A FANATICAL ally of Vladimir Putin, who previously promised to annihilate Europe with a nuclear strike, was injured in a Ukrainian attack on his birthday party.
Dmitry Rogozin, called “Mr Hypersonic” for his support of the Satan II nuclear missile, has been branded as “despicable” by one Russia expert.
Shrapnel struck the 59-year-old in the head, thigh, and buttocks during shelling that killed two and injured six more.
“The shrapnel hit a centimetre away from the spine,” he adding “I’ll live”
Aleksey Zhuravlyov, a Russian nationalist MP, was at the celebration with his injured aide.
He claimed that the Putin enthusiast and a group of military advisers were targeted while staying in a hotel in Donetsk, a region of Ukraine captured and then annexed by Russia.
“We have also stayed there several times. This almost became a fatal mistake. The Ukrainians must have spotted it, they hit the building with direct fire.”
It was then stated that Rogozin suspected the location of the party had been disclosed to the Ukrainians.
According to a Russian journalist who was present at the time, Rogozin was wounded in a targeted strike by either precision rocket artillery or a long-range Excalibur projectile.
Rogozin is “one of the most terrible Russian political leaders,” according to Christo Grozev of the Bellingcat investigative journalism organisation.
He one “famously promised to arrive to Paris on a tank” and “has a penetrative shrapnel wound in the buttock” which “many people say that’s beautiful”.
Putin’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, was barred from visiting Serbia for two days in June, prompting the ominous warning.
Rogozin reacted angrily after Bulgaria, Romania, and Montenegro closed their airspace to block his journey, claiming that they would be unable to stop the 208-tonne missile.
“Do you know what is so good about Sarmat?,” he said.
“It will not ask for a flying permit from Bulgarian cowards, vindictive Romanians and Montenegrins – who betrayed our joint history.”
