A Ukrainian drone sparked a fire at an oil refinery in southern Russia and shelling hit a Russian town close to the border for the third time in a week, damaging buildings and setting vehicles ablaze, Russian officials said yesterday.
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 fire was soon extinguished and there were no casualties, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on the Telegram messaging app.
Photo: AP
The Afipsky refinery is not far from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, near another refinery that has been attacked several times this month.
There was no immediate information on who launched the drone, but Moscow has accused Kyiv of increased attacks inside Russia in recent weeks, while Russia has repeatedly pounded Ukrainian cities with drones and missiles.
The skies over Ukraine were relatively quiet on Tuesday night, with no major air raids reported.
Russian drone attacks killed one person and wounded four in Kyiv on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said.
The attacks inside Russia came as Ukraine prepares a counteroffensive to drive Russian forces out of territory occupied since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
A Ukrainian artillery strike wounded at least one person in the Russian town of Shebekino, about 7km north of the border with Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks in Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.
Ukrainian drones struck wealthy districts of Moscow on Tuesday, Russia said in what one politician called the most dangerous attack on the capital since World War II, while Kyiv was also hit from the air for the third time in 24 hours.
Aerial strikes by both sides have intensified amid a stalemate on the ground, with Russian forces entrenched along an extended line in Ukraine’s east and south.
CONFLICTING REPORTS
The Russian Ministry of Defense said eight drones sent to Moscow by Ukraine and targeting civilians were shot down or diverted with electronic jammers, although Baza, a Telegram channel with links to the security services, said there were more than 25.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential aide, denied Kyiv was directly involved, but said “we are pleased to watch events” and forecast more such strikes.
Two people were injured, while some apartment blocks were briefly evacuated, the Moscow mayor said.
Residents said they heard loud bangs followed by the smell of gasoline.
Some filmed a drone being shot down and a plume of smoke.
The drones targeted some of Moscow’s most prestigious districts including where Russian President Vladimir Putin and other members of the elite have homes.
Putin said Ukraine’s biggest drone strike on Moscow was an attempt to frighten and provoke Russia, and that air defenses around the capital would be strengthened.
Civilian targets in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities have since the earliest days of the war been struck repeatedly by Russian drones and missiles.
However, Tuesday marked only the second time Moscow had come under direct fire.
WHITE HOUSE REACTION
In Washington, the White House said it was gathering information on the reports of drones striking in Moscow.
“We do not support attacks inside of Russia. That’s it. Period,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a briefing.
Washington is a major supplier of weaponry to Ukraine on the condition it uses it to defend itself and to retake Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian forces.
Russia’s ambassador to the US accused Washington of encouraging “terrorists” in Kyiv by publicly ignoring the drone attack.
One of the southern places Russian forces have controlled since just after the beginning of the invasion is the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and on Tuesday the chief of the UN nuclear watchdog asked Ukraine and Russia to respect five principles to safeguard it.
Neither Ukraine nor Russia have committed to respect the principles.
International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi has been trying for months to secure an agreement to reduce the risk of a nuclear accident from military activity, such as shelling, at Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant.
In a briefing to the UN Security Council, Grossi said the principles included that there should be no attack on or from the plant and that it not be used as a base for heavy weapons and other military equipment.
He called for off-site power to the plant to remain available and secure.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he would make a decision about how the US government would refer to the body of water commonly known as the Persian Gulf when he visits Arab states next week. Trump told reporters at the White House that he expects his hosts in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will ask him about the US officially calling the waterway the Arabian Gulf or Gulf of Arabia. “They’re going to ask me about that when I get there, and I’ll have to make a decision,” Trump said. “I don’t want to hurt anybody’s
RSS