Pro-Russian journalist raising his weapon causes Ukraine to blow it up

A pro-Kremlin journalist assisted in accident Ukraine when he identified where an important Russian weapon was.

Aleksandr Kots, hailed by the West as a ‘propagandist’, showed off Moscow’s 2S4 Tyulpan 240mm self-propelled heavy-duty mortar – the largest caliber mortar system currently in service.

But the next day, Ukrainian troops were able to inflate it through its input.

The weapon, designed during the Cold War, was made to destroy enormous buildings.

It was already used during the Ukraine War – in Donetsk, Luhansk and at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.

According to Ukrainian fighters manning the mill forced to surrenderthe weapon was moved from Mariupol to Severodonetsk.

This is the largest city still under Kyiv’s control in Luhansk and the Kremlin is desperate to seize it.

Mr. Kots took it upon himself to show off the terrible weapon to the Russians at home, with several different angles.

But the detailed report ended with the locating of the weapon and the Ukrainian army had completely destroyed it within 24 hours.

Vladimir Putin is believed to have up to 400 mortar systems in Russia’s reserve – but they are all inactive at the moment.

About 50 usable versions of the weapon are thought to be in service.

It comes after reports that Russia has carried out a secret mission to recover the bodies of sailors who were apparently ‘left to drown’ when the Moscow cruiser was hit on April 14.

Moscow has previously denied that Ukraine had destroyed its Black Sea Fleet flagship – claiming the ship was damaged while being towed to port in stormy weather.

But up to 510 crew members were on the ship and their loved ones have since complained about having ‘no information or rescue efforts’.

The Ukrainian military claims that the Kremlin had to collect the bodies, so there was no evidence of a cover-up.

Kyiv Defense Ministry spokesman Vadym Skibitskyi said: ‘They have removed the bodies, removed all classified equipment and cleaned this cruiser.

“They took what could not fall into the hands of a third country.”

The Telegram channel Ishi Svoikh, who had previously set up Ukraine to inform Russian relatives about the fate of their loved ones in war, added: “It is completely unclear what happened to the bodies afterwards.”

The salvage operation apparently took two weeks to complete.

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