UP SHIP CREEK
World War 3 panic after Russia ‘fires’ at Brit ship
FEARS of World War Three were triggered after Russia allegedly opened fire at a British battleship.
Alerts were issued after Vladimir Putin’s Moscow bullyboys boasted they blasted missiles at the Royal Navy’s HMS Defender for entering its territory in the Black Sea.
A BBC crew on board the vessel insisted they heard the blasts, but UK defence officials scrambled to deny the incident.
They declared “no shots were fired” at the warship yesterday as it was on an “innocent passage” through Ukrainian waters. But Covid-weary people took to social media with the united plea: “We’re too tired for World War Three.”
American nukes expert Michael Duitsman – of the anti-weapons of mass destruction group CNS – tweeted: “Fun times but please don’t start World War 3 today. I’d like to enjoy my vacation.”
A security source claimed UK intelligence was denying the incident in a bid to “just not give Russians the attention they crave”. But the source added: “It’s basically pretty much as the Russians had it.” Russia’s defence chiefs bragged that Britain’s Type-45 ship was struck twice as it crossed its maritime border near Cape Fiolent. The 500ft destroyer is said to have kept its course until a Russian patrol vessel opened fire at 12.06pm and 12.08pm. An SU-24 fighter is said to have swooped to drop four warning bombs in the direction of the vessel before the Defender retreated from Russian waters at 12.23pm. A spokesman for No.10 said: “It’s incorrect to say that Defender was fired upon or was in Russian waters.” But the Russian Defence Ministry summoned British defence attache Capt John Foreman to protest about the ship’s “dangerous move”. Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy called for the Government to be quizzed about the incident.