A Ukrainian man working as a mechanic on the luxury yacht the “Lady Anastasia" was arrested Saturday in Mallorca, Spain. He partially sank his Russian oligarch boss’ superyacht. 

 Taras Ostapchuk, 55, was taken into custody. He admitted to opening several valves to intentionally flood the 156-foot-long vessel. The Majorca Daily Bulletin reported that Ostapchuk was unrepentant. And he was trying to sink the boat to protest the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Luxury yacht vandalism protest 

The luxury yacht was partially submerged and suffered severe damage to its engine room. It is 156-foot-long and has five cabins. Lady Anastasia was listed for sale in 2018 with an asking price of €7,000,000 (USD 7,844,235.88).

Its owner, oligarch Alexander Mijeev, is the CEO of Russian military weapons company, JSC Rosoboronexport. Ostapchuk had been working for him for nearly a decade.

Arresting officers claimed that the former crewman said: “My boss is a criminal who sells weapons that kill the Ukrainian people.”

Ostapchuk said he vandalized and tried to sink his boss's luxury yacht after news reports of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

“I watched the news about the war. There was a video of a helicopter attack on a building in Kyiv. The armaments used are produced by the yacht owner’s company. They were attacking innocents,” Ostapchuk said in court.

He told the judge he didn’t regret his actions and “would do it again.”

Headed to war

The mechanic was released from custody after a court hearing. And he has since left Spain. He is returning home to his native Ukraine to join the fight.

There is no official word of why he was released or if there are pending charges. And the port says they are unable to verify the ownership of the "Lady Anastasia."

According to the Associated Press, Ostapchuk he said. “All Ukrainian citizens must be defenders of our fatherland because it is being subject to Russian aggression.” 

” I am not going to lose my country. I am not a hero, I’m a middle-aged man, but I have a lot of experience as a mechanic. I’ve never held a weapon but, if necessary, I will. Why not!”