The Guardian, MOSCOWA malfunctioning lithium-ion battery might have sparked a deadly fire on a top-secret Russian nuclear submersible earlier this month that killed 14 naval officers, according to reports. Investigators told Kommersant that a leading theory behind the fire in the Barents Sea on July 1 was battery failure. The submersible was equipped with a lithium-ion battery made in Russia to replace older, proven batteries procured from the Ukrainian defense industry. Advanced batteries were one of many components sourced by the Russian military from Ukraine before Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. One of the major losses for the Russian navy were Ukrainian-made diesel turbines used to drive surface ships.

Source: Taipei Times July 24, 2019 15:56 UTC