal BBC anthology series Inside No. 9.

These led to a leading role in Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You as Terry, the best friend of Coel’s character Arabella, who tries to help her piece together the events of the night that she was raped. Opia has since appeared in Netflix film Slumberland, and appeared as herself in an episode of the most recent series of Black Mirror.

Opia has since distanced herself from her Top Boy role as well as her appearance on Bad Education, disparaging the parts as ‘stereotypical young black girl’ roles. She told The Observer in 2020: ‘I did it for a while – in [the TV series] Bad Education, in Top Boy – but then I made a conscious decision and told my team I didn’t want to do those roles any more.’

Saffron Hocking  

Up-and-coming actress Hocking, 31, appeared in the rebooted Netflix series of Top Boy as Lauryn, a pregnant mum-to-be who suffers domestic abuse before taking matters into her own hands. She has been nominated for a TV BAFTA for her role.

Prior to her role in the series, she appeared in Strangeways Here We Come – but since taking to the Netflix drama she has appeared in Marvel Disney+ series Moon Knight as well as Prime Video series Riches and The Devil’s Hour. 

She also appeared as the cover star on the digital edition of this month’s Cosmopolitan UK, speaking about how she has become an ambassador for domestic abuse charity Refuge after consulting the non-profit while researching for her Top Boy role.

A British Airways passenger was left feeling ‘completely devastated’ and ‘physically sick’ after she and her family were ‘removed’ from a flight – because her son has a severe nut allergy and there was a meal with nuts on board the plane.

What’s more, the passenger, Alice Smith*, 43, had spent days in conversation with BA arranging for her cabin on the August 24 flight from London Heathrow to Dubai to be nut-free.

Yet when BA staff discovered that a cashew nut meal had been delivered to the galley for the meal service, Smith claims they decided to remove her group from the flight instead of the nut dish. So Smith – who has vowed never to fly with BA again – disembarked, along with her husband, 50, her two elderly parents, aged 73 and 74, and her two children, aged 14 and 18.

They weren’t placed on another flight to Dubai until the following day. On their replacement flight, Smith, her husband and their sons were downgraded to economy seats, despite having paid to sit in premium economy, marketed by BA as World Traveller Plus. Smith’s elderly parents, however, were upgraded from premium economy to business class. 

As a result of the debacle, the family lost a whole day of their 10-day trip in Dubai, which had been booked – along with their flights – through BA Holidays. 

To compensate, an extra day was added on to their trip ‘free of charge’.

The holiday was a special one for the family, as it was Smith’s elderly father’s first trip after undergoing a heart bypass. Smith was recommended BA Holidays by a friend, and spent £15,500 on the package break, splashing out extra on premium economy tickets to ensure her father would be comfortable.

Smith’s 14-year-old son is allergic to all nuts – including tree nuts such as cashews – and must carry an emergency adrenaline pen in case of an allergic reaction.

The mum-of-two, who is self-employed, first contacted BA about her son’s severe allergy on August 12 – nearly two weeks before their flight was due to depart.

Smith is aware that the airline can’t guarantee a completely nut-free environment, as its website states, but she alleges she was told that they wouldn’t have any nut dishes on the menu in her cabin. She says: ‘We [were] assured by BA several times that no nuts would be served in our cabin and several announcements would be made before take-off.’ 

When the family of six arrived at the airport to check in for flight BA107, they were again reassured that no nuts would be served in the cabin, Smith claims.

Later they boarded the A380 early ‘to clean and sanitise the area’ around their seats as they usually do, Smith explains. When she spoke to the crew on board about her son’s allergy, they told her that they ‘knew all about it’ and said that earlier in the day, they’d held a meeting in which they’d discussed the precautions they would take, Smith says.

She continues: ‘[The crew] proceeded to make five separate announcements [to fellow passengers] to “please refrain from eating or opening any nuts or nut products as there is a young person on board who has a severe nut allergy”.’

Smith was impressed by the multiple announcements and says that ‘all seemed well’. She says of her fellow passengers: ‘People were handing in nuts to the crew, saying: “Oh I’ve got some, can you take them away from me.” Passengers were lovely.

‘We were fully assured, fully confident. [We were] literally sitting there, ready for take-off.’ 

However, things took a turn when they were handed their menus, ‘which, to [her] horror included a prawn with cashew nut meal’.

Smith says: ‘What happened over the next hour has traumatised our whole family and won’t leave us.’

Feeling ‘tearful and anxious’, she says she alerted the crew to the nut dish on the menu. 

Smith alleges she was initially told that the cashew nut dish would be replaced. Then, three members of ground staff came on board the flight and Smith was informed that it had been decided it was ‘best’ for her family to disembark the aircraft, she alleges.

She notes that ‘some of [the crew] were so upset and they were lovely… I do not know whose decision this was to remove a family [instead of] a little carton of food’.

Smith claims: ‘By this point, I was shaking and feeling very intimidated and bullied… I explained that I had my elderly parents with us and there were six of us.’ She also pointed out that they had repeatedly received assurance there would be no nuts served in the cabin, but it was to no avail – they were asked to leave the flight, she alleges.

She admits: ‘I can’t tell you the shock and horror of that feeling… I just kept thinking this can’t be happening. We were removed, our bags [were] taken off and my family [was] distraught.

‘I was in floods of tears.’

She alleges that fellow passengers on board were ‘disgusted and said how horrendous it was… no one could believe it’.

Smith and her family spent the rest of the day in arrivals with representatives from British Airways’ customer service team trying to arrange a new flight to Dubai, she says. Eventually, a flight for the following day was arranged. 

The family was offered water, but not food vouchers or a hotel for the night, she alleges – a claim that BA disputes. 

Smith alleges they had no option but to return to their Berkshire home ahead of their replacement flight the following day, paying for taxis both there and back. 

There were no issues with nuts on their subsequent flight to Dubai.

Smith says: ‘Our holiday we had been looking forward to [was] ruined. The treatment we received was horrific. The stress suffered has affected us all.

‘We have not had any explanation for what they did to us and no remorse [has been] shown.’

She plans on seeking compensation from BA eventually but says she is currently ‘too traumatised’ by the experience to navigate making a claim.

Smith says: ‘It was just the most traumatic, awful, horrendous experience. It left me feeling physically sick. I’ll never travel with them again. Never – it was shocking.’

A statement from BA disputes aspects of Smith’s account. It says: ‘The safety and welfare of our customers is always our priority, and that’s why on every flight we operate we follow the recommendations of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for allergen-sensitive passengers. 

‘We clearly state in our published policy, and all correspondence with customers, that we can never guarantee an allergen-free cabin environment. Our crews work hard to limit any risk by allowing customers to board early to carry out additional cleansing, making allergy announcements to all passengers and restricting the serving of peanuts. 

‘In this case, our teams worked hard to find solutions to the issues raised once the customers elected not to travel that day, offering overnight hotel accommodation, the same flight the following day and extending the family’s holiday free of charge.’

The BA website says: ‘We cannot guarantee an allergen-free cabin environment or prevent other passengers from bringing their own food on board. Meals containing tree nuts may continue to be served throughout the aircraft and tree-nut-based snacks may also continue to be served in other cabins of travel depending on the aircraft type.’

The charity Allergy UK says that ‘it is important that airline staff are informed of a food allergy at every opportunity’ though it notes that ‘individual airlines will have their own policy on food allergy management and this will vary depending on the provider’.

It adds: ‘There is no legislation to date that determines best practice for managing the needs of the food allergic traveller.’

*The subject’s name has been changed.  

Just a stone’s throw from picturesque hiking trails in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park lies Scotland’s only commercial gold mine.

The Cononish project was embraced by the local community and championed by politicians – as well as investors who bought shares in its London-listed owner Scotgold Resources.

But hopes that for decades to come it could produce gold to be exported or crafted into fine jewellery have been thrown into question after Scotgold last week warned it could crash into administration.

The warning was not the only news to rock the mining industry last week.

Councillors turned down a proposal to extend operations at Wales’ last opencast coal mine, Glan Lash in Carmarthenshire. And, separately, a slew of major insurance firms ruled out providing cover to the controversial planned coal mine in West Cumbria.

From these headlines, it may look as though the sector is in crisis.

So what has gone wrong – and is it still worth having a UK mining industry at all?

Mining in the British Isles has a rich heritage and dates back to the Bronze Age more than 4,000 years ago.

Later, Romans flocked here for lead and copper.

In the South West, Devon and Cornwall had some of the richest copper and tin reserves on Earth during the 18th and early 19th centuries.

The Cornish industry was memorialised by the author Winston Graham in his Poldark novels, which he began writing in the 1940s.

The books followed Ross Poldark, whose family made its fortune at fictional local copper mines, in the late 18th and early 19th century. The novels were adapted into a hugely successful TV series starring Aidan Turner.

When most ordinary people think of mining in the UK, however, they think of coalfields across the country that were a driving force in the industrial revolution.

Coal production peaked in the 1980s. But the mining sector is now trying to re-invent itself as a driving force in the green industrial revolution. 

It has also become, at least in the eyes of some politicians, a security issue in much the same way that energy did when Russia invaded Ukraine and sent gas prices soaring.

A focus now is on securing access to so-called ‘critical’ minerals.

The Department for Business and Trade describes a critical minerals strategy published last year as improving ‘the resilience of our vital supply chains’, safeguarding industry, increasing confidence in the UK’s energy transition and protecting national security. 

A series of mined metals including lithium and tin are seen as crucial to Britain’s efforts to go green and could also provide raw materials for local manufacturing of items such as car batteries.

‘Most people in the UK have grown a conscience over their food, but no one has a conscience about their metals currently,’ says James McFarlane, general manager at consultancy Mining Plus.

‘People understand blood diamonds but it’s not just how they’re mined from a human rights perspective but from an environmental perspective too.’

Last month the UK Infrastructure Bank invested £24 million in private company Cornish Lithium to help extract the battery metal.

John Meyer, head of research at SP Angel, added that although major institutional investors are less likely to back small British mining companies, they have been ‘replaced by a new breed of fast-growing and more expert managers’. 

These include Sir Mick Davis, the former Xstrata boss whose Vision Blue fund has invested in another group named  Cornish Metals, while another investor, called Techmet, run by Brian Menell, backs Cornish Lithium.

Jeremy Wrathall, founder of Cornish Lithium, added: ‘In Cornwall, the industry is booming. We are developing a repository of the essential metals that are needed for the energy transition.

‘The key thing here is the security of supply as well as the creation of new jobs and building pride in Cornwall. Mining gives the UK a significant addition to the value of its economy – every tonne which is mined is a tonne that is not imported, every job we create is a job that is not exported.’

Britain’s geology, McFarlane explains, is not the problem: ‘We’ve got great rocks and a lot of them.’ In his view, the biggest hurdle now is scaling the many small ventures that often struggle to raise the huge funds needed to get a project up and running.

Investors in Sirius Minerals remember this all too well.

The company, which at its peak had around 85,000 individual investors, almost went bust as it tried to build a sprawling fertiliser mine under the North York Moors National Park.

Sirius was bailed out by mining giant Anglo American, which has renamed it the Woodsmith Project.

Natural potash fertiliser is another critical material that will be needed to grow food for the world’s growing population.

For all the variety of mining in the UK, it seems as though it is projects that focus on the future, rather than just harking back to the past, that will continue to attract the most support.

This is Money podcast

By Ted Thornhill, Mailonline Travel Editor

Published: 05:49 EDT, 20 September 2023 | Updated: 05:49 EDT, 20 September 2023

EXCLUSIVE: Five Israelis are charged with gang-raping British tourist in Cyprus

• The group were held after accusations from the woman following a pool party 
• Officers rounded up the men who were on holiday in the resort of Ayia Napa

By Nick Pisa

Published: 09:48 EDT, 18 September 2023 | Updated: 10:46 EDT, 18 September 2023

Two British volunteer fighters who fought in Ukraine are feared to have been murdered by their fellow foreign legion comrades following alleged disputes over money and petty arguments, it has emerged. 

Daniel Burke, a former paratrooper who went to fight in Ukraine as a volunteer last year, vanished from his flat in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia on August 11 and hasn’t been seen since.

There are now fears that the 36-year-old could have been killed not by Russian soldiers, but by his fellow foreign legion fighters because of reported disputes and jealousy over the amount of money he was receiving in donations.

As Ukrainian police comb the fields of Komyshuvakha village on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia for any sign of Burke’s body, cops further east are investigating the death of former British soldier Jordan Chadwick, 31, near Bakhmut. 

Chadwick, a former Scots Guard from Burnley, Lancashire, who also volunteered to fight for Ukraine, was found dead in a body of water with his hands tied behind his back in June.

A source told the Daily Telegraph that Chadwick had been shot during a petty argument that got out of hand, raising further mystery surrounding his death.

The two cases involving Burke and Chadwick are not thought to be linked, but they have raised fears among fellow comrades that they may have been murdered by fellow foreign legion fighters. 

Ukrainian police, already struggling with a heavy caseload since the war began, are now investigating claims that Burke could have been killed following disputes over money. 

Burke, who had served in Afghanistan with the British army before fighting against ISIS with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, had travelled to Ukraine to fight as a volunteer last year. 

He had told fellow fighters that he was receiving £8,000 a month from American millionaires in donations thanks to his public profile – and there are fears this could have sparked envy among the troops. 

Police are also analysing CCTV footage of Burke’s movements in a car that his friend, Australian volunteer Norine Abdelfetah, had lent him on the day he disappeared.

Abdelfetah told police he had dropped Burke off at his apartment on August 11 and had lent the Briton his car for the weekend after he complained about having food poisoning, reports the Telegraph. 

The Australian said there was no sign of Burke when he came to collect the car two days later, and a day later, Adbelfetah’s colleage, James Sutton, told police. 

While a source told the Telegraph that in Chadwick’s case, there are fears he was shot during a petty argument, there is further speculation that he may have drowned in an initiation ceremony gone wrong.

A YouTube channel has claimed the ceremony was devised by a fellow volunteer who used to be in the SAS and said the water found in his lungs did not match the water where he was found according to forensic examinations.

Chadwick’s death only emerged last week when his mother, Brenda Chadwick, told the BBC she was ‘devastated’ by the death of her son, who served in the Scots Guards from 2011 to 2015.

‘His passion to support freedom and assist others with his skills led him to leave the UK and travel to Ukraine in early October 2022,’ Brenda said. 

‘Although we are extremely proud of his unwavering courage and resilience, his death has been devastating. No words can be found to describe the loss of such a short life.

‘A son, brother, grandson, nephew and uncle, who was loved immensely.’

The speculation that Burke and Chadwick may have been killed by their fellow foreign legion fighters exposes the dark side of the voluntary service fighting in Ukraine, with volunteers complaining there is very little vetting done.

‘There are guys who shouldn’t be here – some with criminal records, some with PTSD, and some with drug and alcohol problems or who use steroids,’ one volunteer told the paper. 

The UK’s Foreign Office declined to comment on the lines of inquiry currently being investigated in relation to Burke and Chadwick’s cases.

British woman, 76, is stabbed to death in Spain: Victim’s Norwegian partner is arrested

• An 82-year-old Norwegian man has been arrested in connection to the death 

By Natalia Penza and James Reynolds

Published: 04:58 EDT, 15 September 2023 | Updated: 07:22 EDT, 15 September 2023

British cruise missiles were used in the devastating bombardment of the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet earlier today in occupied Crimea.

The UK-provided Storm Shadow missiles struck Russia’s attack submarine, the Rostov-on-Don, and amphibious landing ship, the Minsk, in Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea. The loss of the Rostov-on-Don is particularly significant as it has been used to launch Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities.

The strike is the first attack on a Russian submarine since the Second World War.

The overnight attack on the Black Sea fleet raises the prospect of Russia being forced to reduce its naval presence on the Crimean peninsula, which would be a huge blow to the Kremlin’s war effort.

The peninsula, seized by Russia in 2014, is becoming increasingly vulnerable as the West provides Ukraine with long-range missiles and its forces push back the Russian frontline.

Dramatic pictures showed huge flames rising from the Sevastopol dry dock where, according to the Kremlin, the vessels were being repaired.

The attack followed a raid on Russian radar systems, disabling part of the air defence systems around Sevastopol.

The attack – Ukraine’s biggest on the region since the start of the war – damaged a Russian submarine and a warship in a pre-dawn raid on the Sevastopol shipyard.

As many as ten missiles were fired at the facility, seven of which Russia claimed to have shot down. The strike set the shipyard ablaze and wounded at least 24.

New information from a Ukrainian and a Western source said that British Storm Shadow missiles, delivered to Ukraine this year, were used in the attack.

Footage appeared to show the large Russian landing ship, the Minsk, was damaged in the attack – previously believed to have been hit by a Storm Shadow.

The 367ft-long vessel was undergoing repairs in a shipyard at the time of the attack. 

A strategically important shipbuilding and repair yard was engulfed in flames and a power plant and other Black Sea naval facilities were also hit, it appeared.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukraine launched ten cruise missiles at the shipyard and three sea drones at Russian ships in the Black Sea. 

Seven missiles were shot down and all the sea drones have been destroyed, the military said, but some missiles damaged two ships being repaired in the shipyard, in addition to some buildings.

‘It was Storm Shadow,’ a source told Sky News. 

Ukraine’s RBC-Ukraine news outlet reported, citing unnamed sources in Ukrainian military intelligence, that an amphibious landing ship and a submarine were damaged in the attack.

Some Russian messaging app channels made the same claim. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials.

Kyiv almost never acknowledges responsibility for attacks on Crimea or Russian regions that have become regular in recent months.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, Moscow-appointed governor of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula, said on Telegram that 24 people were injured in the fire. He posted a photo of the blaze.

‘The Ukrainian armed forces launched a strike with ten cruise missiles at the S. Ordzhonikidze ship repair plant,’ Russia’s defence ministry said on Telegram.

Ukraine also ‘attempted an attack with three unmanned boats at a detachment of ships of the Black Sea fleet’ during a sea crossing, it added.

‘Air defence systems shot down seven cruise missiles, and the patrol ship Vasily Bykov destroyed all unmanned boats. As a result of being hit by enemy cruise missiles, two ships undergoing repairs were damaged.’ 

The Crimean peninsula, illegally annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014, has been a frequent target in the 18-month-old war.

The Sevastopol shipyard is of strategic importance to Russia as vessels in its Black Sea fleet – some already damaged in strikes – are being repaired there.

Russia’s vulnerability in the Black Sea was demonstrated early on in the war when Ukraine struck the fleet’s flagship vessel – the Moskva – with two missiles, ultimately causing it to sink. The true loss of life has never been revealed by Russia.

Kyiv has repeatedly said it plans to take back the Crimean peninsula.

The attack is the latest military embarrassment for the Russian President who today is meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in the Far East. 

The highly-anticipated meeting could see the two allies agree on a sanctions-busting arms deal to support Moscow‘s on-going invasion in Ukraine.

Its supply of munitions dwindling as it fights to fend off Kyiv’s counteroffensive.

Earlier today, the Russian warmonger shook hands enthusiastically with Kim as soon as he stepped out of his black limousine and said he was ‘very glad to see him’.

Kim, one of the few leaders who has stuck by the despot since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine began 19 months ago, told the Russian despot he was fighting a ‘sacred war’ with the West and their two countries would together battle with ‘imperialism’. 

The attack against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters came as Moscow launched drones against Ukraine’s Odesa region in the pre-dawn hours. 

Like Sevastopol, Odesa also sits on the Black Sea.

The attacks damaged port and civilian infrastructure in Odesa’s Izmail district and wounded six people, three seriously, Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said.

Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 32 of 44 Shahed-type drones overnight, with most of them launched toward the southern parts of the Odesa district.