CNN reports that the mysterious sinking of a Russian cargo ship in 2024 was probably carrying nuclear plants from decommissioned submarines, on their way to be delivered to North Korea for its just-completed nuclear sub.
It also looks like somebody deliberately sank it. After, perhaps, a different somebody disabled the ship.
— Nick Paton Walsh (@npwcnn) May 12, 2026
The story is extensively supported, although some of the key elements are built on circumstantial evidence, such as the implication that the Biden administration disabled the ship and that the Russians subsequently sank it to dispose of the evidence.
But that evidence is extremely strong, including multiple explosions on the ship after a Russian vessel spent days shadowing the cargo vessel, and more explosions days after it reached the sea floor. The original attack on the vessel appears to have been a limpet mine attached to the hull.
It’s a remarkable story, with a lot of twists and turns. The information that the Ursa Major was carrying two Russian submarine nuclear reactors came from the captain of the sunken ship, who also said he didn’t know if the reactors were fueled or not. While one would normally assume the reactors were not fueled, it turns out that refueling a submarine reactor is a massive project and not one that would easily be done by the North Koreans, so it is quite possible they were already refueled.
Mystery of sunken Russia ‘ghost ship’ Ursa Major – allegedly carrying nuclear reactors – deepens following undersea explosions https://t.co/rFezCUBKKE pic.twitter.com/3xWWAlMG07
— New York Post (@nypost) May 12, 2026
You may recall that months earlier, North Korea directly entered the war against Ukraine by sending soldiers to fight alongside Russians, fueling questions about the Quid Pro Quo. This may have been it.
Russian military vessels were escorting the Ursa Major throughout its journey, which is how they were able to so quickly destroy the vessel and sink it. If so, the operation to place a limpet mine on the ship would have been quite sophisticated, with few countries able to pull it off. Speculation that a torpedo took the ship out seems to me to be off base for any number of reasons, not the least of which being that the evidence left behind would be highly incriminating.
CNN implies that the Biden administration had something to do with the sinking, although it provides no evidence. However, that is quite plausible, given the apparent willingness of the administration to contemplate the destruction of the Nordstream pipeline, and willingness to look the other way when Ukraine, reportedly, pulled it off.
‼️☢️ 🇷🇺 CNN reports claim Russia attempted to secretly export nuclear materials to North Korea aboard the cargo ship Ursa Major in December 2024.
The vessel reportedly suffered mysterious explosions before sinking off the coast of Spain.
If true, this could trigger one of the… pic.twitter.com/U13YZV65jX
— Defense Intelligence (@DI313_) May 12, 2026
No doubt Russia knows who did it, and America knew what was on the ship. The only thing that is surprising at all about this is that Biden would give the green light to take it out, given how reluctant he was to give Ukraine the weapons to strike inside Russian territory.
Some people are predicting that this will spark a big diplomatic incident. I’m not sure why. The information is new to us, but hardly so to the Russians, who want tensions to die down with the United States.
Easier to look the other way.
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