VLADIMIR PUTIN’S killer spy dolphins could have escaped from the tyrant’s grasp after a devastating storm in the Black Sea battered Crimea.
Russia‘s defences were badly damaged and the mega £3billion Crimean bridge has become vulnerable to fresh Ukrainian attacks.
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A brutal storm tore through the Eastern European peninsula on November 27 and new satellite images have revealed the dolphin pens in Sevastopol harbour have vanished along with the killer creatures.
Putin’s specially trained pod of dolphins are used to battle against any enemy divers that invade Russian harbours.
Often intruders will try to plant limpet mines or dive down to explore the areas for future planned attacks.
Dolphins have been taught to alert their human controllers of any intruder and can unleash lethal strikes on the enemy underwater.
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The highly-trained dangerous assets are part of a military spy program that stems back to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
But the mammals’ development has grown significantly since then and under Putin have played key roles in Russian sabotaging with the animals thought to have attacked Ukrainian divers.
Their pens are thought to have been washed away or sunk in the storm that’s also made a row of elaborate makeshift barrier defences used against sea drones seemingly disappear.
There is a chance that Russia removed them moments before the storm hit to prevent damage but they still haven’t been put back yet fuelling reports of a weakened Russia.
This could now spark life into fresh Ukrainian bids to destroy the 12-mile-long Crimean Bridge which has already been attacked and damaged by Ukraine on two occasions.
Back in July a naval kamikaze drone claimed to be sent by Ukraine’s Security Service rocked the bridge, killed two and caused major damage to the crossing.
Last year, Putin declared another huge bridge blast an “act of terrorism” after a truck reportedly exploded, killing three people.
The bridge was left battered but Ukraine didn’t take responsibility for this seemingly coordinated explosion.
The crossing is a crucial supply route into annexed Crimea, and Voldymyr Zelensky has demanded that it’s destroyed on multiple occasions.
The satellite images of the missing dolphin pens were discovered by Brady Africk, an analyst at the foreign and defence policy research department of the American Enterprise Institute, using Planet Labs imagery.
He broke the shocking news on his X account saying: “Recent storms over the Black Sea heavily damaged Russian defences at the entrance to Sevastopol harbour in Crimea.
“The dolphin pens near Sevastopol harbour entrance are also gone as a result of the storms.”
A separate Africk post read: “In the recent storms that ravaged the regions of Crimea, the booms have either been washed away due to rough seas or have been removed to prevent any damage to the booms.”
A spokesman for the UK Minister of Defence said: “Russia has trained animals for a range of missions, but the ones housed in Sevastopol harbour are highly likely intended to counter enemy divers.
“In Arctic waters, the navy also uses Beluga whales and seals.”
The dolphins have been used in the war in Syria in 2018 and to defend Sevastopol harbour from Ukrainian special forces divers ever since the brutal war began.
Some feel that the dolphins might’ve been released by Russia before the storm and the pens dismantled by navy officials.
As the mammals were born and raised in captivity and have relied on human help for almost everything in their lives many fear it could be a death warrant if they’re now roaming the seas unable to survive.
The Sun previously reported that satellite images suggested the dolphin sea pens had been moved to Novoozerne – closer to the front line.
The underwater assets were previously stationed at the harbour entrance in Sevastopol.
As well as dolphins, Russia is claimed to also have a whale strapped into a “spy” harness.
It comes after a top official previously claimed dolphins trained by the Ukrainian military died “patriotically” after going on hunger strike when they were seized by the Russians.
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