Russian fighter jet fires a missile near a British RAF plane over the Black Sea

In a dangerous escalation, Britain’s defence secretary has revealed a Russian fighter jet fired a missile near a British RAF.

A Russian aircraft released a missile near a British plane patrolling in international airspace over the Black Sea, UK’s defence secretary has revealed.

There have been fears recently that Russian President Vladimir Putin would detonate a warhead in the Black Sea in a show of force over Ukraine.

The mounting concerns forced Britain’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to fly to Washington on Wednesday for crisis talks as a security source told The Sun the threat “has increased recently”.

Mr Wallace told the House of Commons on Thursday that a Russian fighter jet fired a missile near a British RAF spy plane in a “dangerous” escalation over the Black Sea.

The unarmed RAF Rivet Joint RC-135W “nuke sniffer” plane was on a routine patrol over the Black Sea, south of Crimea, on September 29 when it was tailed by two Russian Su-27 fighter jets.

Britain's Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace. Picture: AFP

“On September 29 an unarmed RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint, a civilian-style aircraft on routine patrol over the Black Sea was interacted with by two Russian armed SU-27 fighter aircraft,” Mr Wallace said.

“It is not unusual for aircraft to be shadowed and this day was no different.

“During that interaction however, it transpired that one of the SU-27 aircraft released a missile in the vicinity of the RAF Rivet Joint beyond visual range.

“The patrol completed and the aircraft returned to base.”

PUTIN MAY HAVE TRIED LAUNCHING NUKE

According to The Sun, insiders have claimed that Mr Putin has already tried to blow up a nuclear weapon but may have been “sabotaged” by his own top brass.

The sources said the launches were scuppered by “technical failure” or even by the reluctance of military chiefs.

Former professor at Moscow’s prestigious Institute of International Relations, a training school for spies and diplomats, Varlery Solovey, said Mr Putin’s authority may be “evaporating”.

“The president got reports that there was an emergency situation, that it didn’t work out, implying technical failings,” Mr Solovey told The Sun.

“But the thing is, once is an accident, twice is a coincidence.

“If the third tests end the same way, with nothing, [it will look like] sabotage…not fulfilling the orders of the chief commander.”

Vladimir Putin has introduced martial law in Ukraine's Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions that Moscow claims to have annexed. Picture: Sergei Ilyin / Sputnik / AFP

PUTIN DECLARES MARTIAL LAW IN UKRAINE REGIONS

The heightened fears come as Mr Putin declared martial law in four regions of Ukraine recently annexed illegally by Moscow as his proxy officials in a southern-held city pulled out with Ukraine troops advancing.

Mr Putin said the Russian occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia had been under martial law before Russia claimed to have annexed and absorbed them earlier this month.

“We now need to legalise this state in accordance with Russian legislation,” he said.

“Therefore, I have signed a decree introducing martial law in these four regions of Russia.”

Marital law grants Russia’s authorities huge powers over the civilian population in the regions it is imposed. It is set to go into effect on Thursday.

Mr Putin’s decree to introduce military rule in the Moscow-controlled regions also gives additional power to authorities in Russian border areas and comes after a string of battlefield defeats.

“We are working on solving very complex large-scale tasks to ensure security and protect the future of Russia,” Mr Putin said on Wednesday.

A soldier searches for bodies in the rubble of a building hit by a Russian missile last week. Picture: Getty Images

The decree gives greater powers to limit movement to, from and within the areas and allows for the residents of those territories to be moved to “safe zones”.

Pro-Kremlin officials meanwhile said they were pulling out of the key southern Ukraine city of Kherson on Wednesday, as Kyiv’s forces advanced on territory in Russian hands since the war’s earliest days.

Kherson was the first major city to fall to Moscow’s troops since the February invasion began and retaking it would be a crucial prize in Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

“The entire administration is already moving today,” to the eastern bank of the Dnieper River, the Kherson region’s Moscow-installed head, Vladimir Saldo, told Russian state television.

A Russian tank lies destroyed in a field near Izyum, Kharkiv oblast, Ukraine. Picture: Getty Images

But Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian presidency’s chief of staff, called the moves a “propaganda show” and accused Russia of “trying to scare the people of Kherson”.

Ukrainian forces “do not fire at Ukrainian cities,” Yermak wrote on Telegram. Kyiv’s recapturing of swathes of its territory in the east and parts of the south has however been followed by missile and drone strikes that have demolished large parts of Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter.

In a third day of attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said “several Russian rockets” had been downed over the city after several loud explosions were heard in the city centre.

50 NUCLEAR WORKERS SUDDENLY VANISH

The head of Ukraine’s state nuclear agency warned that about 50 employees of the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine have been held in Russian captivity.

“More than 150 people from the staff of the plant were captured” since the start of the Russian invasion in late February, Petro Kotin told AFP.

“Some of them were later released, but there are those whose fate is still unknown”.

“About 50 people are still in captivity. They are plant employees.”

Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar before Russia took over it. Picture: AFP

Mr Kotin said “they periodically kidnap plant employees”, adding that the director general of the plant, Igor Murashov, had been held in captivity for several days before being released earlier this month.

“He had been kept in the basement for three days. Isn’t it a torture if he sat on a chair for a day with a bag over his head?,” he said Kotin said.

It comes as Ukraine’s presidency announced it will impose restrictions on electricity starting from Thursday after Russian missile and drone strikes demolished large parts of the country’s power grid.

“Today the enemy again destroyed energy generating facilities … it is necessary to minimise the use of electricity,” deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said.

– with AFP