UKRAINE has conducted its deepest ever drone strike into enemy territory Russia, flying a kamikaze drone more than 1,120 miles inside Russia.
Kyiv’s kit buzzed Vladimir Putin’s cliff-top £1 billion Black Sea palace, sparking explosions in two nearby villages.
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Dzhanhot, close to the sprawling Gelendzhik Palace and Krinitsa – which could also belong to the dictator – were hit.
The explosions landed just seven and four miles respectively from the heavily guarded palace.
It showed an impressive new milestone by Ukraine – marking the furthest an unmanned attack aircraft has been flown during the war.
The result also showed a serious weakness in Russia‘s air defences – in a humiliating result for the tyrant.
One of the drones was reportedly aiming for a nuclear early warning radar station in Orsk, the Orenburg region.
Another Voronezh M long-range nuclear missile radar station in Krasnodar was previously targeted – sparking fury in Moscow.
Kyiv believes the radar stations are used for military purposes against Ukraine in the war.
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RADAR SYSTEM TARGETS
Fire damage was clearly visible at buildings linked to the Voronezh radar station in Krasnodar, a £13.15 million base providing radar coverage for 3,750 miles.
A source in Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence said: “The Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle covered a distance of over 1,800 kilometres to the enemy object, setting a new record for the range of kamikaze drones.”
Russian sources reported that a UAV “crashed near Orsk” and the target of the drone “was possibly a military facility”.
Dmitry Rogozin, 60, a pro-Putin senator, former deputy prime minister and ex-head of the Russian Space Agency raged that the targeting of radar stations would spark nuclear tensions.
He said: “We stand not only on the threshold, but already on the edge, beyond which, if the enemy is not stopped in such actions, an irreversible collapse in the strategic security of nuclear powers will begin.”
And Rogozin – who as Russian space agency chief played a key role in the testing of the Satan-2 – or Sarmat – rocket, Russia‘s most powerful weapon, blamed the US.
He snarled: “Washington has ordered a crime, hiring an irresponsible bandit trying to damage our missile attack warning systems facility,.”
He also threatened World War 3: “We can assume….that it was carried out on Kyiv’s own initiative or on the orders of some military maniac of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who wants to spark a Third World War.”
A satellite image shared by Radio Svoboda is reported to show traces of fire damage at the radar station near Orsk.
BLACK SEA PALACE
Another drone attack reportedly hit the same area near Vlad’s palace last week – in what could be a bid by Ukraine to rattle Putin.
Putin’s crony governor in the Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratyev, scrambled to claim that that Russian air defences had neutralised all incoming drones.
He said: “Air defence has neutralised all drones.
“Drone debris damaged an unfinished building in the Krinitsa village.
“A drone fell on trees in the Dzhankhot village, the fire has been put out.”
Belarus opposition channel NEXTA said: “The target of Ukrainian drones could be Putin’s palace in Gelendzhik…..
“Krinitsa is home to vineyards and a winery that may belong to the residence of the Russian dictator.”
The drone news come amid reports Putin’s is revamping his palace after he suffered embarrassment over its original decor.
He is getting rid of his pole-dancing bedroom and installing a church with a “throne” for his personal use.
The dictator, 71, was stung when investigative journalists discovered gaudy Gelendzhik palace overlooking the Black Sea three years ago.
Amid a scandal over misuse of state funds, the Kremlin claimed it belonged instead to his friend Arkady Rotenburg, 72, who told reporters he was creating a sumptuous “apart-hotel”.
Out goes the dictator’s notorious striptease stage and pole-dancing hookah hall, casino, gaming room and ‘aqua disco’, for which he was mocked and shamed in the 2021 disclosure.
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