A devastating Ukrainian missile attack struck the headquarters of Russia‘s Black Sea Fleet today. 

The Sevastopol HQ building is understood to have been hit with a Storm Shadow missile, the type supplied by Britain and France capable of holding a warhead of nearly 1000 lbs. 

Russia’s defence ministry has claimed that one person is missing, after initially claiming they had died in the strike. Initial reports suggested that six people had been wounded. 

Dozens of ambulances were reported at the headquarters in Sevastopol, the naval port in occupied Crimea.

The HQ building was on fire, had partially collapsed and suffered ‘severe damage’, according to one report.

Debris from the missile attack on the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet was scattered over hundreds of metres.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed that five other missiles were shot down, but one made it through its defences.  

‘According to preliminary information, people who were on the street at the time of the attack on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters were not injured,’ said Putin appointed Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhayev.

A fire continued to burn at the headquarters building, admitted the governor.

Police cordoned off two blocks around the missile-hit building.

‘The enemies launched a missile attack on the fleet headquarters,’ said Razvozhayev. 

He warned of the risk of a second attack and urged locals to stay away from the city.

‘A fragment [of a missile] fell close to the Lunacharsky Theatre. All emergency services arrived at the scene.

‘Information about the victims is being clarified. Please remain calm. And do not post photos and videos.’

The occupation official said: ‘Another attack is possible. Please do not travel to the city centre. Don’t leave buildings.

‘At the sound of the siren, everyone who is near the fleet headquarters should proceed to shelters.

‘Employees of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations are working on the spot.

‘Firefighters are taking all measures to put out the fire as quickly as possible. The build-up of forces and means continues.’

Prominent Russian pro-war blogger Vladimir Rogov said: ‘The headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol was attacked by Ukrainian missiles.’

He said the attack was carried out ‘by British Storm Shadow missiles’, though this was not immediately confirmed.

The strike was one of the most significant of the entire war, as was the sinking of the Black Sea fleet’s flagship, the Moskva cruiser, last year. 

The Black Sea Fleet has been responsible for multiple missile attacks on Ukraine, and is central to Putin’s subjugation of around one-fifth of Ukrainian territory.

Other explosions hit elsewhere in Crimea including around peninsula capital Simferopol.

Ukraine has previously used Storm Shadow and Neptune missiles to target Crimea as well as kamikaze drones.

Drones were downed today in Sevastopol harbour.

The attack came as Vladimir Putin held a meeting of his security council on relations with neighbouring countries.

He was heard skirting around the attack, only mentioning ongoing developments with ‘relations with our closest neighbours and partners.’

For the first time in eight decades, explorers have pictured a Japanese aircraft carrier sunk during World War II‘s Battle of Midway. 

Japan‘s aircraft carrier Akagi was pictured for the first time since it disappeared under the water in 1942 during the battle that helped during the Pacific campaign in America’s favor.  

‘This expedition is not only rewriting history and our understanding of these special places, but also pushing the limits of what we thought was possible in terms of interdisciplinary collaboration,’ said Daniel Wagner, chief scientist for Ocean Exploration Trust. 

The trust led the exploration efforts from September 8 to September 12 to photograph the Akagi along with other vessels sunken during the pivotal battle that saw 3,000 Japanese fighters perish. 

The group also surveyed in detail the USS Yorktown, which was the lone US carrier sunk during Midway and not found until 25 years ago. 

The Battle of Midway began on June 4, 1942, and lasted until the 7th. The naval campaign has gone down in US lore for its ability to flip the momentum in America’s favor. 

Four Japanese aircraft carriers -including the Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu – were sunk along with a heavy cruiser. The Americans lost the carrier Yorktown and the destroyer Hammmann. 

The loss of the four carriers by Japan proved difficult to overcome. The Imperial Empire also lost well-trained pilots in the battle. Meanwhile, America’s industrial capabilities grew allowing it to replace the losses. 

In total, Japan lost more than 3,000 men during the fight. The US lost only 362,  

The sunken ships were lost to the sea for years, until deep-sea explorers helped find some of the ships. 

The Akagi was found in 2019, but this month’s exploration marked the first complete survey of the vessel. 

Japanese aircraft carriers – the Soryu and Hiryu – and the cruiser Mikuma are still unaccounted for.

The USS Yorktown was discovered three miles below the surface in May 1998 The USS Yorktown was discovered 25 years ago in May 1998 during a joint US Navy and National Geographic Society expedition led by Robert Ballard, the founder of Ocean Exploration Trust, in conjunction with the Navy.

For the most recent exploration, remote-controlled vehicles were utilized to capture images of the shipwrecks with  the mission involving more than 100 experts from various countries who ‘helped guide the mission and providing valuable real-time interpretations throughout the surveys.’ 

The expedition team also conducted ‘non-invasive visual surveys’ of the wrecks during three deployments at depths exceeding 16,700 feet – the deepest remotely operated vehicle dive ever completed by the Exploration Vessel Nautilus.

‘On this occasion, we meet on those same Pacific waters in which Japan and the U.S. once met in battle, but this time as allies and fellow researchers,’ said Kosei Nomura, Minister, Head of Economic Section, Embassy of Japan. 

‘We are reminded that today’s peace and tomorrow’s discoveries are built on the sacrifices of war, and so in my view, it is meaningful that Japan and the U.S. are now deepening their cooperation at Midway, utilizing such cutting-edge technology.’

‘During over 43 hours at depth, we methodically circumnavigated these historic wrecks, bringing to light many features in great detail, including their armament, battle, and sinking-related damage,’ said Daniel Wagner, the chief scientist for the Ocean Exploration Trust. 

The wrecks were meticulously examined and included looking for damage related to battles they fought and their subsequent and sinking. 

‘Many anti-aircraft guns were still pointing up, providing clues about the final moments on these iconic ships,’ Wagner explained.

Each dive ended with poignant ceremonies paying tribute to those who lost their lives in the Battle of Midway. 

Frank Thompson, a historian with the Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington, D.C., who is onboard the Petrel said: ‘We read about the battles, we know what happened. But when you see these wrecks on the bottom of the ocean and everything, you kind of get a feel for what the real price is for war.

‘You see the damage these things took, and it’s humbling to watch some of the video of these vessels because they’re war graves.’ 

Retired Navy Capt. Jack Crawford, who died in April 2022 at the age of 103, was among the Yorktown’s 2,270 survivors.

Japanese dive bombers left the Yorktown badly damaged, with black smoke gushing from its stacks, but the vessel was still upright. Then the torpedoes hit, Crawford recounted in an interview about the battle.

‘Bam! Bam! We get two torpedoes, and I know we’re in trouble. As soon as the deck edge began to go under, I knew . she wasn’t going to last,’ said Crawford, whose later military career was with the naval nuclear propulsion program.

The Yorktown sank slowly, and a destroyer was able to pick up Crawford and many others.

‘An important part of our mission here at the Naval History and Heritage Command is to locate, interpret, and protect lost U.S. Navy ships and aircraft, particularly those that represent the last resting place of American sailors,’ said Samuel Cox, Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command, and one of the explorers to photograph the Yorktown during the recent mission.

The entire exploration of the Midway ships was streamed live in real-time, giving the public its first chance to see the vessels along with researchers. 

The surveys were non-invasive at about 16,600 feet below the surface. 

It is illegal to otherwise disturb the underwater US military gravesites, and their exact coordinates are kept secret. The battle was found about 1,000 miles from Hawaii at about the halfway point between Japan and the US. 

The exploration effort involved more than 100 experts from US, Japan and across the globe.

The goal of the exploration was to help document and assess the important site for both America and Japan. 

During the battle, American forces broke Japan’s naval code and prepare for a counter attack. That allowed the US the upper hand in what became a turning point in the war. 

A Russian pilot tried to shoot down an RAF surveillance plane over the Black Sea because he mistakenly thought he had permission, it has emerged. 

The pilot of the SU-27 fighter jet fired two missiles at the RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft on September 29 last year, with the first missing the British plane rather than malfunctioning as was claimed by Russia at the time. 

At the time, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace acknowledged the incident, telling Parliament that two Russian jets ‘recklessly’ came within 15ft of the RAF plane – with a crew of up to 30 – and one ‘released a missile in the vicinity’.

Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu blamed a ‘technical malfunction’ and Wallace, having spoken with other Russian defence officials, accepted the explanation and drew a line under the incident.

But now, three senior Western defence sources with knowledge of the incident have told the BBC that Russian communications that were intercepted by the RAF surveillance plane show that one of the Russian pilots thought he had been given permission to target the British aircraft.

This was after he received an ambiguous command from a Russian ground station that was along the lines of ‘you have the target’, one Western source said.

While the first pilot took this as an order to fire at the RAF reconnaissance plane, the second pilot thought the opposite and swore at his comrade when he fired his first air-to-air missile, which came perilously close to the British spy aircraft.

The missile had been successfully launched but failed to lock onto the plane, the sources said, meaning that it was a very near miss – rather than a ‘technical malfunction’ as Russia had claimed.  

Had a Russian missile blown Rivet Joint out of the sky over the Black Sea, the UK and its NATO allies may have been compelled to war.

According to Article 5 of the founding treaty of NATO, member nations agree that an armed attack against one or more of them ‘shall be considered an attack against them all’.

If such an attack does occur, each NATO member will assist the country that has been attacked with any action ‘it deems necessary’.

Defence sources told the BBC that the second Russian pilot shouted at his comrade and swore at him after he released his first air-to-air missile. But despite this, the first pilot still released another missile. 

The second missile fell from the wing, suggesting that the weapon either malfunctioned or the launch was aborted, the sources said. 

The RAF regularly flies sorties over the Black Sea’s international waters, as well the Baltics and eastern Poland, to gather intelligence.  

The role of the Rivet Joint aircraft is to hoover up electronic transmissions and communications – the plane is also known as a ‘nuke-sniffer’ for its ability to detect radioactivity. 

The Ministry of Defence said it will not release details of the intercepted communications.

An MoD spokespersons said in response to the new revelations: ‘Our intent has always been to protect the safety of our operations, avoid unnecessary escalation and inform the public and international community.’ 

British and US aircraft continued to conduct these reconnaissance flights after the hair-raising incident in September, but RAF surveillance aircraft are now escorted by Typhoon fighters while the US resorts to the use of unmanned surveillance drones.

Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in March that it is important to keep the Black Sea and the skies over it open to all nations. 

‘The Black Sea is a critical international seaway supporting many of our Nato allies, including Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, and does not belong to any one country,’ he said.

Ryder’s comments came after yet another aerial incident in which Russian jets dumped fuel on and ultimately crashed into a US surveillance drone in March.

Drone footage showed the shocking moment Moscow’s Su-27 jet approached the US MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from behind and clipped its propeller over international airspace on March 14.

US forces had to bring down the $32million surveillance drone in international waters after the encounter, sparking a race between Moscow and Washington to recover it.

Russian ships were spotted at the crash site on March 15 trying to find the debris, though the Pentagon insisted the parts could not be retrieved and any intelligence had been wiped.

Moscow insisted its jet did not make contact with the drone, and instead blamed ‘sharp maneuvering’ for the crash.

But experts say it was likely an accidental clash as Russian pilots adopted increasingly aggressive tactics to force the drone to change course.

This is a breaking news story, more to follow…  

South Park and The Simpsons are among countless nostalgic cartoons that many have grown up watching.

But it seems these may go beyond our screens, with an array of deep-sea creatures bearing an uncanny resemblance to their characters. 

Whether it’s a Pikachu sea slug or the real-life Squidward, the bulging features of many fish are almost too bizarre to be true. 

And it doesn’t stop with characters, as one particularly creepy creature may even remind you of an incredibly gone-off Krabby Patty. 

So, brace yourselves, as MailOnline delves into all things fishy with a list of some eerily familiar swimmers. 

1. Homer Simpson 

With bulging eyes and a miserable expression, this creature is the spitting image of The Simpsons’ iconic character.

Known as the Atlantic Stargazer, the fish buries and hides beneath the sand, with its face just visible through the grains.

But don’t be fooled – this Stargazer isn’t lazing about like his cartoon counterpart might. 

Instead, it’s actually likely to be staking out small fish, crabs and crustaceans for dinner.

Unfortunately for them, the Stargazer often uses poison to finish the job, which it ejects in its vicious bite.

This poison isn’t likely to kill a human, but will cause swelling that’s probably just as painful as Homer’s strangle. 

Another creepy Atlantic Stargazer was also captured by a nominee for this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award.

2. South Park’s Kenny McCormick

South Park’s notorious introvert seems to work quite well as an invertebrate.

Deep sea fisherman, Roman Fedorsov, shared photographs of the uncanny creature in the belief that it looked just like Kenny peeping out from his orange jacket.

‘Lord, they killed Kenny! Oh my God! They killed Kenny,’ he joked on Instagram. 

Despite its cartoon appearance, Mr Fedorsov’s find is actually an anemone – a close relative of jellyfish and coral. 

These carnivorous, aquatic animals spend most of their lives in one place, waiting for plankton, fish and even crabs to cross their paths.

When the opportunity arises, anemones shoot out filaments known as ‘nematocysts’, which completely paralyse their unsuspecting prey.

Tentacles are then used to guide any victims towards their impending doom inside the anemone’s mouth.

3. Squidward Tentacles

Spot this in the ocean and you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re in Bikini Bottom. 

With a slimy blue coat and an exceptionally large nose, this octopus looks strikingly similar to SpongeBob’s infamously miserable Squidward.

Unbelievable footage of the cephalopod was shot by photographer, Jonathon Gordon in the Caribbean back in 2015.

Within seconds, the eight-legged creature is seen to shift from its camouflaged state to a vibrant shade of turquoise as it moves slowly across the sea bed. 

Octopuses achieve this disguise by tactfully squeezing and contracting sacs of pigment beneath their skin, which can intensify certain colours while muting others.

Some species can also alter their skin texture to blend in with their surroundings, ranging from smooth to a bizarrely spiky surface.

 4. Krabby Patty

Whether it’s a mutated Big Mac or a rather dodgy Krabby Patty, there’s no doubt this strange specimen looks like a burger. 

Once again, this was shared by Mr Fedorsov who also commented on its not-so-appetising appearance. 

‘Is it a sea cheeseburger with teeth? Or Krabby Patty?’ he wrote.

‘Or the dented face of a ninja turtle?…Or McDonald’s new McRib sandwich? Or just another unknown animal from the bottom of the sea?’

Krabby Patties are fictional burgers from SpongeBob SquarePants, served by the main character at the Krusty Krab fast food restaurant. 

While it’s currently unclear what this species is, some commenters speculate that it may be two sea anemones stuck together. 

But this is not something that’s readily seen in our oceans, as anemones generally stay in one place for most of their lives.

They also mate both asexually and sexually by blasting sperm and eggs through their mouths and into the sea.

MailOnline has approached experts for further clarification.  

5. Pikachu 

Believe it or not, this sea slug hasn’t just shot out of a Poké Ball.

But the mysterious Thecacera pacifica does bear a strange resemblance to Pikachu, the world-famous Pokémon character. 

While these creatures are found across the Indian Ocean and western Pacific, they are very rarely spotted thanks to their diminutive size of just one to two centimetres.

Albeit tiny, these slugs still shouldn’t be underestimated, as they hold numerous abilities like their fictional TV twin. 

While Pikachu ejects electric shocks when stressed, this species exudes toxins to defend itself. 

Jellyfish, plankton and algae make up most of their diet, but the slug currently remains very illusive to marine biologists. 

6. Three-eyed fish

The Simpsons has built a reputation for unknowingly predicting the future – from Trump’s presidency to the underwater submersible tragedy in June.

And now, the hit Fox series has struck again, with an episode from the 1990s mirroring the discovery of a mutated three-eyed fish in real life.

Just like The Simpsons’ creature, this catfish was caught from waters that were brimming with so much pollution that its genetics had completely shifted.

Heavy metals, coal tar waste and volatile organics were found in the water in Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn – and eating the fish would pose a great threat to human health.

Fears of similarly mutated fish have arisen once more in Japan, as it was decided that waste from the Fukushima nuclear powerplant would be released into the Pacific Ocean.

While authorities claim it poses no threat to humans, activists are outraged by the sheer risk of treated waste. 

Amid the controversy, the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, ate a sashimi fish on camera to prove it was safe to eat.

This again mirrors The Simpsons, with Mr Burns eating a fish exposed to nuclear waste in a previous episode.

Horrifying moment passenger is pushed into the sea to his death by ferry crew when he tried to leap on to the departing vessel at Greek port

•  Shocking footage shows man, 36, being pushed into the sea by ferry crew 

By Rachael Bunyan

Updated: 09:08 EDT, 6 September 2023

Sun and sea can play havoc on a girl’s hair. Fortunately, taking a dip in the Dead Sea, one of the saltiest stretches of water in the world, has its advantages.

With a salinity ten times that of the Atlantic it’s easy to float sitting up, keeping my hair dry. I’m just miffed that I’ve left my paperback on the lounger.

Mind you, it’s not only the chance to avoid holiday hair that draws visitors to this, the lowest point on earth. Located in Israel’s Judaean desert, the Dead Sea is the world’s oldest natural spa thanks to its mineral-rich waters and inky, therapeutic mud.

There’s something else too – an absolute stillness that prevails over this geographical anomaly. For as I bob along, there are no crashing waves, tangly bits of moss or skittering fish. Only a bather’s occasional yelp – because salt water is murder on cut skin.

Visit Israel now and you’ll find the country in flux. Yet, ironically, weekly demonstrations against Prime Minister Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul Israel’s judiciary and weaken the country’s supreme court have become something of a tourist attraction. Not least in Tel Aviv, where visitors stand on balmy Saturday nights to watch the sea of Israeli flags flooding the streets as the people chant, sing and unite in protest.

‘It’s carnival like, so much camaraderie – just people demonstrating for their votes. It’s one big “social”, which is what Israelis love,’ my sister-in-law, Fiona, who visited recently explains. ‘That’s why the tourists love to go and watch too.’

And given that Tel Aviv is one of the world’s priciest cities, it’s free entertainment.

Meanwhile, the falafel stands, restaurants and bars are bustling with little care for the mass demonstrations filling the streets.

But, then again, it’s the fiery Israeli character – known as sabra – which also energises this tiny country. The nickname refers to the sabra cactus fruit, spiky on the outside but sweet on the inside.

It shows itself as soon as we step into our cab after flying into Tel Aviv. We have, fortunately, not arrived on a Saturday night when, thanks to the demos, it’s impossible to drive anywhere. In between some hair-raising moves – motorists here work on the principle of ‘don’t mirror or signal before manoeuvre’ – our driver gives us a potted history of the current situation, which ends with him describing the PM as a ‘lunatic’.

Yet Israel is also a place where the welcome is palpable. Its people are inquisitive, direct and just utterly thrilled you want to visit.

‘You’re from Manchester – as in Manchester United?’ wonders Avi, one especially charming waiter. ‘It’s just a place of football and rain, no? So much better to be here.’

We’re here to enjoy trips to three diverse bodies of water – what Israelis often refer to as ‘The ‘Med, the Dead and the Red’. It refers to the country’s Mediterranean coastline, the Dead Sea and the Red Sea at the southern tip.

Thanks to the country’s diminutive size – less than 300 miles from tip to toe – visiting each ‘sea’ is easily done in one road trip.

We begin our watery odyssey on the Med, which takes up most of Israel’s western border. We base ourselves in Tel Aviv, at the Kempinski hotel, which looks out over an expansive seaside promenade.

We hire bikes as there are dedicated cycle lanes – though watch out, the Israelis cycle and use e-scooters like they drive. But we also walk its length to the ancient port city of Jaffa, which bookends the prom.

On another day we take a 50-minute drive to the ancient coastal city of Caesarea. It was here in between 22 and 10 BC that King Herod built a no-expense spared city, the remains of which are scattered by the water.

From Tel Aviv, we recruit a guide, Avraham from the Tours By Locals platform, so we can make use of the two-and-a-half-hour drive to our next watery stop, the Dead Sea.

Along the way we take in sites such as Qumran in the Judaean desert where, amongst the limestone cliffs, a set of writings from 3rd Century BC – known as the Dead Sea Scrolls – were uncovered here in a set of caves.

A tip for visitors to the Dead Sea. It’s vital to stay somewhere with good food as there aren’t many places to eat. Fortunately our hotel, The Nevo, comes up trumps.

There’s also not much by way of diversions here. ‘What’s to do? You have weather, beautiful water, spa treatments. Why drive yourself mad?’ Israelis are world class at asking rhetorical questions.

One morning, we take a 20-minute drive to the base of Masada, King Herod’s desolate cliff-top fortress. Eager climbers can crest the ‘snake path’ which rises 450 metres to the summit. We opt for a cable car to the top to walk the sprawling ruins.

Our final destination is the Red Sea and the resort of Eilat, reached after another dramatic two-and-a-half-hour drive through the jagged mountains and dusty landscape of the Judaean desert.

The resort itself is a classic fly-and-flop sort of place. Our hotel, the luxury Royal Beach, looks out over the shoreline arched by the majestic Edom Mountains beyond.

There’s tons to do if you have the energy, from snorkelling to kayaking. But, feeling lethargic, we limit our water activities to taking a tour on a glass-bottomed boat.

Israel may be a country of personalities and hot-headed politics. But its three seas are a chance to relax and enjoy the natural world’s most exquisite riches. As the locals would say: ‘And why not?’

A Russian general who was keeper of secrets about Vladimir Putin‘s £1 billion Black Sea palace has died mysteriously in jail.

General Gennady Lopyrev, 69, suddenly became ill on Monday – gasping for breath – and was told by doctors he had previously undiagnosed leukaemia.

There are now suspicions he was poisoned just as he became eligible for parole.

The general was jailed for ten years in 2017 by a military court accused of bribe-taking and illegal possession of ammunition – charges he always denied.

Serving in the Federal Protection Service [FSO], he personally oversaw the construction of Putin’s gargantuan clifftop Gelendzhik Palace, a private residence allegedly built with state cash.

He was also responsible for the dictator’s official residence Bocharov Ruchei in Sochi.

Up to his jailing he had been one of Putin’s closest security aides, and was seen with the Russian president and then British premier Tony Blair in Moscow in 2002.

It comes as another Russian general, who led the invasion of Ukraine until he was purged by Putin, also met a suspiciously sudden end this week.

Having been healthy on Sunday when he spoke to his son Alexander, Gen Lopyrev suddenly became ill on Monday complaining of speaking and breathing difficulties, reported Telegram channel VChK-OGPU.

‘He could not breathe and had a hoarse voice,’ said the channel likening the symptoms to those of Putin foe Alexei Navalny who was poisoned with nerve agent Novichok.

Lopyrev was taken on Monday from penal colony number 3 in Ryazan region to two hospitals.

He told his son Alexander by phone: ‘I was taken to Skopin [hospital] first, and they found nothing conclusive.

‘Now they brought me to Ryazan regional hospital, and said I had leukaemia.’

The son said: ‘But isn’t leukaemia a cancer… Surely it couldn’t catch you in just two days?’

Speaking to media, Alexander said: ‘I also spoke to the chief of their medical unit, who said his heart check returned normal, and lungs were clear.

‘It is hard to say what exactly happened. We were getting ready to apply for his parole, because it was time [to apply]… And now this call [to say he had died].

‘It’s all very strange, and way too fast.’

His father was extremely fit and routinely practised gymnastics while in the penal colony, Alexander claimed. 

‘Everything was fine on Sunday,’ he said. ‘We had a chat via a payphone, there wasn’t a single complaint about his health.

‘His voice was energetic, he spoke about his usual sports like gymnastics and stretching. Every day he walked 15km [9 miles].

‘On Monday he called with his voice suddenly sounding hoarse. By evening on Monday… he called from [hospital in] Ryazan, saying he felt really unwell…he said he struggled to breathe.’

Viktor Boborykin, chairman of the Public Monitoring Commission for the region, said there was ‘nothing criminal’ in his death.

Navalny had earlier identified Gen Lopyrev as being responsible for Gelendzhik and knowing all the secrets of its funding.

Putin’s Black Sea palace includes a pole-dancing hookah boudoir, casino, and ‘aqua disco’.

It has a 16-storey underground complex which has been compared with the lair of a James Bond villain.

A mining engineer who worked on the construction it had indeed been built for the president and ‘there is a whole anthill in the rock under the house’ including a nuclear shelter.

The subterranean maze includes a cliff face loggia overlooking the sea and a vast wine cellar.

The death of Gen Lopyrev followed that of Col-Gen Gennady Zhidko, 58.

Zhidko briefly led the invasion of Ukraine as commander of the Southern Grouping of Forces before giving way to General Sergei ‘Armageddon’ Surovikin in October.

The 58-year-old also served as the Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria in 2016, and in 2018 was appointed Commander of the Eastern Military District.

The high-ranking official – who was awarded the highest honorary title, the Hero of Russia, for his service in 2017 – later became deputy minister of defence in 2021.

Zhidko was ousted from his role in Ukraine in October 2022 – as commander of Putin’s ‘special military operation’ – after the failure to grab the city of Kharkiv.

He had been seen as in charge since April after taking over from ousted General Alexander Dvornikov, aka the ‘Butcher of Syria’.

The role led to Western sanctions against Zhidko.

Surovikin, who replaced him, was later demoted from the role by chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov.

Surovikin remained his deputy but is believed to have been detained in June amid suspicion he knew of plans to stage a coup against Putin’s regime by Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Little had been seen of Zhidko in recent months.

His death was confirmed by the loyalist governor of Khabarovsk region Mikhail Degtyarev, who expressed his condolences, but there was no official announcement.

The reports did not say where Zhidko died. He was seen as having one of the best military brains in Russia.

The deaths of Generals Lopyrev and Zhidko are just the latest in a long line of suspicious fatalities among the upper echelons of Russia’s military and business elite in recent months.

Major General Vladimir Makarov, 67, was in charge of ‘combating extremism’ in Russia and was found shot dead in February.

He reportedly led the hunting down and suppression of opponents of the Russian president, as well as journalists deemed hostile to the Kremlin.

Makarov also took action against young people who protested against Putin.

Putin issued a decree to fire him in January, though his reasons for doing so remain unclear.

Makarov’s wife Valentina was in a country house with her husband in Golikovo village near Moscow at 7am when she heard a gunshot, local reports said.

Some reports said a Berkut-2M hunting rifle was found nearby. Other accounts said a pistol was discovered.

His wife summoned a family member and called an ambulance but paramedics could not save Makarov, said reports, and he was pronounced dead.

The dead general’s family were being interrogated by the Russian Investigative Committee, reported Moskovsky Komsomolets, a Moscow-based daily newspaper.

The publication said that firearms were kept inside the house. 

Relatives said he ‘did not know what to do’ after Putin axed him.

VChK-OGPU Telegram channel cited a source saying Makarov had been in ‘deep depression’ following his ousting.

He had been deputy head of the Interior Ministry’s Main Directorate for Combating Extremism, which was also responsible for countering terrorism.

From December 24 to 26, there was a string of four particularly mysterious deaths. 

On December 26, Pavel Antonov – the richest deputy of the Russian Duma (parliament) and a Putin critic – died in India falling out of a hotel window.

His companion Vladimir Bidenov was found dead in the same hotel four days earlier.

Aleksey Maslov, 69, the former chief of Russian Ground Forces, died in hospital on 25 December while Aleksandr Buzakov – head of Russia’s ‘admiralty shipyards’ for a decade – died on December 24.

Last July, retired Major General of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Lobachev, 76, was found dead in Moscow. His death was also ruled as suicide.

Other recent deaths have included the editor of a popular Russian propaganda magazine, the vice-president of Gazprombank and a senior Gazprom official.

One man burned alive after falling asleep with a lit cigarette in Moscow, another fell from a balcony, and another fell down a flight of stairs.

Suspicious deaths of notable Russians have not been confined to Russia’s borders, either. In April, Sergey Protosenya – Former Deputy Chairman of Novatek – was found hanged from a handrail. His wife and daughter were found killed with stab wounds.

Businessman Mikhail Watford was found dead at his home in Surrey, England, while another – Vladimir Bidenov – died in France after hitting his head on a railing.

The moment a Ukrainian experimental kamikaze drone hit Vladimir Putin‘s £3 billion bridge linking Russia to Crimea and triggered a huge explosion has been revealed for the first time.

Ukrainian secret service agency SBU today shared a video of the audacious attack by the ‘Sea Baby’ drone which saw huge explosions rip through the 12-mile crossing last month. 

The footage, seen by CNN, shows the naval kamikaze drone armed with up to 850kg of explosives sailing towards the bridge under the cover of darkness before it smashed into the crossing, sending debris flying through the air.

Separate footage footage released by the SBU and Ukrainian sources showed the scale of the explosion from other angles as the strike hit the crossing which has separate road and rail links.

It marks the first time the SBU has openly claimed responsibility for the attack that was conducted by the Ukrainian navy. 

The new footage appears to show that Russian defences failed to detect two drones, reported Agenstvo.

One is seen approaching the road crossing, and a second apparently exploded on the rail section as a train was crossing. There is known to be less damage to the rail part of the bridge.

The new ‘Sea Baby’ drone has been in development for months and SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk warned Moscow of more attacks to come. Ukraine today released footage of the naval drone for the first time.

The deadly unmanned boat was loaded with up to 850kg of explosives when it detonated.

The Ukrainian-designed marine drone – reportedly constructed without Western help – was also used to strike two Russian vessels – the assault ship Olengorskiy Gornyak and tanker SIG, putting both out of commission.

‘We are working on a number of new interesting operations, including in the Black Sea waters. I promise you, it’ll be exciting, especially for our enemies,’ Maliuk told CNN.

‘Sea surface drones are a unique invention of the Security Service of Ukraine.’

He explained: ‘Using these drones we have recently conducted a successful hit of the Crimean bridge, the big assault ship Olengorskiy Gornyak and SIG tanker.’

Both of these vessels were struck in a drone attack this month, causing major gashes in their sides and are now out of commission.

A couple were killed and their 14-year-old daughter was seriously injured following the blasts on the Crimean bridge, which is a major supply line for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine and a prestige project that was personally opened by Putin. 

A section of the crossing was destroyed in the double strike, with pictures showing twisted metal barriers, debris and a damaged car in a major blow to Moscow’s war effort.

Drivers were seen in dash cam footage braking sharply after the explosions destroyed parts of the crossing and sent debris flying towards them.  

Speaking of the attack on the bridge, Maliuk said: ‘At the final stage of the preparation we could not even think about sleep or food… We were fully concentrated on the operation.

‘The final last days were quite nervous. When the explosion happened, we were so happy and started congratulating one another.

‘This was a very emotional moment for all of us and our victory, which will definitely come soon.’

Maliuk insisted that Ukraine’s Western partners are not involved in Kyiv’s attacks on the Russian-built bridge opened by Putin in 2018, or warships. 

It comes after the Kremlin blamed Britain and the US for orchestrating the drone strike on the bridge – without providing any evidence to support their outlandish claims.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also accused Ukraine of carrying out the attack with the involvement of Britain and the US. 

Maliuk said the bridge linking Russia to Crimea was a ‘legitimate’ target for Ukraine. 

The SBU chief also claimed responsibility for an earlier strike on the bridge on 8 October last year involving a truck, but declined to give details.

The strike on the Crimean bridge left Russian politicians furious, with former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev saying Putin should ‘blow up’ the homes of Ukrainians in response to the drone strike.

A ranting Medvedev said at the time: ‘The world and our own experience shows that it is impossible to fight terrorists with international sanctions, intimidation or exhortations.

‘They only understand the language of power. Only personal and completely inhumane methods.

‘Therefore, it is necessary to blow up their own houses and the houses of their relatives.

‘Look for and eliminate their accomplices, abandoning the insipid idea of a trial against them.

‘But the main thing is to destroy the top leadership of terrorist formations, in whatever cracks these insects hide. It’s difficult but possible.’

New species of sea monster with 20 arms is found lurking in the frozen seas around Antarctica

By Matthew Phelan For Dailymail.Com

Published: 18:10 EDT, 11 August 2023 | Updated: 02:07 EDT, 12 August 2023

Sea turtles have become collateral damage in the fishing industry’s decades-long pillaging of the world’s oceans, to judge from the results of a new study.  

Two-thirds, or 66.7 percent, of all turtle injuries or deaths documented across a 12-year period in the Maldives could be blamed on lost and discarded fishing gear, sometimes called ‘ghost fishing nets,’ marine conservationists have uncovered.  

Over 90 percent of global fish stocks are currently ‘fully exploited, overexploited or depleted,’ according analysis by both the United Nations and the World Bank. 

The $23.5 billion trade in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, by the UN’s estimates, have caused much of the devastation.

‘Marine turtles are one group of marine megafauna under threat of extinction through human activities,’ the new study’s authors said, ‘primarily through interactions with the fishing industry, overexploitation, and marine pollution.’

The new research, published in the journal PLOS ONE, drew on data collected by the Maldives Sea Turtle Conservation Program from 2010 to 2022 in the seas surrounding the Republic of Maldives: an island-chain nation southwest of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean.

Across those years, local conservationists documented a total of 379 injured or dead turtles, with more than 75 percent of those cases, or 285 harmed or killed turtles, resulting from human sources.

By far the most common cause of injury or death was entanglement in the detritus of the fishing industry — with 66.7 percent or 253 of these turtles showing wounds indicative of choking, constriction, scarring or other telltale evidence of ensnarement in fishing nets or lines. 

This figure included both 215 turtles found entangled, and other 38 corpses or near-dead turtles found floating or beached with the physical scars of a prolonged struggle to escape from cast-off netting.   

Those wounds included deep lacerations in 124 turtles, traumatic amputations for 58 turtles, head injuries in 38 turtles, and missing shells or shell fractures among a few severely damaged cases.

But the situation in the Maldives, where such fishing practices have been aggressively banned, is unique, the researchers were quick to point out. 

The nation’s laws were intended to let their seas serve as a marine sanctuary from the brutality of the global fishing industry.

‘Bycatch,’ the term for when fishing boats accidentally catch dolphins, turtles and other marine life in the course of their mass-scale indiscriminate trawling, ‘is recorded as a key cause of morbidity and mortality of marine turtles in many regions,’ the researchers report.

But, in the Maldives, where the practice is actively outlawed, it is the leftovers of these industrial fish-trawling practices, the discarded gillnets, purse seine nets, longlines, and traps that are causing the most death among local turtles. 

‘Most other studies investigating causes of sea turtle morbidity,’ the authors noted, ‘report lower rates of entanglement.’

Thousands upon thousands of square miles of ‘ghost fish netting’ is left adrift in the oceans each year, according to a recent study in the journal Science Advances, leaving unsuspecting marine life struggling to escape from humanity’s mess.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is not only one of the major drivers of marine ecosystem destruction, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, but it’s also one of the most lucrative.

Criminal fishing accounts for a full fifth, 20 percent, of the entire global fishing catch, the international body estimates. 

Its $23.5 billion in profits makes it the third most lucrative natural resource crime after stolen timber and illegal mining.