The Russian navy “repelled” a drone attack on the port of Sevastopol in Moscow-annexed Crimea early on Wednesday, the Kremlin-backed governor of the city has claimed.
The peninsula, seized by Russia in 2014, is home to Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet and has been hit by a series of drone attacks since the Kremlin’s offensive in Ukraine began.
“In total, three objects have been destroyed,” the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram.
He said sailors had shot at the drones with “small arms” and that “air defence was also working.”
The drone attack came less than a week after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Crimea and a day after Ukraine said Russian cruise missiles were destroyed in a blast in Crimea, but denied responsibility for the incident.
Follow the latest updates below
11:22 AM
Poland slams ‘dangerous’ Russia-China ‘axis’
Poland’s prime minister on Wednesday branded the China-Russian alliance “dangerous” after Chinese leader Xi Jinping wrapped up a three-day visit to Moscow.
“The Chinese president’s visit to Moscow makes us anxious, this China-Moscow axis is dangerous,” Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters after hosting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Warsaw.
Xi left Russia on Wednesday following a summit with President Vladimir Putin that hailed a “new era” in their relations, putting on a display of unity against the West.
Poland, one of Ukraine’s closest allies, raised alarm about the increased cooperation between Beijing and Moscow.
“We are trying to convince China not to support Russia in its aggressive international policy,” Mr Morawiecki told reporters.
10:55 AM
MOD shares latest update
The Ministry of Defence has shared its latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine.
10:19 AM
Zaporizhzhia under attack
Zaporizhzhia is under attack, according to Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency.
“Russians are barraging Zaporizhzhia. Residential buildings and Khortytsia island are under enemy fire,” he wrote on Twitter.
Khortytsia island is the biggest island on the Dnieper River and is within the boundaries of the city of Zaporizhzhia.
Zaporizhzhia is a partially occupied region that the Kremlin claimed to have annexed last year.
09:54 AM
Death toll in Russian strike rises to four
The death toll in an overnight Russian strike on Rzhyshchiv in the Kyiv region has risen to four, according to Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster.
A further seven people, including a child, were injured in the attack.
Suspilne wrote its Telegram channel:
“The number of people killed due to drone strikes on Rzhyshchiv in the Kyiv region has increased to four, the head of the regional police said. The body of a 40-year-old man was recovered from the fifth floor of one of the dormitories damaged by drones.”
Rzhyshchiv is south of the capital on the right bank of the Dnieper River and has a population of around 7,000.
09:24 AM
Analysis: Putin got very little out of Xi’s visit except pomp and ceremony
In the end, Xi Jinping’s much-vaunted visit to Moscow proved little more than a photo opportunity, writes Roland Oliphant.
There was pomp and ceremony in the Kremlin’s glittering halls, but the joint statement he gave with Vladimir Putin suggests the leaders did not make any major breakthroughs.
There was no big announcement on Ukraine. No surprise Chinese diplomatic gambit on peace talks, nor any shock announcement of military support from Beijing.
Read Roland’s analysis of Xi Jinping’s much-vaunted visit to Moscow here.
08:59 AM
US rejects China mediation on Ukraine
The United States has said it does not see China as capable of being an impartial mediator between Moscow and Kyiv over the war in Ukraine.
It was the most direct US criticism yet of China’s aim to be a middleman in efforts to end the war.
“I don’t think you can reasonably look at China as impartial in any way,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
He noted that China has refrained from criticising the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has continued to buy Russian oil even as the West piles sanctions on Moscow’s energy industry to starve the Kremlin of money to pay for the war.
China, Mr Kirby added, also “keeps parroting the Russian propaganda” to the effect that the US and other countries in the West are to blame for the war for giving such strong support to pro-western Ukraine over the years that Russia felt threatened and justified in invading.
08:31 AM
Slovakia offered discounted US helicopters after sending jets to Ukraine
The United States has offered to sell Slovakia 12 new Bell AH-1Z Viper helicopters at a two-thirds discount after Bratislava sent its retired MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad has said.
Mr Nad said his government still had to approve the deal, under which it would pay $340 million for a package worth more than $1 billion.
The deal was offered under the US Foreign Military Financing programme, Mr Nad said in his post on Facebook.
The Bell AH-1Z Viper is an upgraded version of the Cobra attack helicopter that has been in service with the US military since the Vietnam war. Despite its age, it remains a highly potent attack helicopter, and can carry a range of missiles and rockets.
08:00 AM
School badly damaged in deadly Russian drone attack
The drone attack that killed three people in the Kyiv region hit a high school about 50 miles south of the capital, a source in Ukraine’s emergency services has said.
The attack “partially destroyed” two floors of two student residences and a building that is used for studying, the source said.
A fire affecting more than 3,200 square feet of the school was extinguished shortly before 7 am local time, according to the emergency services.
07:38 AM
Russian drone attack kills three in Kyiv region
Three people were killed and seven others wounded in a Russian drone attack overnight in the Kyiv region, authorities said.
“A civilian site was damaged as a result of the night drone attack in the Kyiv region,” which caused a fire, the regional military administration said on Telegram without giving further details, including about the location of the strike.
07:33 AM
Russia ‘likely losing momentum in Bakhmut’
British military intelligence believes the Russian assault on the town of Bakhmut is likely losing the limited momentum it had obtained.
This could be happening because “some Russian MoD units have been reallocated to other sectors”, the Ministry of Defence tweeted in a regular bulletin.
Ukrainian forces on Tuesday had repelled Russian attempts to advance into the centre of the small eastern city of Bakhmut.
[ad_2]
Source link
