Chinese Ship Suspected of Subsea Cable Sabotage Has a Twisted Anchor

Published Nov 24, 2024 5:22 PM by The Maritime Executive

A Chinese bulker happened to be maneuvering near two subsea cables at the time they were severed last weekend, and it appears to have a damaged anchor, according to Danish public radio outlet DR.

The bulker Yi Peng 3 was outbound from St. Petersburg in the Baltic during the timeframe of two back-to-back cable breaks on November 17-18. Its AIS record shows that it exhibited unusual course and speed changes at suspicious locations, attracting scrutiny from the authorities. "The ship has been near the two places at certain times when the incidents have taken place," police inspector Per Engstrom told SVT.

A Danish Navy patrol vessel intercepted and shadowed the Yi Peng 3 as it transited towards the Great Belt, and the bulker decided to interrupt its voyage to go to anchor in the Kattegat shortly after. Denmark stopped short of saying that the Yi Peng 3 had been detained, but a Danish patrol vessel has been monitoring it closely. Two other NATO vessels - German and Swedish - have joined to create a growing government flotilla near the Yi Peng 3.

Engstrom told SVT that the authorities would need evidence of a crime in Swedish waters to justify a detention or a boarding, and the available information does not yet rise to that standard.

"Everything points to the Chinese ship. It has slowed from 6.9 to 3.4 knots around the damaged cables and was in a Russian port before sailing out into the Baltic," former chief Danish defense intelligence analyst Jacob Kaarsbo told outlet TT over the weekend.

DR obtained a photo of the Yi Peng 3's port side anchor, and the news outlet showed the image to several maritime experts for their thoughts. The photo shows that the anchor's flukes are clearly twisted at the tips.

"They are twisted in different directions, which may very well indicate that one side of the anchor has become stuck in something down on the bottom or in some rocks," mariner Capt. Lars Bo Nielsen told DR. "I have never seen such a bent anchor before."

The last serious cable break in the Baltic was caused by the Chinese boxship NewNew Polar Bear, Chinese authorities confirmed earlier this year. Half of the Polar Bear's anchor was recovered near a ruptured gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia: it had been dragged for hundreds of miles, its stock had torn in two, and one fluke had broken off. An investigation into the NewNew Polar Bear incident is still under way, and investigators have not yet concluded whether the anchor damage was accidental or an act of sabotage.

This time, governments around the Baltic are working on the assumption that the cable damage was intentional. "No one believes that these cables were accidentally damaged. And I don't want to believe in the versions that anchors are to blame," said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius last Tuesday. "So we have to conclude, without knowing who did that, that this is a hybrid action. And we also have to assume, without knowing, of course, that this is sabotage."

https://maritime-executive.com/article/chinese-ship-suspected-of-subsea-cable-sabotage-has-a-twisted-anchor

Russia and Ukraine trade drone strikes as Zelenskyy calls on allies for 'unwavering' aid

At least 23 people were injured in a missile attack, Ukrainian officials said.

By David Brennan November 25, 2024

LONDON – At least 23 people were injured and 41 buildings damaged by a Russian missile strike in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, overnight into Monday, Ukrainian authorities said, as Moscow's troops launched a fresh offensive effort in the region and claimed battlefield gains all along the eastern front.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram that the S-400 anti-aircraft missile impact in Kharkiv was part of a multi-pronged barrage against Ukrainian cities overnight. Kyiv, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia were also targeted.

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 145 drones, 71 of which were downed and 71 lost during flight. One UAV flew into Belarusian airspace, the air force said.

The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, claimed to have downed 23 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions. The ministry also said it downed eight ballistic missiles, though it did not specify their type.

Vladislav Shapsha, the governor of Kaluga Oblast which borders Moscow Oblast to the southwest, said falling drone debris sparked a fire at a manufacturing facility. Ukraine's General Staff, though, said its strikes destroyed the Kaluganefteproduct oil depot in the city of Kaluga.

"In total, since yesterday evening, Russia has used about one and a half hundred attack drones, aerial bombs and missiles against more than 10 of our regions," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram early Monday.

"These attacks by Russia on Ukrainian life can be stopped," he added. "With pressure, sanctions, blocking the occupiers' access to the components they use to create the tools of this terror, arms packages for Ukraine and a determination that must be unwavering," he continued.

Only 19 miles from the Russian border, Ukraine's "second city" of Kharkiv has faced near-constant attacks since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in early 2022.

Russian forces failed to encircle and capture Kharkiv during the opening weeks of the invasion, but fighting has continued along the shared border throughout the conflict.

Ukraine's General Staff said in a post to Facebook on Monday that Russian forces launched assaults on the settlement of Kozacha Lopan, about 2 miles from the border and 16 miles north of Kharkiv.

The Ukrainian Deep State Telegram military blogger reported that Russian forces also launched an amphibious operation across the Oskil River in the eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian troops have been pushing toward the strategic objective of Kupyansk.

The Russian force established a foothold on the Ukrainian-controlled side of the waterway, Deep State wrote. The blogger's claims could not immediately be verified.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/russian-missile-strikes-kharkiv-zelenskyy-calls-allies-unwavering/story?id=116192393

>>22057360

Once those ATACMS and Stormshadows headed for Russia snowball's chance in hell for a ceasefire. Ivan will overrun what labs are left and take the stuff back to his own labs.