It has been revealed that Russia has moved its unique fighting dolphins closer to the front line of the war in the Black Sea.

Specially trained anti-sabotage mammals were deployed at the entrance to the port of Sevastopol.

But satellite images now indicate dolphin pens at Novoozerne, 56 miles to the north, closer to where Ukrainian special forces have conducted raids and landings on the Crimean peninsula.

The dolphins are trained to use against enemy divers who intrude into ports to lay limpet mines or for reconnaissance tasks.

They have been taught to alert their human controllers or launch lethal attacks with underwater weapons.

Satellite images (pictured) now indicate dolphin pens at Novoozerne, 56 miles to the north, closer to where Ukrainian special forces have conducted raids and landings on the Crimean peninsula.

A small Russian ‘spy dolphin’ carries a bomb during a training exercise (file image)

Novoozerne is a former Soviet submarine base where Russia has deployed missile corvettes, landing craft and some support vessels, including a submarine support ship, says OSINT researcher H.I. Sutton, who analyzed satellite images to detect the corrals of dolphins.

“The deployment will probably serve to defend against Ukrainian special forces that represent a real threat in the area,” the researcher reported in Naval News.

‘Trained dolphins are considered effective against military divers.

“There is no human being, no matter how athletic or well-trained, who can outswim them.

“And their built-in sonar gives them an even greater advantage.”

The movement of mammals into the war zone by Vladimir Putin’s forces comes as the dictator has been forced to move most of his warships from Sevastopol – headquarters of his Black Sea Fleet – to Novorossiysk. due to Ukrainian missile and drone attacks.

The bottlenose dolphin squad was recruited by Putin when he seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

‘We had to start practically from scratch to teach the [mammals] “Search for objects under water because the Ukrainian Navy hardly works with them,” a Russian source said at the time.

However, the images show how dolphins have been trained to use underwater weapons since Soviet times.

Russian army trainers work with marine mammals to protect valuable navy assets (archive images)

Specially trained anti-sabotage mammals were deployed at the entrance to the port of Sevastopol (pictured)

The dolphins are trained to use them against enemy divers who intrude into ports to lay limpet mines or for reconnaissance tasks (file image)

Retired Captain Yury Plyachenko, a military trainer, explained: “The dolphin should have given a signal and, if necessary, ordered to destroy an underwater saboteur,

“He was armed with an underwater weapon.”

A Russian state television broadcast said: “This is what the underwater weapon looked like.”

“It was attached to a dolphin with a special device and a mammal could shoot it.”

Rare archive footage showed a dolphin attacking a diver.

“The man had no chance in this battle,” they told the spectators.

“It was almost impossible for a diver to reach the boats and go unnoticed if the dolphins were patrolling them.”

The military dolphin training program, long based in Sevastopol, dates back to the Cold War era of the 1970s, when the Soviet Union used the animals to search for mines or spy on foreign ships.

Russia has remained silent on the current role of its naval dolphins and how they have coped with repeated explosions of Ukrainian missiles, as well as air and sea drones in Sevastopol.

The deployment of dolphins in Novoozerne – with Putin endangering them – may indicate that they are considered militarily useful.

Putin’s forces appear increasingly concerned that Ukraine will target Crimea and cut off supply lines to the peninsula, as a prelude to reconquering the territory.

Or the dolphin’s movement could suggest desperation on the part of the Russians.