A raging fire has ignited on a Russian anti-submarine ship which has been taking part in war games alongside Vladimir Putin's nuclear submarines in the Barents Sea, Ukraine's navy claimed today.
The destroyer Admiral Levchenko - which has a maximum crew of 300 - was in a 'struggle for survival' after one of its engines 'malfunctioned and caught fire', according to the claims.
The Russian authorities are yet to comment on the reports.
The 535ft Admiral Levchenko, commissioned in 1988, was this week taking part in 'combat training' war games also involving nuclear submarines.
The drills - the first of their kind since 2022 - were ordered by Vladimir Putin amid high tension with the West and involved test firing of Moscow's fearsomeKinzhal missiles.
The destroyer Admiral Levchenko - which has a maximum crew of 300 - was in a 'struggle for survival' after one of its engines 'malfunctioned and caught fire', according to the claims
Admiral Levchenko is pictured diring missiles during 2022 drills
Admiral Levchenko, an Udaloy-class destroyer of Russia's Northern Fleet
The 535ft Admiral Levchenko, commissioned in 1988, was this week taking part in 'combat training' war games also involving nuclear submarines (pictured)
Russia's new nuclear-powered submarine Imperator Alexander III test launches the Bulava ballistic missile, designed to carry nuclear warheads, from the White Sea, in this image taken from video released November 5, 2023
Prior to the outbreak of war, the Admiral Levchenko's engines were serviced in Ukraine as many of Russia's Soviet-era naval vessels were built and maintained in the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv.
Russian military jet crashes killing two pilots
A Russian military jet crashed during a training flight in the Caucasus region of North Ossetia, killing two people on board, the defence ministry said today.
A statement said the Sukhoi-34 jet crashed 'in a mountainous zone' and added that there was 'no damage on the ground'.
It said a technical problem appeared to have caused the crash, adding that an investigation had been launched to ascertain the reason behind the accident.
North Ossetia, which borders ex-Soviet Georgia, is about 800 kilometres (500 miles) from the front line in Ukraine.
On June 8, regional authorities said Ukraine targeted a military airfield near the town of Mozdok with drones but three of them were shot down.
It was the first such attack in North Ossetia since the special military operation launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.
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A spokesperson for Ukraine's Southern Defence Forces, Dmytro Pletenchuk, said that the Admiral Levchenko had not undergone its regularly scheduled maintenance in a Ukrainian shipyard since 2014 after the annexation of Crimea.
He noted that running the ship for an extended period without servicing may have caused the blaze.
'The enemy's equipment is on fire. This is what happens when a 'superpower' receives sanctions from Ukraine and cannot independently service engines produced in Mykolaiv.
'Ten years was not enough to solve this problem. One of the installations caught fire,' he wrote.
The Russian navy described the scale of their exercises in a statement on Monday, declaring: 'The large anti-submarine ships Admiral Levchenko and Rear Admiral Kulakov left the Northern Fleet's main base in Severomorsk to the designated areas as part of a naval search and strike group.
'The anti-submarine ships fired air defence systems to repel an airstrike.
'Kinzhal air defence missile systems hit a simulated target, an illuminated air bomb dropped by an Ilyushin Il-38 aircraft.'
A pair of nuclear submarines are also taking part in the drills, but Russian authorities have not revealed which ones.
One of them - a multi-purpose submarine - is working in coordination with the Admiral Levchenko and Rear Admiral Kulakov vessels as part of the search and strike group.
The other is posing as an enemy NATO submarine to be tracked and eliminated.
Shipborne Kamov Ka-27 helicopters also took part in the drills, the Russian defence ministry reported.
'Ships of the formation operated within a hunter-killer group to practice strikes on the mock enemy's ships, air defence, and artillery fire on coastal targets,' the navy statement read.
The Admiral Levchenko fires missiles during 2022 drills in the Barents Sea
Prior to the outbreak of war, the Admiral Levchenko's engines were serviced in Ukraine as many of Russia's Soviet-era naval vessels were built and maintained in the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv
A pair of nuclear submarines are also taking part in the drills, but Russian authorities have not revealed which ones
One of the submarines is working in coordination with the Admiral Levchenko and Rear Admiral Kulakov vessels as part of the search and strike group. The other is posing as an enemy NATO submarine to be tracked and eliminated
The drills in the Barents Sea come as other Russian warships, including a missile cruiser, docked in the Egyptian port of Alexandria this week ahead of planned drills with Cairo's navy close to the Suez Canal.
Russia's defence ministry reported yesterday thata detachment of Navy ships, including the missile cruiser Varyag and the frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov, docked in the port of Alexandria to host Egyptian naval representatives.
The visit was described as a 'business call' - but both navies will later this week flex their muscles indrills off the Egyptian coast in the proximity of the Suez Canal.
These drills come off the back of reports that Russia is pushing to establish a permanent naval base in Tobruk on the coast of Libya to complement its other Mediterranean naval facility in Syria's Tartus.
The prospect of an increased Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean, seen as the 'soft underbelly of Europe', has prompted some analysts to suggest that NATO should establish a permanent operational command to ensure the region's security.
This week's naval exercises also represent a consolidation of relations betweenMoscow and Cairo, which since Egypt's Abdel Fattah el-Sisi rose to power in 2014 have gone from strength to strength.
