Sunken Russian shadow fleet ship carried nuclear reactors — media

The cargo ship Ursa Major, which sank a year ago 60 nautical miles off Cartagena, was carrying components of nuclear reactors for North Korean submarines, as reported by the Spanish publication La Verdad.

The vessel departed from Saint Petersburg on December 11, 2024, and was scheduled to arrive in Vladivostok on January 22. After a series of explosions in the engine room, two crew members went missing, while 14 were rescued.

According to the report, Ursa Major was loaded with 380-ton weights and 45-ton hatch covers for new icebreakers by port cranes. During the investigation, two undeclared containers weighing 65 tons each were discovered, identified as VM-4SG nuclear reactor covers.

Drone images also showed cooling pipes and other reactor system components; whether they contained nuclear fuel remains unknown. The cargo’s destination was the North Korean port of Rason.

When the cargo ship sank, the Russian landing ship Ivan Gren, operating in the area, attempted to take control of the rescue operation, driving Spanish ships and a military patrol vessel at least two nautical miles away and firing red signal flares to blind the infrared channels of reconnaissance satellites. The ship settled at a depth of 2,500 meters. In early January, the Russian oceanographic vessel Yantar headed to the site, presumably deploying submersibles to inspect the presence of the confidential cargo on the seabed.

By Khagan Isayev