 | Wars in the World |
Daily News on Wars in the World and on New States
| FOLLOW US ON: FACEBOOK X FLIPBOARD TELEGRAM |
Russia said air defences shot down 376 Ukrainian drones overnight as attacks intensify on both sides with no clear end in sight, after Russian President Vladimir Putin said there was no point meeting his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy for face-to-face talks.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday that the drones were downed over 16 areas and regions, including St Petersburg, Crimea and over the Azov and Black seas.
Russia used a powerful hypersonic missile to carry out a massive attack Sunday in Kyiv, which killed at least two people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The Oreshnik ballistic missile used in the attack has nuclear capabilities, and its latest bombardment marked the third time Russia has used that weapon over the course of the four-year war.
The intense aerial assault, involving both drone and missile strikes, was among the largest since the war began in 2022. It left buildings damaged across the Ukrainian capital, including near government offices, residential buildings, a market and schools, Ukrainian authorities said. Harrowing images showed rescue workers trying to evacuate people from a residential building that was partially destroyed and set ablaze in the barrage.
L’U
Ukraine has devastated Russia’s oil export capacity over the past week as its ground forces have stopped Russian advances in their tracks and reclaimed occupied territory.
According to one estimate, Ukraine has halved the Russian rate of advance in the past three months.
Iran has fired missiles at the joint U.K.-U.S. Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean, claiming the strike shows it is capable of longer-distance attacks than previously known.
“Iran’s reckless attacks, lashing out across the region and holding hostage the Strait of Hormuz, are a threat to British interests and British allies,” a spokesperson for the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense said Saturday, confirming the unsuccessful strike.
Russia’s army chief Valery Gerasimov visited Moscow’s troops in Ukraine and said the Kremlin’s forces seized a dozen eastern villages in February, the Defense Ministry said Sunday.
Gerasimov visit comes days before U.S.-mediated talks with Kyiv in Geneva on ending almost four years of war and ahead of the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.