Moment Russian boat loaded with weapons BLOWN UP by two sea skimming Harpoon missiles | The Sun

THIS is the dramatic moment a Russian boat loaded with weapons is blown up by two Harpoon missiles.

Ukrainian officials said its forces struck the Russian naval tugboat in the Black Sea as it travelled to the Snake Island.

The Russian vessel was hit on Friday with a Harpoon anti-ship missile system supplied by the West.

It is the first time Ukraine has acknowledged launching the Harpoon missiles, which have been sent by the UK and Denmark as well as the US.

Footage filmed by a TB-2 drone shows the Russian "Vasily Bekh"appears to show a low-flying missile approaching the target before detonating and sparking two huge explosions.

The head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, Maxim Marchenko, said: "This morning, our naval forces struck the Black Sea Fleet support vessel Vasily Bekh, with the TOR anti-aircraft missile system on board. Later it became known that he sank." 

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The Russian vessel was transporting men, ammunition and weapons for the Black Sea Fleet, Ukrainian officials said.

The UK was set to send the powerful weapons to blitz Putin's fleet following the PM's meeting with President Zelensky in Kyiv back in April.

The sea-skimming weapons can sink a ship over the horizon at a distance of over 80 miles.

Boris Johnson vowed to give Ukraine the weapons, technology and intelligence to ensure that "Putin must fail".

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He pledged £100million worth of further UK military assistance, including anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry and so-called “suicide drones”, which loiter over the battlefield before attacking their target.

Last month, Ukraine started receiving the Harpoon anti-ship missiles from Denmark and the US, the country's Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said.

He wrote on a Facebook post: "The coastal defence of our country will not only be strengthened by Harpoon missiles – they will be used by trained Ukrainian teams".

He said Harpoon shore-to-ship missiles would be operated alongside Ukrainian Neptune missiles in the defence of the country's coast including the southern port of Odesa.

Reznikov said the supplies of the deadly weapons were the result of cooperation between several countries, saying the deliveries from Denmark took place "with the participation of our British friends".

Meanwhile, Russia was desperately scrambling to fit improvised air defences on its warships earlier this month, fearing they could be sunk by Britain's deadly Harpoon missiles.

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Pictures shared online showed a Russian Navy corvette in Sevastopol with a Tor 2 anti-aircraft missile launcher chained to the helicopter deck.

Three other corvette patrol ships are said to have done the same.

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