Officers betray Putin and leak intel for massive strike that killed admiral

26 September 2023 , 13:44

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Officers betray Putin and leak intel for massive strike that killed admiral

Russian naval officers leaked top secret details to Ukraine which led to a devastating missile strike on Vladimir Putin ’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters, it is claimed.

The dictator’s regime had failed to pay its officers and they took their revenge by handing sensitive intelligence to a partisan resistance group working closely with Kyiv. The strike killed Admiral Viktor Sokolov, 61, commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, and a total of 34 officers, with 105 wounded, according to Ukraine ’s special operations force. It came as Sokolov met with other commanders for a war-planning session.

“Delays in [salary] payments alone do not force the military armed forces of the Russian Federation to go against the Russian authorities,” a spokesperson for anti-Putin ATESH partisan group told Kyiv Post.Russian naval officers who leaked intelligence to them believed Putin was “waging a criminal war and that it needs to stop”.

Smoke rises into the sky after a Storm Shadow missile hit the headquarters of Vladimir Putin's Black Sea Fleet (Social media/east2west news)

Admiral Viktor Sokolov, commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was among the dead (MOD/east2west news)

The group reportedly paid their sources. “The financial reward only helps them to decide on cooperation with the ATESH movement, it serves as an additional incentive,” said the spokesperson. The Crimean partisan group refused to say how much the leakers were paid but “it was enough to cover the risks for the officers and their families”, reported Kyiv Post. ATESH said intelligence was passed immediately to the Ukrainian SBU security service and HUR military intelligence.

Among the wounded in the Storm Shadow missile strike were Russian war commanders Colonel-General Alexander Romanchuk Chief of Staff and Lieutenant-General Oleg Tsekov, it was reported. Intelligence from the group was also key to the destruction of the Minsk large landing ship and damage to the Rostov-on-Don submarine earlier this month, it is claimed.

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Ukraine now claims that Russia suffered 62 “irreversible losses” when the Minsk was hit. “The Russian military is well aware of the existence of the partisan movement and throw all their forces and means to suppress it and identify our agents,” said the ATESH spokesperson. "The growing resistance among the Crimeans confuses [the Russians] very much.”

ATESH is confident it can carry out further subversive acts against the Russian occupation forces. “We have ears and eyes both inside and outside, so we are the first to hear and see what is happening there,” said ATESH. Russia has not confirmed the losses in the strikes on the Black Sea Fleet HQ or the Minsk landing ship.

Will Stewart