Vladimir Putin today put the world’s most powerful Armageddon nuclear rocket dubbed Satan-2 on combat duty.

The ‘unstoppable’ 15,880mph intercontinental missile system, known to Russians as Sarmat, is the size of a 14-storey tower block.

The announcement came from Yury Borisov, head of the Russian Space Agency.

‘The Sarmat strategic complex has been put on combat duty,’ he told students at an educational event.

He gave no further details.

The 208-ton missile had been due to go on duty at the end of last year but was mysteriously delayed.

Russian propagandists have boasted one strike could sink Britain under the sea.

The move comes as Russia is smarting from setbacks in the war in Ukraine, as Kyiv gains ground and subjects Putin’s territory to increasing drone attacks.

Yet its deployment – if the move is for real – comes after only one proven test launch.

Others were forecast but not announced.

It also comes soon after the Russian Space Agency faced international humiliation over its failed moon mission last month.

Nine months ago Putin threatened: ‘In the near future, Sarmat ICBMs will be put on combat duty for the first time.

‘We know there will be a certain delay in time but this does not change our plans – everything will be done.’

In June he boasted: ‘In the nearest future the first launch pads of Sarmat [Satan-2] with a new heavy missile will be put on combat duty…’

The Armageddon weapon can be loaded with multiple nuclear warheads.

Putin TV propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov – also deputy head of the company running state run Rossiya 1 channel – threatened Britain in revenge for a comment then premier Boris Johnson never made about striking Russia with a nuclear attack.

Downing Street dismissed the claim – widely repeated in Russia’ state media – as ‘another example of disinformation peddled by the Kremlin’, but it continues to be trumpeted in Moscow.

‘The island is so small that one Sarmat missile is enough to drown it once and for all,’ said Kiselyov.

‘Russian missile Sarmat [Satan-2], the world most powerful…is capable of … destroying an area the size of Texas or England.

‘A single launch, Boris, and there is no England anymore.

‘Once and for all.’

The first and only known full-scale test of Satan-2 was announced to great fanfare as soon as it took place on April 20, 2022, with Putin in touch by video-link.

The silo-based Satan-2 launch was from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.

The following month, former head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin, seen as a close Putin ally, said almost 50 Satan-2 missiles, which were in mass production, would soon be on combat duty.

In early June, a major ICBM test was scheduled and locals near the Kura test range were warned to stay clear of the target site in remote Kamchatka.

But this test never happened.

On 25 June last year Rogozin boasted: ‘We are absolutely on schedule, we are now preparing for the second flight test of the Sarmat.’

The following month Rogozin was fired for unknown reasons with his promised new job yet to arrive.

His successor, ex-deputy premier Borisov, in July 2022 repeated the claim that the missile is in mass production without reiterating Putin’s goal of Satan-2 being on combat duty by December of last year.

Defence analysts suspecting hypersonic hyperbole pointed out that Russia’s R-36M2 Voevoda missile was tested no less than 17 times before it was put on combat duty.

Some experts will doubt the reality of today’s announcement.

Another missile – RT-2PM Topol – was tested a dozen times before deployment.

‘In this context, the truth of the terms bandied about by Rogozin — that Sarmat is in [serial] production and is soon to be placed on ‘combat duty’ — appear dubious,’ defence expert Leonid Nersisyan has said.

‘It is far likelier that Sarmat will undergo the same testing, prototyping and experimentation programme as its predecessors,’ he wrote in Shephard Media.

‘Actual acceptance of the ICBM into service with the Strategic Missile Forces …is hardly achievable by 2024.’

More than a year ago, Rogozin visited the Krasmash defence factory in Krasnoyarsk, in eastern Siberia, which he labelled the ‘Doomsday Plant’, to inspect the process of producing Satan-2 for flight tests.

The missile was rolled out into a forest for the cameras – and sabre-rattling Rogozin said: ‘The world’s most powerful global-range nuclear-tipped missile is being prepared for new tests.’

Yet there is no evidence these tests happened.

Russia may be plotting to blow up Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Kyiv has warned, after explosions at a major dam and hydroelectric plant caused mass flooding in the Kherson region and sparked a humanitarian disaster.

The Zaporizhzhia power plant is the largest nuclear power facility in Europe, and sits roughly 80 miles up the Dnieper river from the Kakhovka dam, which was heavily damaged in explosions on June 6. 

Since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, fears of a nuclear disaster have been sparked on several occasions when the plant was shelled and was temporarily disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid some six times.

Those fears rose again when Ukrainian officials said the Zaporizhzhia power plant may be affected by the destruction of Kakhovka dam, whose water provides vital cooling for the nuclear reactors. 

Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom later assuaged those fears when it declared that the Zaporizhzhia facility’s cooling pond was full and had enough reserves to manage. 

But Zelensky‘s top security official Oleksiy Danilov later said Putin’s next step may be to attack the Zaporizhzhia plant, which could result in catastrophic nuclear consequences.

With the help of Darya Dolzikova and Jack Watling of the RUSI think-tank, MailOnline examines whether Russia could – or would – risk destroying Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. 

Could Russia blow up the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant?

Yes. The power plant – Europe’s largest – sits on ground that is currently occupied by Russia and its troops are stationed at the plant. They are thought to have mined it, and have stored ammunition and explosives in and around the reactor buildings.

In April this year, a Russian mine exploded near the engine room of the fourth nuclear reactor, according to Ukraine’s nuclear power agency.

As Ukraine has built up towards its counter-offensive, more Russian units have been moved to the plant and defensive positions have been built on the roof. There are currently more troops at the plant than civilian staff.

Russian forces could therefore set off either a deliberate or accidental explosion at the site.

Would Russia blow up the plant?

Potentially. Russian officials responsible for the occupation of Ukraine do think in these terms, they have debated it, and it could offer some value to them.

The fact that it would cause suffering to Ukrainian civilians, Russian soldiers at the plant, and potentially fallout inside Russia itself should not be viewed as a deterrent.

Russian authorities have repeatedly warned about the risks of a dirty bomb attack in Ukraine or false-flag attacks on the plant, creating a pretext to blame Kyiv for any disaster.

There is no indication that Moscow has decided whether or not to sabotage the plant, but it does indicate Kremlin military planners are keeping the option on the table.

Why would Russia blow up the plant?

If Ukraine’s troops were to break through Russian defensive lines in the south, then sabotaging the plant could help to slow or stop the advance.

Blowing up the plant would force Ukrainian troops to deal with the fallout – which would almost certainly affect several major cities – rather than continue their attack.

The effects of the fallout could also deny Ukrainian troops an avenue of advance for future attacks.

Or Russia could stop short of causing an explosion.

Setting in motion events that would lead to disaster – such as turning off power to the cooling systems – would force Ukrainian troops to divert to deal with it, slowing them down.

Russia may also reason that threatening destruction of the power plant may be enough to force Ukraine to alter its battle plans to avoid the area.

Moscow could use the threat of disaster at the plant as a way to pressure Ukraine’s western allies, without having to resort to nuclear weapons.

The possibility that Russia may manufacture a radiological incident at the power plant to spoil a Ukrainian offensive should not be disregarded.

What would be the fallout from the disaster?

While the Chernobyl nuclear disaster looms large in people’s minds, the effects of a disaster at Zaporizhzhia would likely be in line with what happened at Fukushima.

In that incident, an earthquake and tsunami caused the meltdown of several reactors at the Japanese plant and an explosion which breached one of the containment buildings.

Though not on the scale of the Chernobyl blast of 1986, it still resulted in the evacuation of 100,000 as a result of radioactive contamination in the areas around the reactor.

In the case of Zaporizhzhia, the nuclear plant is located less than 10 miles from the city of Nikopol which had a pre-war population of 115,000 and would almost certainly be affected.

The city of Zaporizhzhia itself is less than 35 miles away and housed 750,000 people before the war, while Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih – which together accounted for some 1.5million people – are within a 70-mile radius.

Experts have previously warned that prevailing winds at the plant could easily carry the fallout into Russian-occupied areas, and potentially into Russia itself.

The USS Indiana is a multi-billion-dollar state-of-the–art U.S nuclear-powered submarine, capable of staying submerged for three months at a time and firing 16 Tomahawk cruise missiles in a single salvo.

She has the latest in stealth technology, can travel at up to 29mph (25 knots) and can dive to depths of at least 800 feet (her actual dive capabilities are classified). What’s more, Navy Seal forces can exit and enter the submarine while she’s under the water from a chamber within the vessel.

By all accounts, she’s one of the most lethal boats on the planet – and now you can peek inside thanks to fascinating footage vlogger Terry Fields filmed when he clambered down the hatch for a tour during ‘Fleet Week’ at Port Everglades in Florida.

The video, which has been viewed over 200,000 times on YouTube, shows the captain’s quarters, the stylish mess hall and Fields clambering inside a torpedo tube.

What aspects of the submarine impressed him? ‘Certainly, the control room,’ Fields told MailOnline Travel. There, he learns from his tour guide – the submarine’s commander, Scott Bresnahan – that sailors use an Xbox controller to control the periscope.

Fields, who posts on social media as the Barefoot Vlogger, said: ‘Seeing the brain of the ship and letting it register that there are no windows to see out of and that the ship is literally guided by sound is fascinating. They do have cameras, but the ship uses sonar to travel when submerged.

‘And the integration of X-Box controllers to operate the sub’s periscopes was an eye opener.’

The USS Indiana doesn’t have a traditional periscope operated from the control room. Instead, it has extendable ‘photonics masts’ that offer multiple views via sophisticated cameras, including infrared imagery.

These images can be beamed to screens located all around the ship.

The attack submarine also has a fierce array of weaponry, some of which Fields saw first-hand, with his video tour taking viewers inside the torpedo room.

The torpedoes are gigantic – and so is the torpedo tube, which Fields crawls into with a flashlight.

It’s a claustrophobic experience inside a vessel that’s already a tight squeeze for the complement of around 150 sailors, which is all-male, bar one female officer, Lieutenant Lexi Silva.

As Fields explained: ‘The Indiana is about 377 feet long, so with roughly 150 sailors on board, that averages under three feet of space per sailor.’

The lack of space means sailors must ‘hot rack’ – that is, rotate use of the very basic beds, with some even sleeping in the torpedo room.

The video shows that the commander’s berth is, by contrast, a luxury affair – a 25-square-foot room with wood panelling.

He is the only sailor on board with a room to himself.

The executive officer’s room is also relatively comfortable, with an extra ‘rack’ for a visiting VIP. A third stateroom has a triple bunk for officers, plus storage space and two fold-down beds.

Fields, who lives in Boca Raton, Florida, said: ‘As if the sleeping arrangements were not challenging enough, they don’t really shower on a daily basis in the usual sense. To preserve water on the ship while underway, they will often use disposable wipes to freshen up.’

The state-of-Indiana-themed ‘luncheonette-styled’ mess hall – the Courtside Cafe – undoubtedly offers some relief for the sailors.

Taco Tuesday is, apparently, a big hit with the crew.

Having been on board, does Fields think he could cope with being a submariner?

He said: ‘I gave this question a lot of thought and my honest answer is, I think I could do it for maybe a weekend. That’s about it. If you’re down there for months at a time, I think something that would make it most difficult is not necessarily the confined space itself, but the coldness of the surroundings.

‘What I mean by that is, the lack of coziness. In a submarine, you’re looking at a lot of piping, valves, stairwells and metal. It’s virtually impossible to get that “homey” feel. I know you could say that about almost any ship in the Navy, but on a submarine it’s magnified because it’s tighter and you’re always inside.’

There’s no doubt that a submariner’s life is a challenging one, but the crew of the USS Indiana meet it head-on.

Fields added: ‘The most impressive thing about the submarine for me was the crew itself. The crew’s professionalism and positivity was apparent from the moment I stepped on board. Considering the challenges they face on their journeys together, it says a lot about their commitment to serving their country.’

To watch the full video on Barefoot Vlogger’s YouTube channel, click here. Join his Patreon for exclusive content – www.patreon.com/barefootvlogger. And follow him on Instagram here – www.instagram.com/thebarefootvlogger.

Russia will launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike if the West provides Ukraine with nukes, Moscow warns: Dmitry Medvedev says West underestimate Putin’s willingness to bring about Armageddon

• Former President Medvedev warned that the Ukraine war could last for ‘decades’

By Will Stewart

Published: 04:01 EDT, 26 May 2023 | Updated: 04:25 EDT, 26 May 2023

A sign of the times? First human drug trial in US for a pill that reverses nuclear radiation poisoning

By Luke Andrews Health Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Updated: 18:06 EDT, 17 May 2023

Iran could make enough material for one nuclear bomb in ‘about 12 days,’ a top US Defense Department official warned on Tuesday, a dramatic fall from the estimated one year it would have taken while the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was in effect.

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl made the comment to a House of Representatives hearing when asked why US President Joe Biden‘s administration had sought to revive the the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal.

‘Because Iran’s nuclear progress since we left the JCPOA has been remarkable. Back in 2018, when the previous administration decided to leave the JCPOA it would have taken Iran about 12 months to produce one bomb’s worth of fissile material.

Fissile material is material capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction, such as some uranium. ‘Now it would take about 12 days [to produce enough],’ Kahl, the third highest ranking official in the US Defence Department, told lawmakers.

‘And so I think there is still the view that if you could resolve this issue diplomatically and put constraints back on their nuclear program, it is better than the other options. But right now, the JCPOA is on ice,’ Kahl added. 

Another defence department official – Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Dana Stroul – described the Islamic Republic as a ‘global threat’, in particular because of its growing military alliance with Russia, whose armies are currently invading Ukraine.

‘We are now at a point where Iranian threats are no longer specific to the Middle East, but a global challenge,’ she told reporters on Tesday.

‘It is reasonable to expect that the tactics, techniques and procedures that the Iranians are learning and perfecting in Ukraine will one day come back to our partners in the Middle East, which is why we are increasing cooperation now.’

This corporation includes ‘intelligence sharing, understanding these networks and increasing our collective defensive capabilities so that we are prepared to counter these threats in the region,’ she added.

US officials have repeatedly estimated Iran’s breakout time – how long it would take to acquire the fissile material for one bomb if it decided to – at weeks.

None, however, have been as specific as Kahl was on Tuesday. 

But while US officials say Iran has grown closer to producing fissile material they do not believe it has mastered the technology to actually build a bomb.

Under the 2015 deal, which then-US President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, Iran had reined in its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions.

Trump reimposed US sanctions on Iran, leading Tehran to resume previously banned nuclear work and reviving US, European and Israeli fears that Iran may seek an atomic bomb. Iran denies any such ambition.

The currently administration in the White House has tried but failed to revive the pact over the last two years.

Kahl’s comments came as a report – seen by the Associated Press on Tuesday – said inspectors from the UN’s nuclear watchdog found uranium particles enriched up to 83.7 percent in Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear site. 

The confidential quarterly report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency distributed to member states likely will raise tensions further between Iran and the West over its nuclear program, particularly after Kahl’s admission.

That’s even as Tehran already faces internal unrest and Western anger over sending bomb-carrying drones to Russia for its war on Ukraine, and over its brutal crackdown on demonstrations over the death of Mahsa Amini.

The IAEA report only speaks about ‘particles,’ suggesting that Iran isn’t building a stockpile of uranium enriched above 60 percent – the level it has been enriching at for some time.

The IAEA report described inspectors discovering on January 21 that two cascades of IR-6 centrifuges at Iran’s Fordo facility had been configured in a way ‘substantially different’ to what had been previously declared. 

The IAEA took samples the following day, which showed particles up to 83.7 percent purity, the report said – just short of weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.

‘Iran informed the agency that `unintended fluctuations’ in enrichment levels may have occurred during the transition period,’ the IAEA report said. ‘Discussions between the agency and Iran to clarify the matter are ongoing.’

The IAEA report also said that it would ‘further increase the frequency and intensity of agency verification activities’ at Fordo after the discovery.

Iran’s mission to the UN told the AP that Massimo Aparo, a top IAEA official, visited the Islamic Republic last week ‘and checked the alleged enrichment rate.’

‘Based on Iran’s assessment, the alleged enrichment percentage between Iran and the IAEA is resolved,’ the mission contended.

‘Due to the IAEA report being prepared before his trip, his trip’s results aren’t in it and hopefully the IAEA director-general will mention it in his oral report to the board of governors’ in March.

A spokesman for Iran’s civilian nuclear program, Behrouz Kamalvandi, also sought last week to portray any detection of uranium particles enriched to that level as a momentary side effect of trying to reach a finished product of 60 percent purity.

However, experts say such a great variance in the purity even at the atomic level would appear suspicious to inspectors.

Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal limited Tehran’s uranium stockpile to 300 kilograms (661 pounds) and enrichment to 3.67 percent – enough to fuel a nuclear power plant. The U.S.’ unilateral withdraw from the accord in 2018 set in motion a series of attacks and escalations by Tehran over its program.

Iran has been producing uranium enriched to 60 percent purity – a level for which nonproliferation experts already say Tehran has no civilian use.

The IAEA report put Iran’s uranium stockpile as of Feb. 12 at some 8,289 pounds – an increase of 192 pounds since its last quarterly report in November. Of that, 192 pounds is enriched up to 60 percent purity.

Uranium at nearly 84 percent is almost at weapons-grade levels of 90 percent – meaning any stockpile of that material could be quickly used to produce an atomic bomb if Iran chooses.

While the IAEA’s director-general has warned Iran now has enough uranium to produce ‘several’ bombs, months more would likely be needed to build a weapon and potentially miniaturise it to put it on a missile. 

The US intelligence community, as recently as this past weekend, has maintained its assessment that Iran isn’t pursuing an atomic bomb.

‘To the best of our knowledge, we don’t believe that the supreme leader in Iran has yet made a decision to resume the weatherization program that we judge they suspended or stopped at the end of 2003,’ CIA Director Williams Burns told CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ program. 

‘But the other two legs of the stool, meaning enrichment programs, they’ve obviously advanced very far.’

But Fordo, which sits under a mountain near the holy Shiite city of Qom, some 55 miles southwest of Tehran, remains a special concern for nations.

It is about the size of a football field, large enough to house 3,000 centrifuges, but small and hardened enough to lead US officials to suspect it had a military purpose when they exposed the site publicly in 2009.

Meanwhile, a top Defence Department official told the US House of Representative’s Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that Iran could make enough fissile material for one nuclear weapons in under two weeks if Tehran choose to pursue it.

‘Iran’s nuclear progress since we left the (deal) has been remarkable,’ Colin Kahl said. ‘Back in 2018, when the previous administration decided to leave the (deal), it would have taken Iran about 12 months to produce one bomb’s worth of fissile material. Now it would take about 12 days.’

Any explanation from Iran, however, likely won’t be enough to satisfy Israel, Iran’s regional archival. Already, Israel’s recently reinstalled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened military actions against Tehran. 

And Israel and Iran have been engaged in a high-stakes shadow war across the wider Middle East since the nuclear deal’s collapse. 

Meanwhile Tuesday, Germany’s foreign minister said both her country and Israel are worried about the allegations facing Iran over the nearly 84% enriched uranium.

‘We are united by concern about the nuclear escalation on Iran’s part and about the recent reports about the very high uranium enrichment,’ Annalena Baerbock said. ‘There is no plausible civilian justification for such a high enrichment level.’

Speaking in Berlin, Israel’s visiting foreign minister, Eli Cohen, pointed to two options to deal with Iran – using a so-called ‘snapback’ mechanism in the Security Council resolution that enshrined the 2015 nuclear deal to reimpose U.N. sanctions, and ‘to have a credible military option on the table as well.’

‘From our intelligence and from our knowledge, this is the right time to work on these two specific steps,’ he said.

Fears of a nuclear meltdown are growing in Ukraine as Vladimir Putin evacuates towns near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, amid warnings that his troops have placed explosives and artillery at the site.

Moscow has evacuated 1,680 citizens, including 660 children, from areas around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant ahead of Kyiv‘s much-anticipated counteroffensive to drive the Russian president’s troops back.

More than a dozen towns and villages have been evacuated near the front line in southern Ukraine, including the town of Enerhodar, which is home to the plant’s workers and their families. It was seized in the early days of Putin’s invasion.

Experts have warned that by placing weapons at the site, Russia is risking the plant being struck by Ukrainian artillery – and thus risking a nuclear meltdown.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, said: ‘We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment.

‘This major nuclear facility must be protected,’ he said.

The warning from the UN came as Moscow launched a fresh wave of drone, missile and air strikes across Ukraine, hitting Kyiv and other key cities on Monday.

Moscow appears to be stepping up attacks while preparing for its cherished Victory Day holiday celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

As many as 16 missile strikes had targeted the cities of Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions, in addition to 61 airstrikes and 52 rocket salvos on Ukrainian positions and populated areas, the General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said in its morning update on the fighting.

Ukrainian air defences destroyed all 35 Iranian-made Shahed drones Russia had launched, the military said.

Kyiv’s mayor said at least five people were wounded in the capital amid damage to a fuel depot, cars, buildings and infrastructure.

‘Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded civilians, high-rise buildings, private homes and other civilian infrastructure were damaged,’ the military said.

A food warehouse was set ablaze in the Black Sea city of Odesa.

As air-raid sirens sounded across the country on Monday, Dr Patricia Lewis – a nuclear physicist who leads the international security program at Chatham House – also issued a warning about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia power plant.

She said that there are concerns that Russia could attack Ukrainian positions from around the plant, prompting Kyiv’s forces to fire back.

‘The IAEA – the director general – reported just a few days ago that they’ve been seeing weapons and artillery and explosives being moved into the power plant,’ she said, speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.

‘This is the real worry that we have – that they will fire from the power plant and then what will the Ukrainians do? Because they do not want to fire at the power plant.’

The IAEA said earlier that such clashes around the plant threaten catastrophe.

Dr Lewis explained that if power to the plant is cut for example if power line to the plant is struck by a shell, this risks a nuclear meltdown.

The plant has back-up power sources, including diesel generators, which have kicked into gear on previous occasions when the site lost power.

However, these can only last so long. In the event that they run out of fuel and the plant is left without any source of power, a disaster could occur.

‘There is a lot of equipment [the mitigate this risk of disaster]. Some of it can be done automatically but of course making decision in the heat of battle is the critical thing,’ Dr Lewis said. 

‘You only have a limited supply of diesel. You’d have to make sure that you were able to bring in more diesel which you might not be able to,’ she told the programme.

‘So the big worry then is that the power supply would fail. And according to [Petro Kotin] who is the head of the Ukrainian atomic energy establishment – he said it would take a few hours to a day for things to get really serious and possibly have some melting in the reactor. Before we have a Fukishima.’

‘This is really irresponsible of Russia to do this,’ she added.

For months, both sides fought tirelessly around Europe’s largest power station, which remained staffed by Ukrainian employees under Russian control until September.

The plant at Zaporizhzhia is one of the ten biggest in the world and was responsible for nearly half the nuclear output of Ukraine’s four reactors. 

Ukrainian forces had little luck trying to recover the plant after the initial invasion, with rockets from both sides coming dangerously close to hitting the station.

Ukraine has warned since that damage to the structure risks a ‘Chernobyl-style’ catastrophe.

In September, the IAEA were able to inspect the integrity of the plant. 

Both Russia and Ukraine accused each other of trying to sabotage the IAEA mission.

Mr Grossi, who has continued to visit the site for Russian-organised inspections, has said the ‘plant and physical integrity of the plant’ had been ‘violated several times’.

In April, it was reported that dissenting plant workers – who refused to keep the plant active for Russian forces – had been the victims of torture during the occupation.

Ukrainian President Zelensky last week called for Putin to be tried in the Hague for ‘criminal acts’. 

The news comes as Ukraine gears up for a spring counter-offensive, breaking the winter deadlock with a push into occupied regions in the south and east. 

Writing earlier this morning, Mr Fedorov said that ‘Under the guise of a contrived ‘evacuation’, the occupiers are preparing real provocations. 

‘The humanitarian catastrophe caused by the sick fantasy of the Rashists [‘Russian fascists’] is no less real.’

He added later that ‘the occupiers promise the residents of the front-line territories golden mountains – comfortable accommodation at the captured recreation centres of Kyrylivka and Berdyansk.’

MailOnline was unable to verify the evacuation of Ukrainian refugees to the seaside beach-facing settlements – though eyewitnesses have echoed the reports.

LB.ua reported Saturday that locals were hiding their children as Russian occupants tried to evacuate them, in some cases without their parents, to recreation centres in Kyrylivka and Berdyansk.

The independent Ukrainian outlet said law enforcement agencies had confirmed the claims.

Mr Fedorov added: ‘In fact, only [some] of the evacuees are brought to the coast – they are settled among the collaborators and the military. Others are taken to continental Russia.’

He said that Ukrainians evacuated from Kherson last year had found themselves later unable to return to Ukraine.

Russian state media confirmed the evacuation of the 18 occupied regions on Friday.

Ukraine is expected to launch a counteroffensive this spring to break to winter stalemate.

In April, Pentagon leaks revealed American officials doubted the ability of Ukraine to wage an effective assault.

But in recent days, Russian confidence has looked more exposed as Wagner Group threatened to withdraw from the contested city of Bakhmut in the east.

Russia has said it is ready to replace Wagner Group forces with Akhmat special forces from Chechnya in recent days – though experts warn the effectiveness is likely overstated.

The fresh attacks come as Moscow prepares for Tuesday’s Victory Day parade, a key event for President Vladimir Putin who has evoked the spirit of the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany, having accused Ukraine of being in the grip of a new kind of fascism.

Ukraine and its allies say the accusation was a baseless pretext for Russia’s unprovoked invasion in February, 2022, which resulted in the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two, killing thousands and forcing millions to flee the country.

‘We must always be prepared for enemy treachery and defence,’ Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia stepped up shelling of Bakhmut, hoping to take it by Tuesday, Ukraine’s top general leading the besieged city’s defence said, after Russia’s Wagner mercenary group appeared to ditch plans to withdraw from it.

Three people were injured in blasts in Kyiv’s Solomyanskyi district and two when drone wreckage fell in the Sviatoshyn district, both west of the capital’s centre, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.

Kyiv’s military administration said drone wreckage fell on a runway at Zhuliany airport, one of the capital’s two passenger airports, drawing emergency services there, although there was no fire.

Drone debris seemed to have hit a two-storey building in the central district of Shevchenkivskyi, causing damage, it added.

Reuters witnesses said they heard numerous explosions in Kyiv, with local officials saying air defence systems were repelling the attacks.

Flames had completely engulfed a large structure identified as a food warehouse in pictures posted on Telegram by Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa military administration, after what he said was a Russian attack.

After air raid alerts blared for hours over roughly two-thirds of Ukraine, media said explosions sounded in the southern region of Kherson and southeastern Zaporizhzhia.

Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed official in Zaporizhzhia, said Russian forces hit a warehouse and Ukrainian troops’ position in the small city of Orikhiv. Reuters was unable to independently verify the report.

Separately, Russian forces shelled eight spots in Sumy in northeastern Ukraine on Sunday, the regional military administration said in a Facebook post.

Strikes have also intensified in the past two weeks on Russian-held targets, especially in Crimea.

Ukraine has not confirmed any role in those attacks but it says destroying enemy infrastructure is preparation for its long-awaited ground assault.