🇧🇩 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War. (1 Viewer)

[Saif]

UK party leader says West provoked Ukraine war

Nigel Farage, leader of Britain’s anti-immigration Reform UK party, faced strong criticism Saturday after saying that the West provoked Russia’s invasion of...

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UK party leader says West provoked Ukraine war
Agence France-Presse . London 23 June, 2024, 00:47

Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage, leader of Britain's anti-immigration Reform UK party, faced strong criticism Saturday after saying that the West provoked Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In an interview with the BBC on Friday, Farage said 'we've provoked this war', while adding that 'of course' it was Russian president Vladimir Putin's 'fault'.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters that Farage's claim was 'completely wrong and only plays into Putin's hands'.

Farage — a former European parliamentarian who has tried and failed to run for Westminster seven times — is gunning for a seat from Clacton in east England in the country's general election next month.

His party is currently polling third behind the two major parties, but is only predicted to pick up a few seats.

Even so, a surge of popularity for Reform UK since Farage took over as leader earlier this month risks drawing away votes that the Conservative party sorely needs to win a fifth term in power.

His comments met with outrage on Saturday.

Interior minister James Cleverly criticised Farage for 'echoing Putin's vile justification for the brutal invasion of Ukraine.'

Former Conservative defence minister Tobias Ellwood called the comments 'shocking' in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, adding that 'Churchill will be turning in his grave'.

Meanwhile Labour's shadow defence minister John Healey called the comments 'disgraceful' and said his stance made him 'unfit for any political office in our country'.

Probed further on his views on Putin in the interview, Farage said that he 'disliked him as a person' but 'admired him as a political operator because he's managed to take control of running Russia'.

The former Brexit figurehead, Farage is close to former US President Donald Trump, who has said he gets along with Putin 'great'.

Farage has also spoken about his intention to run for prime minister in 2029.

He also stood by claims that Sunak, the UK's first prime minister of colour, does not 'understand our culture', in response to Sunak leaving D-Day commemorations in France early.

He clarified in the interview that he meant Sunak was 'too upper class'.

Farage's comments on Sunak—first made in a political leaders debate—had drawn criticism across parties, with one Tory minister saying they made him 'very uncomfortable'.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine missile attack on Crimea kills three

A Ukrainian missile attack on Sunday on a city in the Russian-annexed Crimea peninsula killed three people, including two children, and wounded over 100, officials said...

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Ukraine missile attack on Crimea kills three
Agence France-Presse . Moscow 23 June, 2024, 23:36

A Ukrainian missile attack on Sunday on a city in the Russian-annexed Crimea peninsula killed three people, including two children, and wounded over 100, officials said.

Fragments hit beachgoers in Sevastopol after at least one missile was intercepted by air defences and exploded in the air, according to officials.

Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhayev wrote on Telegram that two children and one adult had died. A Russian health ministry official told RIA Novosti news agency that 124 people were injured, including 27 children.

Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine used US-supplied weapons in the attack and accused it of using cluster munitions.

Sevastopol, a Black Sea port city and naval base on the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, regularly comes under fire from Ukraine but Sunday's attack was unusually deadly.

Razvozhayev said the attack hit Uchkuyevka, an area with sandy beaches and hotels.

Videos posted on social media showed people running from the beach as explosions go off and people in swimming outfits carrying a stretcher. AFP could not verify their authenticity.

A local news channel on Telegram, ChP Sevastopol, cited witnesses as saying that an elderly woman was killed as she swam in the sea.

The investigative committee, which probes major crimes, said it was opening an investigation into 'a terrorist act'. The governor said Ukraine had launched five missiles which Russian air defences intercepted over the sea but fragments fell onto the shore area and shrapnel wounded people.

Razvozhayev said missile fragments hit beach areas in the north of the city and set fire to a house and woodland.

A Russian defence ministry statement said Ukraine committed a 'terrorist attack on the civilian infrastructure of Sevastopol with US-supplied ATACMS tactical missiles loaded with cluster warheads'.

The ministry said four missiles were downed and a fifth changed trajectory after being intercepted 'with its warhead exploding in the air over the city'.

Ukraine's military has not commented on the attack, which came a day after a Russian guided bomb strike on the city of Kharkiv hit an apartment building, killing two people and injuring more than 50.

On Sunday, another Russian strike hit a house in the city, killing one and injuring five, regional governor Oleg Synegubov said. Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov said three people were wounded by a separate strike on a children's educational facility.

A drone launched by Ukraine on Russia's southern Belgorod region on Sunday killed a man, the governor said.

Three Ukrainian attack drones struck Graivoron, near the border with Ukraine, said Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, with one hitting a car park near a multi-storey block of flats.

'A peaceful civilian was killed. The man died from his wounds at the spot' and three people were wounded, Gladkov wrote on Telegram.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in a social media post urged supporter countries to help Ukraine step up attacks on Russian soil.

'We have enough determination to destroy terrorists on their territory — it is only fair — and we need the same determination from our partners. We can stop Russia,' Zelensky wrote.​

 

[Saif]

Russia warns US after Ukraine strikes Crimea

The Kremlin yesterday directly blamed the United States for an attack on Crimea with US-supplied ATACMS missiles that killed at least four people and injured 151, and Moscow formally warned the US ambassador that retaliation would follow.

www.thedailystar.net

Russia warns US after Ukraine strikes Crimea
Summons US envoy

The Kremlin yesterday directly blamed the United States for an attack on Crimea with US-supplied ATACMS missiles that killed at least four people and injured 151, and Moscow formally warned the US ambassador that retaliation would follow.

The war in Ukraine has triggered the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and Russian officials have said that the conflict is entering the most dangerous escalatory phase to date.

But directly blaming the United States for a deadly attack on Crimea - which Russia annexed in 2014 and now considers to be Russian territory although most of the world considers it to be part of Ukraine - is a step further.

"You should ask my colleagues in Europe, and above all in Washington, the press secretaries, why their governments are killing Russian children. Just ask them this question," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters of the attack.

At least two children were killed in the attack on Sevastopol on Sunday, according to Russian officials. People were shown running from a beach near Sevastopol and some of the injured being carried off on sun loungers.

Russia said that the United States had supplied the weapons, while US military specialists had aimed the weapons and provided data for them.

Meanwhile, a Russian missile attack on Ukraine's eastern town of Pokrovsk killed at least four people and injured 34 more, the regional governor said yesterday. Two children were among the injured, Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.​

 

[Saif]

Why arrival of F-16s won't rapidly change Ukraine's fortunes in war with Russia

Around two years after Ukraine started asking allies for F-16 fighter jets to help it fight Russian forces, the first planes are set to arrive by next month. The length of the process, from procuring the US-designed aircraft and training Ukrainian pilots to fly them, has frustrated Kyiv. Russia h

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Why arrival of F-16s won't rapidly change Ukraine's fortunes in war with Russia
REUTERS
Published :
Jun 27, 2024 21:04
Updated :
Jun 27, 2024 21:05

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen sit in a F-16 fighter jet at Skrydstrup Airbase in Vojens, Denmark, August 20, 2023. Photo : Ritzau Scanpix/Mads Claus Rasmussen via REUTERS/Files

Around two years after Ukraine started asking allies for F-16 fighter jets to help it fight Russian forces, the first planes are set to arrive by next month.
The length of the process, from procuring the US-designed aircraft and training Ukrainian pilots to fly them, has frustrated Kyiv.

Russia has had time to prepare defences to try to nullify the F-16s' impact, and Ukraine has had to survive with a depleted air force a fraction of the size and sophistication of the enemy's.

Here are some facts about how the F-16s may help Ukraine and what obstacles still lie in the way of effective deployment:

POTENTIAL IMPACT

Some analysts say the F-16s will not alone prove a turning point in the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

"You'd have to separate symbolism from the actual impact on the battlefield - which will be useful but modest, particularly in the beginning," said Mark Cancian, senior adviser with the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Serhii Kuzan, chairman of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center, a non-governmental research group, said at least 60 planes would be needed for significant operations as Ukraine attempts to push Russian aviation back from its borders.

Lawmaker Oleksandra Ustinova, who leads Kyiv's parliamentary commission on arms and munitions, said that Ukraine would need nearer to 120 F-16s to boost its air capability significantly.

Britain's final debate before next week's general election was a testy standoff,

While the pilots gain experience in Ukrainian skies and the military builds out its air infrastructure, the initial deliveries could at least help Ukraine strengthen its air shield, experts say.

"It will provide some air defence and depth capacity, potentially also help intercepting Shaheds [Iranian-built drones] and cruise missiles. Although it is a very expensive way of doing that, munitions-wise," said Justin Bronk, senior research fellow for airpower and technology at Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

Ukraine's military has worked hard to reduce the threat to the arriving F-16s in recent months by attacking Russian air defences, according to Kuzan.

"The formation of the battlefield, especially in the south, is already taking place," he said. "Ukraine has the capabilities to systematically strike Russia's foremost air defence complexes."

But Cancian of CSIS said he expected Ukraine to try to open gaps in Russia's defences in the immediate run-up to planned F-16 attacks rather than a long time in advance.

PILOTS AND MAINTENANCE

Training will be crucial.

"You can have lots of fast jets but if they don't have effective weapons, and air crew able to employ them with effective tactics, then they will just be shot down in large numbers," said Bronk.

The timeline for the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16s has dominated discussions about deliveries and pledges of more than 70 jets.

By the end of 2024, Ukraine expects to have at least 20 pilots ready to fly F-16s, Ustinova said.

"It is difficult to solicit more planes when you don't have people to pilot them," she said, adding that, at first, Ukraine will have more F-16s than qualified pilots.

"Waiting in line for 10 years before our pilots are trained is not OK."

The Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson declined to comment.

US officials have directed questions on training to Ukraine and noted that pilots can also be trained in Europe. However, Bronk said NATO's capacity was already stretched.

He added that aircraft maintenance was an even more pressing challenge than pilot training.

He said most repairs and maintenance would need to happen inside Ukraine, and it would probably have to rely on foreign contractors who know the aircraft.

AIR BASES UNDER THREAT

Russia has already intensified its attacks on infrastructure that could be used for the maintenance and deployment of F-16s, some experts said.

"Russia is striking all airfields, potential F-16 bases, every day, including attempts to damage airstrips and infrastructure. These strikes have not paused for the last two months, at least," Kuzan said.

The targets will become all the more valuable when the aircraft, pilots and maintenance teams arrive. This is likely to force Ukraine to install missile defences to protect them, even though it is short of both air defence systems and ammunition.

"We have to accept the fact that the airfields will be well-protected when civilian objects could be under attack," Kuzan said, adding that each base would need at least two Patriot and two NASAMS batteries to secure it.

"As soon as we (build up our flight capabilities), we will push their planes back and the terror will stop. But these couple of months will be truly difficult," Kuzan added.​

 

[Saif]

Moscow claims Ukrainian village, drones kill 5 in Russian village

Russia on Saturday claimed another village in eastern Ukraine as it pushes towards the city of Toretsk in a fresh local offensive in the embattled Donetsk region...

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Moscow claims Ukrainian village, drones kill 5 in Russian village
Agence France-Presse . Moscow 29 June, 2024, 23:58

Russia on Saturday claimed another village in eastern Ukraine as it pushes towards the city of Toretsk in a fresh local offensive in the embattled Donetsk region.

Toretsk lies north-west of the city of Gorlivka, which has been under separatist control since 2014.

The city has been largely spared from the worst of the fighting but that has changed in recent weeks after Moscow's forces began advancing, taking Ukrainian forces by surprise.

Moscow's defence ministry said Russian forces had 'as a result of successful acts, liberated the settlement of Shumy' and gained a better 'tactical position.'

Shumy lies less than 10 kilometres east of Toretsk, a mining town which had a pre-war population of around 32,000.

Ukrainian forces have been particularly vulnerable since the end of 2023 because of major delays in European and US arms deliveries.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack on a house in a Russian border village killed five people, including two children, the regional governor said Saturday.

The drone hit a house in the village of Gorodishche, a tiny village in Russia's Kursk region, just a few metres from the border with Ukraine.

'To our great grief, five people were killed ... including two small children. Another two members of the family are in a serious condition,' Kursk governor Alexei Smirnov said in a post on Telegram.

The attack was with a 'copter'-style drone, he added, a small device that can be fitted to carry grenades or other explosives that are dropped over targets.

Both sides have used drones, including larger self-detonating craft with ranges of up to hundreds of kilometres, extensively throughout the conflict which began in February 2022.

Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on Russian territory this year, targeting both energy sites that it says fuel Russia's military, as well as towns and villages just across the border.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a major new land offensive on Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region last month in what he said was an operation to create a 'buffer zone' and push Ukrainian forces back to protect Russia's border Belgorod region from shelling.

The Kursk region, where Saturday's attack occurred, lies further north, across from Ukraine's Sumy region, which Kyiv controls.​

 

[Saif]

Russia downs 36 Ukraine-launched drones

Russia’s air defence systems destroyed 36 drones that Ukraine launched overnight targeting several regions in Russia’s southwest, the Russian defence ministry said yesterday.

www.thedailystar.net

Russia downs 36 Ukraine-launched drones
Claims two more east Ukrainian villages

Russia's air defence systems destroyed 36 drones that Ukraine launched overnight targeting several regions in Russia's southwest, the Russian defence ministry said yesterday.

Fifteen drones were destroyed over the Kursk region that borders Ukraine and nine over the Lipetsk region, several hundred kilometres south of Moscow, the defence ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

Four drones were destroyed each over the Voronezh and Bryansk regions in southwestern Russia and two each over the nearby Oryol and Belgorod regions.

The governors of the Lipetsk and Bryansk regions said on their Telegram channels that there were no injuries or extensive damage as a result of the attacks, reports Reuters.

Kyiv has said attacks on Russia's military, transport and energy infrastructure are in response to Moscow's attacks on Ukraine's territory since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Meanwhile, Russia yesterday also claimed two more east Ukrainian villages as its forces have had the upper hand over Kyiv on the battlefield for months.

Moscow has claimed new villages in the east of Ukraine regularly for weeks, as outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian forces struggle to hold them back.​

 

[Saif]

Russia destroys 5 Ukrainian jets in strike on air base

Russia claimed on Tuesday to have destroyed or damaged five Ukrainian military jets in a strike on an air base, as Kyiv prepares for the arrival of long-awaited F-16 fighters...

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Russia destroys 5 Ukrainian jets in strike on air base
Agence France-Presse . Moscow 03 July, 2024, 00:19

Russia claimed on Tuesday to have destroyed or damaged five Ukrainian military jets in a strike on an air base, as Kyiv prepares for the arrival of long-awaited F-16 fighters.

Russia's defence ministry said it fired Iskander-M missiles at an air base near the central Ukrainian city of Myrgorod, around 150 kilometres from the Russian border.

'As a result of the Russian army strike, five operational SU-27 multirole fighters were destroyed, and two that were under repair were damaged,' it said in a statement on Telegram.

The ministry also published footage of what it said was the strike and its aftermath, showing grey smoke billowing at the airfield, where some parked planes were visible, and charred black earth.

AFP could not immediately verify the footage or the claims.

Russian and Ukrainian military bloggers previously reported the strike on Monday.

Ukraine's air force declined to comment when asked by AFP about Russia's claims.

In a social media post, air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said: 'Ukrainian aircraft continue to successfully carry out combat missions, conduct missile and bomb attacks on the positions of the occupiers and eliminate important military facilities.'

He posted footage of what he said was a Ukrainian attack on an ammunition depot in Crimea, the peninsula Russia annexed in 2014, carried out on Monday.

But Ukrainian military bloggers and analysts said Kyiv had suffered equipment losses in Myrgorod, with some angry at commanders for parking the planes in the open without sufficient protection.

Kyiv hopes the arrival of Western F-16 fighters will enable it to better protect itself from Russian bombardment.

Ukraine has been calling for the US-made jets since the start of the conflict.

Several NATO countries have pledged to supply them and have been training Ukrainian pilots and crews for months.

The first deliveries, including from the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark are expected to arrive in the country imminently.

But recent strikes on Ukrainian airfields have raised questions about Kyiv's ability to protect the multi-million-dollar planes from Russian fire.

'As Ukraine waits for the F-16s, the question of ensuring their safety on the ground remains,' the Ukraine-based Defence Express think tank said Tuesday.

Russia has promised to target and destroy F-16s, along with all other Western military hardware shipped to Kyiv.

Ukraine has not said where it will base the F-16s.​

 

[Saif]

Russian forces advance in Ukraine’s eastern region

Russia said yesterday its forces had captured a district in the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow has been pressing for months.

www.thedailystar.net

Russian forces advance in Ukraine's eastern region
Kill five in Dnipro strikes; dozens injured

Russia said yesterday its forces had captured a district in the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow has been pressing for months.

The claim from Moscow came just after Kyiv said that Russian strikes on the industrial city of Dnipro had killed five people and wounded nearly three dozen more including a 14-year-old girl.

The defence ministry said its troops had "liberated" the Novy district of Chasiv Yar, but it was unclear if it was claiming its forces had crossed a canal which runs through the eastern part of the town.

The capture of Chasiv Yar -- a prized military hub that was once a sleepy town home to some 12,000 people -- would pave the way for Russian advances towards the last Ukrainian-controlled civilian centres in the Donetsk region.

Russia's capture of the district was also reported by the DeepState military blog, which has links to the Ukrainian army.

It said the area had been flattened by Russian bombardments, and that withdrawing was "a logical, albeit difficult decision." There was no immediate reaction from officials in Kyiv.

The Russian attack on Dnipro prompted Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to call on allies to help bolster its air defences and provide more long-range weapons to thwart Russian strikes.​

 

[Saif]

Munitions depot inside Russia on fire

An overnight Ukrainian drone attack set a Russian munitions depot ablaze the Voronezh region, near the two countries’ shared border, Russian and Ukrainian officials said yesterday.

www.thedailystar.net

UKRAINE DRONE ATTACK
Munitions depot inside Russia on fire

An overnight Ukrainian drone attack set a Russian munitions depot ablaze the Voronezh region, near the two countries' shared border, Russian and Ukrainian officials said yesterday.

"Several drones were detected and destroyed overnight by air defence systems above the Voronezh region," regional governor Alexander Gusev wrote on Telegram.

"Their falling debris set off a fire in a depot" in the Podgorensky district, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the Ukrainian borderm.

"Explosives began to detonate", Gusev said, adding that there were no indications anybody had been hurt.

Rescue teams were at the scene and Gusev said local people living near the depot were being evacuated.

A Ukrainian defence source told AFP that its drones hit the munitions factory in an overnight attack.

"The enemy stored surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, shells for tanks and artillery and boxes of ammunition" at the site, which was hit by drones resulting in a "powerful" explosion, the source said.

Russia and Ukraine have used drones, including large explosive devices with a range of hundreds of kilometres (miles), extensively since Russia launched its military offensive in February 2022.

Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on Russian territory this year, targeting both energy sites it says supply the Russian army and towns and villages just across the border.

Meanwhile, Russia said yesterday it struck two Patriot air defence launch systems, but Ukraine said Moscow had hit decoy targets designed to squander expensive enemy missiles.

Russia's defence ministry said in a statement the attack took place in the area of the Black Sea port of Yuzhne, adding that a radar station was also destroyed. It said Iskander-M ballistic missiles had been used.

Commenting on videos of the attack circulating on social media, Ukraine's air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a post on Telegram on Saturday evening, that Russia had hit Ukrainian decoy Patriot systems.​