This slickly-produced footage shows the Russian battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy firing a cruise missile in the Arctic Sea in a show of military might.
Zenger News obtained the video from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on August 24.
The Russian MoD said: “As part of a planned exercise with a grouping of heterogeneous strike forces of the Northern Fleet taking place in the waters of the Barents Sea, the flagship of the Northern Fleet–the ‘Pyotr Velikiy’ heavy nuclear missile cruiser (TARKR)–launched a Granit cruise missile at a target position in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.
“According to objective control data, the maritime training target was successfully hit at a distance of more than 200 kilometers [124 miles].
“Furthermore, as part of the exercise to protect sea communications in the Arctic, the crew of the cruiser practiced naval artillery combat with a mock enemy ship. The shooting was performed by the combat crew of a battery of universal caliber–an AK-130 130-mm artillery mount.
“Earlier, the Pyotr Velikiy TARKR, in cooperation with the Admiral Ushakov destroyer, conducted practical anti-aircraft missile and artillery firing at air targets. The area of ​​the Barents Sea, where rocket firing was carried out, was closed in advance for civil navigation and aviation flights.”
The Pyotr Velikiy (Peter the Great) was designed by the Severnoye Design Bureau and built in the Baltic Shipyard in Saint Petersburg. It was laid down in 1986 and launched a decade later.
The footage comes shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine passed the six-month mark.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Friday marks the 184th day of the war.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between February 24 and August 26, Russia had lost about 46,250 personnel, 1,936 tanks, 4,251 armored combat vehicles, 1,040 artillery units, 272 multiple launch rocket systems, 148 air defense systems, 234 warplanes, 202 helicopters, 834 drones, 196 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 3,162 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 99 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower, but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, was temporarily disconnected from Ukraine’s national grid for the first time in almost 40 years of operation, as a result of shelling that cut the last remaining power line to the facility, according to the country’s nuclear energy company, Energoatom.
Herman Halushchenko, Ukraine’s Energy Minister, said the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog could go to the plant in the “coming days”.
The White House has called on Russia to accept a demilitarized area around the plant after U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky talked on Wednesday, Ukraine’s 31st independence day.
Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the size of Russia’s armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million soldiers.
Latvia has taken down a Soviet-era obelisk in its capital, Riga, amid criticism from Russia and protest from the Baltic country’s ethnic Russian minority. The nearly 262-foot obelisk was at the heart of a monument to commemorate the Red Army’s victory over Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
As a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Latvia has issued a decree stating that all objects glorifying totalitarian regimes are to be destroyed by November 15.
