Drone attack in Moscow: Buildings damaged in suspected attack
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A Ukrainian drone set off a fire at an oil refinery in southern Russia and shelling hit a Russian town near the border for the third time in a week, damaging buildings and setting vehicles on fire, Russian officials said on Wednesday.
A day after Russia accused Ukraine of sending drones to attack buildings in Moscow, the governor of Russia’s Krasnodar region said a drone was the likely cause of a fire that broke out at the Afipsky oil refinery.
The report could not immediately be independently verified.
Earlier, Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of “terrorist activity” after Moscow was hit with a drone strike for the first time since the war in the besieged country began.
The Russian president accused Ukraine, which has denied any involvement in the drone attack, of choosing the path to try to “intimidate Russia, Russian citizens and attacks on residential buildings.”
Drones hit several buildings in Moscow, forcing some people to evacuate their homes after Russia launched its third attack on Kiev in 24 hours.
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‘Ukrainian drone strike’ causes fire at southern Russian oil refinery – Russia
A Ukrainian drone set off a fire at an oil refinery in southern Russia and shelling hit a Russian town near the border for the third time in a week, damaging buildings and setting vehicles on fire, Russian officials said on Wednesday.
A day after Russia accused Ukraine of sending drones to attack buildings in Moscow, the governor of Russia’s Krasnodar region said a drone was the likely cause of a fire that broke out at the Afipsky oil refinery.
We’ll have more on this story as it goes.
Matt MathersMay 31, 2023 08:00
Russia’s Medvedev: British officials helping Ukraine war ‘legitimate target’
Russian Security Council Vice President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday that Britain was Moscow’s “eternal enemy” and that any British official facilitating the war in Ukraine could be considered a legitimate military target.
Medvedev, responding to British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly’s remark that Ukraine had the right to project force beyond its own borders, said Britain’s “silly officials” should remember that the U.K. could be “classified as at war”.
“The UK acts as an ally of Ukraine by providing it with military aid in the form of equipment and specialists, meaning it is de facto leading an undeclared war against Russia,” Medvedev said on Twitter.
“In that case, any of your public officials (whether military or civilian, who facilitate the war) can be considered a legitimate military target.”
Matt MathersMay 31, 2023 08:30
Five dead in Ukraine bombing of the village of Luhansk – center installed in Moscow
Five people were killed and 19 wounded in a Ukrainian shelling of a village in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, a Moscow-based coordination center said on Wednesday.
The center told the Telegram messaging service that Ukrainian forces had used HIMARS rocket launchers to attack a poultry farm in the village of Karpaty.
The claim could not immediately be independently verified. Moscow controls almost all of the Luhansk region in Ukraine.
There was no immediate response from Ukraine, but Kiev almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine or on Russia.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in the 15-month war that Russia launched in February 2022.
Matt MathersMay 31, 2023 07:30
Russia has little success in countering Ukraine’s improved air defenses, says UK MoD
Russia has increasingly ceded the initiative in the conflict and is reacting to Ukraine’s action rather than actively advancing its own war aims since earlier this month, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said today (MOD).
He noted that Russia has launched 20 nights of one-way strike with unmanned aerial vehicles and cruise missile strikes deep into Ukraine this month.
“Russia has had little success in its likely goals of neutralizing Ukraine’s enhanced air defenses and destroying Ukrainian counter-attack forces. On the ground, it has redeployed security forces to react to partisan attacks in western Russia.” , the ministry said.
He added that, operationally, Russian commanders are “probably trying to generate reserve forces and place them where they think a Ukrainian counterattack will occur.”
“However, this has likely been undermined by non-committed forces instead of being sent to fill gaps in the front line around Bakhmut,” the ministry said.
Arpan RaiMay 31, 2023 07:07
New $300 million US package for Ukraine includes munitions for drones
A US military aid package for Ukraine expected to be announced today will total $300m (£242m) and include extra munitions for drones, officials said.
The drone munitions come after new drone attacks targeting Moscow, which the Kremlin has blamed on Kiev.
There has been no suggestion that US-made drones or munitions were used in the recent attacks in Moscow. In addition, US officials have repeatedly said that Ukraine has agreed not to use any US-supplied weapons for attacks on Russian soil.
The newest package will be ammunition for Patriot missile batteries and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), Stinger missiles for the Avenger system, mine clearance equipment, anti-armor rounds, Zuni anti-aircraft rockets guided missiles, night vision goggles and about 30 million rounds of small arms ammunition, US officials said.
Read the full story here:
Arpan RaiMay 31, 2023 06:42
Russia, Ukraine unwilling to protect nuclear plant, do not align with UN agency’s plan
Neither Russia nor Ukraine is committed to respecting the five principles laid out by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, in an attempt to safeguard Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The situation in Zaporizhzhia is “extremely fragile and dangerous”, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said, adding that “military activities continue in the region and may increase very considerably in the near future”.
Grossi said he has been trying for months to reach an agreement to reduce the risk of a catastrophic nuclear accident from military activities such as the bombing of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
Its five principles included that there should be no attack on or from the plant and that it should not host heavy weapons such as multiple rocket launchers, artillery and ammunition systems, and tanks or military personnel .
Grossi also called for the plant’s off-site power to remain available and secure; so that all its essential systems are protected from attack or sabotage; and by any action that undermines these principles.
Arpan RaiMay 31, 2023 05:43
Four killed and 16 injured in bombing in Luhansk, Russian-backed officials say
At least four people have been killed and 16 injured in a shelling by Ukraine in the village of Karpaty in the Luhansk region, a local coordination center based in Moscow reported today.
The shelling hit a poultry farm in the village, the center said.
Arpan Rai31 May 2023 05:24
Russia accuses Washington of ‘Ukrainian terrorists’
Russia’s envoy to the United States has blamed Washington for emboldening Kiev by publicly ignoring drone strikes in parts of Moscow.
“What are these attempts to hide behind the phrase that they are ‘gathering information’?” Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the United States, said in statements posted on Telegram.
“This is an incentive for Ukrainian terrorists.”
The White House said it was still gathering information yesterday about the incidents, but added that it did not support attacks inside Russia.
While a Ukrainian presidential aide denied that Kiev was directly involved in the drone attack on Moscow, he said that Ukraine was enjoying watching the events and predicting more.
Arpan Rai31 May 2023 04:49
Several drones attack Russia’s Krasnodar oil refinery
Russia’s envoy to the United States has blamed Washington for emboldening Kiev by publicly ignoring drone strikes in parts of Moscow.
“What are these attempts to hide behind the phrase that they are ‘gathering information’?” Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the United States, said in statements posted on Telegram.
“This is an incentive for Ukrainian terrorists.”
The White House said it was still gathering information yesterday about the incidents, but added that it did not support attacks inside Russia.
While a Ukrainian presidential aide denied that Kiev was directly involved in the drone attack on Moscow, he said that Ukraine was enjoying watching the events and predicting more.
Arpan Rai31 May 2023 04:21
Russia puts top Ukrainian generals on ‘wanted list’
Russia’s interior ministry has put two of Ukraine’s top generals on a “wanted list,” state news agency RIA said on Tuesday.
The list includes Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi and Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces.
The articles under which they are wanted have not been specified, RIA reported, citing the ministry’s database of wanted persons.
Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar dismissed the lists as a failed attempt to demoralize pro-Kiev forces.
“Putting psychological pressure on commanders fighting an enemy that significantly outnumbers them in terms of personnel and weaponry makes no sense,” he wrote in a Telegram post.
Laura SharmanMay 31, 2023 02:01
