One of Vladimir Putin’s leading propagandists - who has advocated launching hypersonic Satan-2 missiles at Britain - has been hit by a sabotage attack.
The villa of TV presenter Dmitry Kiselyov, 68, in Crimea, annexed from Ukraine in 2014, was targeted.
An SUV and a golf cart were hit in an arson attack, say police in the occupied peninsula who suspect Ukrainian agents or sympathisers.
The Putin crony’s Land Rover Freelander and a golf cart were destroyed in a 2am attack at his plush bolthole in Koktebel, a popular resort in southeast Crimea where the TV pundit and executive owns a winery and holiday home.
Russian police in the occupied peninsula are investigating footage on CCTV cameras in a bid to identify the alleged attacker who evaded elaborate security, say reports.
An image showed a man in a hoodie and wearing a Covid mask who is suspected of setting ablaze propagandist-in-chief Kiselyov's vehicles.
The intruder fled moments later.
Footage of the attack was posted in Russia by independent Ostorozhno Novosti.
The multi-millionaire pundit Kiselyov - reportedly avidly watched by Putin - is fond of threatening to turn the West into “radioactive ashes”.
It is unclear if he was in residence at the time of the attack.
In 2013, Kiselyov, who studied at the same Leningrad State University attended by Putin, was appointed by Putin to head Rossiya Segodnya, the Russian state-controlled media group.
He also serves as deputy director of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.
His sprawling home in Crimea has been highlighted by Maria Zakharova, prominent spokeswoman for Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Excited by the war in Ukraine, Kiselyov has urged Putin to go further and drown Britain out of existence under a nuclear tidal wave.
He told viewers: “Another option is to plunge Britain into the depths of the sea is the Russian underwater robotic drone Poseidon.
“It approaches the target at a one kilometre depth with the speed of 200 kilometres per hour [125mph].
“There is NO way to stop this underwater drone. It has a warhead with a capacity of up to 100 megatons.
“The explosion of this thermonuclear torpedo close to Britain's shores will raise a giant wave, a tsunami, up to 500 metres [1,640ft] high.
"This tidal wave is also a carrier of extremely high doses of radiation.
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“Surging over Britain, it will turn what is probably left of them into radioactive desert. Permanently unusable for anything.
“How do you like this prospect? And Putin warned about this, back on February 24 [if anyone interfered with his special military operation].”
The Sarmat hypersonic 208-ton ’Satan-2’ intercontinental ballistic missile has a speed of 15,880mph and is claimed by the Kremlin leader to be “unstoppable”.
It is due to be deployed in the Autumn.
The Poseidon - being readied for service - is described as a giant nuclear-capable torpedo.
Details of its high-speed 125mph underwater propulsion system of the atomic powered underwater drone are regarded as top secret.
Putin has boasted that it has an “unlimited range”, and said three years ago: “Work is going according to plan.”
Hypersonic missiles operate at between five and 25 times the speed of sound, and are much more difficult to detect and intercept than supersonic and subsonic weapons.
They are so fast that they can even out pace the sound they create, meaning that the sound only arrives after they hit.
But despite the use of hypersonic missiles, the Russian military has been widely pushed back by Ukrainian forces in recent days, with Ukraine making large advances into formerly occupied areas in the east of the country.
The counterattack has been dismissed by Russian propagandists, but has seen Ukrainian forces making huge eastward advances.
Ukrainian forces reclaiming ground in Kharkiv have also met with a horrifying but sadly not unexpected discovery in the city of Izium after 440 bodies were found in a mass grave.
Many of the bodies appeared to be civilians, and forensic investigators found some bearing signs of torture, while others had their hands tied.
In a video address, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia is “leaving death behind it everywhere”, and called on continued support to keep up the fight.
After previous atrocities in Mariupol, many believe that more have yet to be discovered, and many sites of potential Russian war crimes may only be revealed as they are retaken by Ukraine.
