Russia shoots down Ukraine military transport plane, as UK’s most powerful nuclear submarine redeploys

As the invasion of Ukraine enters its 54^th day, Sunday, Russia has confirmed shooting down a Ukrainian military transport plane said to be carrying a consignment of freshly donated weapons from the Western countries.

Russia’s defence units said the attack took place outside the city of Odessa in south-west Ukraine, Russian State news agency, TASS reported, quoting Defence Ministry spokesman, Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov as saying on Saturday.

“Near Odessa Russian anti-aircraft defense forces have shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane, which was delivering a large shipment of arms supplied to Ukraine by Western counties,” Konashenkov said.

The number of Ukrainian casualties has been put at five, all crew members of the downed military transporter plane.

Konashenkov also claimed that in the last 24 hours, Russian air units had hit dozens of locations with a concentration of Ukrainian military troops or hardware.

Meanwhile, Britain’s most powerful nuclear submarine has arrived in Gibraltar hours after Putin’s threat to deploy nuclear weapons in the fight against Ukraine.

HMS Audacious is one of the UK’s newest submarines in its fleet and is considered one of the world’s most deadly underwater vehicles.

The Astute class vessel is a hunter-killer submarine used for attacking and sinking other subs and surface ships with its torpedoes and is capable of attacking land targets with its Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Arriving for its first visit to The Rock, the 97-metre-long vessel docked alongside the American carrier, USS Georgia.

Audacious is capable of striking targets up to 1,200km from the coast with pinpoint accuracy.

The vessel is also capable of producing its own oxygen and fresh water from sea water, meaning it is capable of sustaining long missions without needing to come up for air.

The arrival of the vessel comes after Putin banned Boris Johnson and several other members of the Cabinet from ever entering Russia.

Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “In connection with the unprecedented hostile actions of the British government, expressed, in particular, in the imposition of sanctions against top officials of the Russian Federation, a decision was made to include key members of the British government and a number of political figures in the Russian ‘stop list’.

“In the near future, this list will be expanded to include British politicians and parliamentarians who contribute to whipping up anti-Russian hysteria.”

Under the nation’s latest sanctions, Chancellor Rishi SUnak, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Defence Secretary Ben Wallance, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab are all banned from entering Russia.

The Foregin Office has not yet responded to the banning, but a Government spokesperson has issued a statement denouncing the Russian invasion.

“It will lead to a foreign policy dead end.”

The arrival of the HMS Audacious also comes after the sinking of Russia’s military flagship, Moskva.

Putin has remained tight-lipped over the exact number who died when the Moskva sank on Thursday, although Ukrainian officials estimate as many as 450 Russians may have perished.

The Kremlin has refused to provide details on casualties, but has reneged on initial claims that all 510 crew members were evacuated.

Russian military officials and state TV commentators have not given a clear explanation about the sinking, offering contradictory claims about the incident.

The sinking of Russia’s crown jewel of the fleet has become the most “significant and symbolic” humiliation for President Vladimir Putin yet.