Putin Hears Report On Impossibility Of Building ‘Rossiya’ Icebreaker

Because Shoigu bombed a factory in Ukraine.

The deadline for commissioning the Rossiya icebreaker, scheduled for December 2027, has been thwarted, writes «The Moscow Times», citing the minutes of the meeting at the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The need to reschedule has already been reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It was assumed that large body parts for the icebreaker — propeller shaft brackets, ice tooth, rudder blade brackets — would be supplied by the Energomashspetsstal plant, which is located in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.

However, the plant with parts for the icebreaker was bombed by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in May 2022 announced that the Energomashspetsstal plant in Kramatorsk (near Donetsk) was destroyed.

“High-precision air-launched missiles of the Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed a large ammunition depot of the Ukrainian group of troops located on the territory of the plant,” said Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry.

The initial price of the project was 127.5 billion rubles, but now the cost of building a super-powerful lead nuclear icebreaker “Rossiya” can increase by 40-60%. As of mid-March, instead of 15% of the total planned work, only 5% have been completed.