The Russian government accused Ukraine of carrying out further drone strikes on Friday night, a day after explosions hit military bases in Moscow-controlled areas of the country and in Russia itself, in an apparent display of firepower. of Kiev outside the front line.
Russian news agencies Tass and RIA, both state-owned, reported Kremlin anti-aircraft forces at a Crimean port on Friday night. An official claimed that an unspecified number of drones had been shot down in the city of Sevastopol. According to Moscow, there were no deaths or injuries.
A video posted by a Russian website, which could not be verified by Reuters, shows what appears to be a surface-to-air missile hitting a target.
Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, is an important supply line for what President Vladimir Putin calls his special military operation in Ukraine.
At the same time, an official quoted by Tass said six Ukrainian drones had been shot down east of Kherson – a city whose retaking has become one of Kiev’s priorities.
The latest incidents followed massive explosions last week at an air base in Crimea. According to a Western official, these attacks rendered half of the Russian naval force in the Black Sea useless.
Kiev has declined to make official comment on the attacks in Crimea and within Russia, while insinuating that it is behind them, using long-range weapons or via sabotage.
A Western official indicated on Friday that at least some of the incidents were Ukrainian attacks.
Massive explosions on Aug. 9 at Russia’s Saki airbase off the coast of Crimea left more than half of the Black Sea Fleet’s fighter jets out of commission, this official said, in what would be one of the most damaging attacks of the war. .
Russia has denied that the aircraft were damaged in what it called an accident, although satellite images show at least eight burnt warplanes and huge craters.
Moscow fired the head of the Black Sea Fleet this week.
Ukraine hopes that its apparent newfound ability to hit Russian targets outside the front lines of fighting could turn the tide of conflict, disrupting the supply lines Moscow needs to support its occupation.
A top U.S. defense official said on Friday that President Joe Biden’s administration was preparing another security assistance package for Ukraine valued at $775 million, containing surveillance drones and, for the first time, fire-resistant vehicles. mines.
Since last month, Ukraine has been deploying Western-supplied rockets to strike behind Russian lines.
A senior Ukrainian official said about half of the incidents in Crimea were Ukrainian attacks of some kind and the other half were accidents caused by Russian failures in their operations. According to him, the attacks were carried out by saboteurs, not long-range weapons.
The official, who declined to be named, said Ukraine hoped its strikes would have a greater impact on reducing Russian artillery power, but that Moscow was adapting.
Also on Saturday, at least 12 people, including three children, were injured after a Russian bombing raid on Voznesensk, not far from a nuclear plant in the Mikolaiv region of southern Ukraine, according to a new report by the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office.
“According to provisional information, 12 people, including three children, were injured. Two children are in serious condition,” the prosecution said on Telegram.
Hours earlier, regional governor Vitali Kim had reported nine injuries on Telegram, including four children aged between three and 17. “All the children are in serious condition,” he said.
Voznesensk, with about 30,000 inhabitants, is approximately 20 kilometers from the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant, the second most powerful in Ukraine, which has a total of four atomic plants.
The bombing hit a residential building and several houses, specified the state service for emergency situations on Facebook.
The Mikolaiv region, which regularly suffers from violent Russian bombing, borders Kherson, almost entirely occupied by Moscow troops since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
nuclear complex
Ukraine has also issued strong warnings about the Zaporijia complex, a frontline nuclear power plant. The country’s nuclear power operator said on Friday it suspected Moscow of planning to transfer the plant to Russia’s power grid, a complex operation that Kiev says could lead to disaster.
Zaporijia is occupied by Russian troops on the shore of a reservoir. Ukrainian forces control the opposite bank.
“If the Russian radiation blackmail continues, this summer could go down in the history of several European nations as one of the most tragic of all time, because no nuclear power plant anywhere in the world has guidelines for when a terrorist state turns it into a nuclear power plant. target,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech on Friday night.
Continuing the mutual blame game, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of bombing the complex, risking nuclear catastrophe.
Moscow rejected international calls to demilitarize the plant, and Putin on Friday renewed his accusation that Kiev was bombing it in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the Kremlin reading.
Macron’s office said Putin had agreed to a mission to Zaporijia by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
UN chief calls for lifting obstacles to Russian fertilizers
During a visit to the first UN-chartered humanitarian ship containing Ukrainian grain, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Saturday that Russian fertilizers and agricultural products must be able to reach world markets “without hindrance” to avoid a food crisis.
“It is important that governments and the private sector cooperate to bring them to market,” he said on the south coast of Istanbul, at the coordination center that oversees the smooth running of the agreement sealed between Ukraine and Russia to resume exports of Ukrainian grain. by the Black Sea.
The pact also guarantees Russia the export of its agricultural products and fertilizers, despite Western sanctions.
“What we see here in Istanbul and in Odessa [transporte de grãos ucraniano] it’s just the most visible part of the solution,” Guterres said. “The other part of this global deal is unrestricted access to Russian food and fertilizers that are not subject to sanctions in global markets,” Guterres said.
The UN chief stressed that the export of these Russian agricultural products still faces “obstacles”.
“If there is no fertilizer in 2022, there may not be enough food in 2023. Getting more food and fertilizer from Ukraine and Russia is essential to calm markets … and lower prices for consumers,” he added.
Guterres traveled this week to Lviv, in western Ukraine, where he met on Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On Friday, he went to Odessa, one of three ports destined for the export of cereals.
