Orthodox priest blesses Russian missiles in annexed Crimea as Ukrainian president claims Putin has massed tanks on his border and is preparing to seize more land

SOURCE DAILY MAIL

• The ceremony of deployment of the Fourth Battalion of S-400 Triumph air defence missile system took place in Crimea yesterday 
• Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko claims Russian tanks are lining up along the border 
• Tension rose Sunday when Russia captured 3 Ukrainian ships in the Black Sea
• The G7 foreign ministers’ today released a statement condemning the event
• Poroshenko has accused Vladimir Putin of wanting to annex his whole country

An Orthodox priest blessed Russian missiles as part of a deployment ceremony for the country’s anti-aircraft launchers yesterday, which were seen amassing close to the Ukrainian border yesterday. 

Triumph surface-to-air missile systems – part of an anti-aircraft military unit of the Russian Air Force and the Russian Southern Military District – entered combat duty near the Crimean town of Dzhankoy, just 12 miles away from Ukraine on Thursday night.  

It is common for Orthodox priests in Russia to bless military equipment before use; in January 2017 a bishop sanctified the S-400 Triumf medium and long-range surface-to-air missile system at the base of the Russian Southern Military District and in 2016 a similar event occured when the Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter aircraft joined the Russian Navy Baltic Fleet for the first time.