Cluster munition found near Sevastopol beach attack site (VIDEO)
Russia’s emergency services have discovered an unexploded cluster bomblet in the waters near Sevastopol following a deadly Ukrainian missile strike on a beach last weekend.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian military fired five US-supplied ATACMS missiles at the Crimean city of Sevastopol on Sunday. Russian air defense systems destroyed four of the projectiles in mid-air, but the fifth was damaged, veered off course, and detonated its cluster warhead over a packed beach. The strike killed at least four people, including two children, and injured more than 150 others.
The police and special teams of the Russian Emergency Ministry and other departments continue to work at the location. Emergency services specialists have examined the coastline and the beach area in the town of Uchkuevka, near Sevastopol, where the missile exploded, and are currently inspecting the sea as well.
The footage released by Russia’s Emergency Ministry on Wednesday show a diver discovering an unexploded missile submunition. In another part of the video, a diver is handing over a fragment of what is purported to be a cluster warhead bomblet found in the sea to an emergency services specialist.
“A diving survey of the beach water area is taking place here at the moment, a search area has been determined, this is a 50-meter zone,” head of the underwater demining department of Russia’s Emergency Ministry, Viktor Ilyenko, told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
The coast remains cordoned off as teams of minesweepers and divers search for submunitions and explosive remnants. Diving units have so far surveyed more than two hectares of the seabed and another 4.5 hectares still need to be checked, according to the ministry.
Moscow has described the missile strike as an act of terrorism and argued that the US and Kiev bear equal responsibility for the deaths.
