Kiev, Ukraine (AP) – Russia targeted Western military supplies to the Ukrainian government through airstrikes in Kiev on Sunday morning, saying it destroyed tanks donated from abroad because the President warned Vladimir Putin told the West that it would have blocked any distance from Ukraine. He forced Moscow to hit “things that haven’t hit us yet”.
The Russian leader’s mysterious threat to military escalation does not specify what the new targets might be, but came just days after the United States announced plans. Provides $ 700 million in security assistance for Ukraine, which includes four precision-guided medium-range missile systems, helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapons, radar, tactical vehicles, spare parts and more.
Military analysts said Russia hoped to cross into the eastern region of Donbass, where Russian -backed separatists had been fighting the Ukrainian government for years before weapons arrived that could slow the waters. The Pentagon said earlier this week it would take at least three weeks to move accurate American weapons and trained troops to the battlefield.
Russian forces stormed railway structures and other infrastructure on Sunday morning in Kiev, where there had been awful calm for several weeks before. Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator Energoatom said a cruise missile hit the Pivdennukransk nuclear power plant, about 350 kilometers (220 miles) south, towards the capital, citing the danger of such a near launch. .
There was no immediate confirmation from Ukraine that Russia’s air strikes had destroyed the tanks.
Since then, Kiev has had no similar strike. Visit of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on 28 April. The morning strike marked an airstrike and showed that Russia still has the capability and readiness to strike Ukraine’s heart after abandoning its extensive nationwide offensive to instead focus its efforts on Ukraine.
In a post published in the Telegram application, the Russian Defense Ministry said high-precision long-range air-to-air missiles were used. He said the devastating attacks outside Kiev had destroyed T-72 tanks and other armored vehicles supplied by Eastern European countries located in the buildings of repair businesses. of the vehicle.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers, the expulsion of millions of people, the imposition of heavy sanctions against the Putin government and its allies, and the export of of grain and so on. critical grain from Ukraine through Black Sea ports to restrict bread and other access. Made in Africa, the Middle East and beyond.
In a televised interview on Sunday, Putin criticized the West for providing weapons to Ukraine, saying they intended to prolong the fighting.
“I think all this turmoil over additional arms supplies has only one purpose: to prolong the armed conflict as much as possible,” Putin said, referring to U.S. plans to supply missiles. system in Kiev. He said that such supply is unlikely to change significantly for the Ukrainian government, which, according to him, will only compensate for the loss of missiles of a similar range that they already have.
If Kiev accepts long-range missiles, he added, Moscow “will draw appropriate conclusions and will use our method of destruction, which we have in abundance, to hit things we have not yet hit.”
The rockets hit the Darnitsky and Dniprovsky districts of Kiev, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a Telegram messaging app, which featured the Kremlin’s recently reduced goal of capturing the entire Donbass. Moscow -backed separatists fought Ukrainian forces in the Donbas for eight years and formed self -proclaimed republics.
In recent days, Russian forces have focused on capturing the city of Sivierododetsk.
In the eastern Kiev region of Kiev, a column of smoke filled the air with a pungent odor and melted carbon black, black debris from a warehouse -like structure. Police at the scene told an Associated Press reporter that military authorities banned the photography. Soldiers also blocked the road to the surrounding area, which led to a large railroad yard.
The firefighters hit just after noon in front of a demonstration on Friday, driving hundreds of protesters aboard trucks. The cruise missiles appear to have been launched from a Tu-95 bomber flying over the Caspian Sea, the Air Force Command said on Facebook. He said the air defense units fired missiles.
Energoatom said a cruise missile was coming close to the Pivdennukransk nuclear power plant. The missile is said to have been “critically shot down” and Russian forces still do not understand that even the smallest fragment of a missile capable of hitting a functioning power plant could cause a nuclear disaster and loss. of radiation “.
Elsewhere, Russian forces continue to drive for land in eastern Ukraine, launching rockets and air strikes on towns and villages in Luhansk Oblast. Today’s war in the past 100 days mark.
Luhansk governor Sergei Haidai said in a telegram that “Russian Ka-52 helicopters conducted air strikes in the districts of Girske and Mirna Dolina, with Su-25 aircraft in Ustinivka”, while Lisichansky fires from Tochka-R. complicated.
In total, 13 houses were damaged in Girske and five in Lisichansk. Another air strike in the eastern city of Kramatorsk was launched by its mayor, Alexander Goncharenko. He said no one was killed in the attack, but two businesses in the city received “major damage”.
On Sunday morning, the Ukrainian general staff accused Russian forces of using phosphorus bullets in the village of Cherkasky in the Tishki region of Kharkiv. The claim cannot be independently verified.
The update also confirmed the attacks in Kiev on Sunday morning. It is not clear in the statement which infrastructure structures collided in Kiev.
The staff said Russian forces were continuing their offensive operations in Sivierodonetsk, one of the two main cities to be occupied in the Luhansk region of the Donbas. The Russians control the eastern part of the city, the update says, focusing on a siege by Ukrainian forces and a “blockage of major logistics routes”.
The British military said in its daily intelligence that the Ukrainian counterattack on Siverodonetsk “is likely to reduce the operational momentum of Russian forces, which had previously gained momentum with the concentration of combat units and guns”. In the past, Russian forces were advancing on the city, but in recent days Ukrainian fighters have retreated.
The statement also states that the Russian military relies in part on separatist reserve forces in the Luhansk region.
“These troops are poorly equipped and trained and have no heavy equipment compared to normal Russian units,” the intelligence update said, adding that “this approach is likely to indicate a desire to limit casualties by regular Russian forces. “
Away from the battlefield, Ukrainian national team players are hoping to earn their place in the World Cup when the team faces Wales in Cardiff on Sunday.
On the diplomatic front, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov traveled to Serbia for talks with President Alexander Vu ჩ i ჩ earlier this week, following a visit to Turkey on Tuesday, where he is expected to discuss a Russian envoy to Ukraine along with his counterpart.
Turkey seeks to work with the United Nations and warring countries to facilitate the export of Ukrainian wheat to Turkish ports, although an agreement on this issue seems inevitable.
The adviser to the president of Ukraine called on European countries to respond to the missile attacks carried out on Sunday with “more sanctions, more weapons”.
Mikhail Podoliak quoted French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday as saying that Putin had made a “historic mistake” by invading Ukraine, but world powers should not “shame Russia” for a diplomatic exit when the fighting stopped.
Ukrainian authorities said Ukraine and Russia exchanged the bodies of slain soldiers this week, the first of an officially confirmed exchange. Ukraine’s Ministry for the Reintegration of Occupied Territories on Saturday said each side had exchanged 160 corpses on the front line in the southern region of Zaporizhia, parts of which are under Russian control. Russian officials did not comment on the exchange.
At the Vatican, Pope Francis launched one of the strongest calls for a ceasefire and peace talks in Ukraine, urging leaders: “Don’t harm the world, please. Don’t harm the world. ”He made the request during a traditional Sunday blessing from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square and asked leaders to hear the“ desperate cries of the suffering people ”over 100 days after the Russian invasion.
Source: Huffpost
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