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Ukraine has targeted oil refineries and a military airfield in a Russian region bordering annexed Crimea, officials said, as Russia claimed its air defence systems had intercepted more than 60 drones in the region.
In a rare comment on strikes on Russian soil, Ukraine’s energy ministry said two oil refineries in the Krasnodar region had been hit by drones, while an intelligence source told Reuters that the Kushchevsk military airfield, which lies in the same region, was also targeted.
Meanwhile, Russia launched its own barrage of missiles at Ukrainian power facilities, hitting locations in the centre and western regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, damaging equipment and injuring at least one energy worker, officials said.
It came as US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington was “rushing” to provide fresh arms supplies to Ukraine, especially Patriot air defence missiles and artillery ammunition, as it finalised a new $6bn aid package for Kyiv.
Volodymyr Zelensky had pleaded with the US and other allies to send more Patriots, warning that at least seven more systems were needed.
Russia claims attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure are retaliation
The Russian defence ministry has claimed that a series of its forces’ recent attacks on Ukraian infrastructure and other targets were a response to Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s own facilities.
Russia – which has targeted Ukrainian criticial infrastructure since the early days of its invasion – sad its forces had carried out 35 strikes in the last week against Ukrainian energy facilities, defence factories, railway infrastructure, air defences, and ammunition stocks.
It clamed these were “in response to attempts by the Kyiv regime to damage Russian energy and industrial facilities”, and had been carried out using sea- and air-launched long-range precision weapons, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and drones.
The ministry also said it had also targeted and hit Ukrainian troop formations as well as what it described as foreign mercenaries.
Ukraine has systematically targeted Russian oil refineries and other facilities in drone attacks in recent weeks, ignoring US requests not to do so.
Ukrainian officials said Russian missiles had pounded power facilities in central and western Ukraine on Saturday, increasing pressure on the ailing energy system as the country faces a shortage of air defences despite a breakthrough in US military aid.
Another suspect in Moscow concert hall attack detained
Russian authorities have detained another suspect as an accomplice in the attack by gunmen on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people in March, Moscow City Courts said.
Dzhumokhon Kurbonov, a citizen of Tajikistan, is accused of providing the attackers with means of communication and financing. The judge at Moscow’s Basmanny District Court ruled that Kurbonov would be kept in custody until May 22 pending investigation and trial.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said Kurbonov was reportedly detained on April 11 for 15 days on the administrative charge of petty hooliganism.
Independent Russian media outlet Mediazona noted that this is a common practice used by Russian security forces to hold a person in custody while a criminal case is prepared against them.
Twelve defendants have been arrested in the case, including four who allegedly carried out the March 22 attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue, according to RIA Novosti.
Government sets out details of military aid package
The government has set out details of what the military aid package announced by Rishi Sunak this week will include.
“We will provide over 400 vehicles to Ukraine, consisting of 160 protected mobility Husky vehicles; 162 armoured vehicles comprised of further AS90 155mm artillery guns and Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked); and 78 all-terrain vehicles made up of Bv-206 and Viking,” defence minister James Cartlidge told Labour’s John Healey.
“These will provide much needed additional artillery support, reconnaissance capabilities, and amphibious mobility to support development of the Ukrainian marine corps.”
Russia has suffered 450,000 casualties since outset of invasion, MoD estimates
Britain’s Ministry of Defence has claimed that Russia has suffered around 450,000 casualties since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Responding to a parliamentary question by Labour, armed forces minister Leo Dochery said: “We estimate that approximately 450,000 Russian military personnel have been killed or wounded, and tens of thousands more have already deserted since the start of the conflict.
“The number of personnel killed serving in Russian private military companies (PMCs) is not clear.
“We also estimate that over 10,000 Russian armoured vehicles, including nearly 3,000 main battle tanks, 109 fixed wing aircraft, 136 helicopters, 346 unmanned aerial vehicles, 23 naval vessels of all classes, and over 1,500 artillery systems of all types have been destroyed, abandoned, or captured by Ukraine since the start of the conflict.”
ICYMI: Europe is ‘too slow and lacks ambition’ in the face of global threats, says Macron
Emmanuel Macron has urged Europe to improve its defences and cut red tape as it faces existential threats from Russian aggression and American isolationism.
In a nearly two-hour speech at the Sorbonne University in Paris, Mr Macron claimed the 27-member European Union (EU) was “too slow and lacks ambition” before demanding that the bloc does not become a “vassal of the United States”.
“Our Europe is mortal. It could die,” the French president said. “We are not equipped to face the risks. We must produce more, we must produce faster and we must produce as Europeans.”
My colleague Tom Watling has the full report:
Hackers claim to have infiltrated Belarus' main security service
A Belarusian hacker activist group claims to have infiltrated the network of the country’s main KGB security agency and accessed personnel files of over 8,600 employees of the organization, which still goes under its Soviet name.
The authorities have not commented on the claim, but the website of the Belarusian KGB was opening with an empty page on Friday that said it was “in the process of development”.
Seeking to back up its claim, the Belarusian Cyber-Partisans group published a list of the website’s administrators, its database and server logs on its page in the messaging app Telegram.
Group coordinator Yuliana Shametavets told the Associated Press from New York that the attack on the KGB “was a response” to the agency’s chief Ivan Tertel, who publicly accused the group this week of plotting attacks on the country’s critical infrastructure, including a nuclear power plant.
“The KGB is carrying out the largest political repressions in the history of the country and must answer for it,” said Shametavets. “We work to save the lives of Belarusians, and not to destroy them, like the repressive Belarusian special services do.”
Zelensky issues new appeal for air defences
Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a new appeal for air defences and fast weapons deliveries after yet another series of Russian strikes on the Ukrainian energy sector.
The Ukrainian president said his country needed sufficient quantities of air defence and other weapons to protect its cities and prevail on the frontline.
“Terror should always lose, and anyone who helps us stand against Russian terror is a true defender of life,” Mr Zelensky said.
Full report: Russian court places Forbes journalist under house arrest
A Russian court has placed a journalist from the local edition of US magazine Forbes under house arrest, reports my colleague Arpan Rai.
Sergei Mingazov was detained earlier on Friday on suspicion of spreading false information about the Russian army, according to the magazine.
Vladimir Torkonyak, an official from the Khabarovsk Regional Court said that the 55-year-old journalist was placed under house arrest for spreading “fake news about the Russian army” through a two-year-old post on a Telegram channel, reported Russia’s state-owned RIA news agency.
His lawyer, Konstantin Bubon, said the social media post was about the Russian atrocities in Ukraine’s Bucha where the invading forces were accused of murdering and massacring civilians before abandoning the city in April 2022.
“In short, for reposting a publication about the events in Bucha” on a Telegram channel, the lawyer wrote.
Kremlin responds to Blinken’s comments about impact of Chinese dual-use goods on Ukraine war
The Kremlin has shrugged off a trip to China by US secretary of state Antony Blinken during which he raised concerns about Chinese support for Russia’s military.
Mr Blinken raised concerns on Friday about China’s support for Russia’s military. Despite its “no limits” partnership with Moscow, China has steered clear of providing arms for Russia’s war in Ukraine, but Mr Blinken said its supply of so-called dual-use goods was “having a material effect in Ukraine.”
China has said it has not provided weaponry to any party and is “not a producer of or party involved in the Ukraine crisis”. However, it says that normal trade between China and Russia should not be interrupted or restricted.
Asked about Mr Blinken’s trip and the US pressure on China, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov insisted Moscow and Beijing would continue to develop their own ties, saying: “China is an absolutely sovereign state, a powerful state that is able to defend and protect its interests.
“At the same time, it [China] is our close partner. We will further develop our co-operation.”
Ukraine shot down 21 of 34 missiles in overnight attack, Kyiv claims
Ukraine’s air defence shot down 21 of 34 Russian missiles fired in an overnight attack, the commander of the Ukrainian air force said on Saturday.
Mykola Oleschuk said Ukrainian fighter planes, air defence missile units, mobile fire groups and means of radio-electronic warfare were involved in repelling the Russian missile strikes.
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2024-04-27 19:01:13Z
CBMidmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmluZGVwZW5kZW50LmNvLnVrL25ld3Mvd29ybGQvZXVyb3BlL3J1c3NpYS11a3JhaW5lLXdhci1wdXRpbi1udWNsZWFyLXdlYXBvbnMtbWlzc2lsZXMtbGF0ZXN0LWIyNTM1NzQ1Lmh0bWzSAQA
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