According to preliminary data cited by Yusov, the attack caused "significant damage" to the production capabilities of the Shahed facility, and resuming the enterprise's work "will be difficult."
"These are good results… and we are all happy about it. I think that there will be similar joys in the future. And their range will increase."
A series of attacks in recent months have targeted oil refineries deep inside Russia. Multiple refineries reportedly lost capacity after the attacks and Russia is planning to reduce diesel exports from its Black and Baltic Sea ports in April to the lowest level in five months.
"Most of the drones that attacked Russian oil refineries have a range of 700 to 1,000 kilometers, but now there are models that can fly over 1000 km," Fedorov said.
#RussiaInvadedUkraine #RussianAggression #oil #refineries #drones #StandWithUkraine
Paris will "unlock a new batch of Aster 30 missiles" for the SAMP/T MAMBA system, the French equivalent of the U.S. Patriot, in response to Ukraine's air defense shortage, Lecornu said on March 30.
"We are also developing tele-operated munitions in a very short time, to deliver them to the Ukrainians this summer," he said.
The package will also include hundreds of old but "still operational" armored vehicles.
"To hold such a large front line, the Ukrainian army needs, for example, our armored front vehicles: this is absolutely key for troop mobility,"
https://kyivindependent.com/france-to-send-ukraine-air-defense-missiles-armored-vehicles/
#RussianAggression #RussiaInvadedUkraine #AirDefense #StandWithUkraine
Ukraine has claimed yet another successful strike on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet (BSF), announcing on March 26 that the landing ship #Konstantin Olshansky had been hit by a Neptune missile.
Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk said damage to the vessel was still being determined.
In recent months, Ukraine has intensified its attacks on BSF targets in occupied Crimea, successfully targeting several ships and forcing Russian forces to redeploy to safer waters.
In comments to LIGA.net, Pletenchuk said the attack on the Konstantin Olshansky had occurred earlier this week on March 23, the same day two Russian Ropucha-class landing ships, Yamal and Azov, were hit.
Built in 1985, the Konstantin Olshansky was transferred to the Ukrainian Navy in 1996 when the naval fleet of the Soviet Union was divided up.
It was one of many Ukrainian ships seized by Russian forces during the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
#RussiaInvadedUkraine #BlackSeaFleet #StandWithUkraine #Neptune
NATO is reportedly considering the option of shooting down Russian missiles if they stray too close to its borders, #Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna said to the Polish media outlet RMF24 on March 26.
#Poland was forced to scramble its fighter jets to protect its airspace during Russia's drone and missile attack against Ukraine on March 24, when a Russian cruise missile entered Poland's airspace for 39 seconds.
Russia's #ambassador to Poland, Sergei Andreyev, was summoned by Poland's Foreign Ministry in response to the incident, but he rejected the request.
#RussianAggression #airspace #RussiaInvadedUkraine #StandWithUkraine
Poland will demand explanations from Moscow after a Russian missile violated the Polish airspace during the mass attack against Ukraine on the morning of March 24, the Polish Foreign Ministry said.
Polish Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Pawel Wronski called on Russia to stop its “terrorist air attacks on the people and territory of Ukraine, to end the war and address the country's internal problems.”
Ukraine’s Air Forces said the Russian forces fired 29 cruise missiles and 28 Shahed loitering munitions, targeting eight regions in the west, center, north, and south of Ukraine. Of the total air targets fired across Ukraine, 18 cruise missiles and 25 Shahed drones were intercepted by the air defense, according to the report.
#RussianAggression #RussiaInvadedUkraine #missiles #Poland #airspace
Polish Armed Forces did not shoot down the Russian missile that flew into Poland’s airspace as it could have posed a risk to local civilians, Polish media RMF 24 reported on March 24.
The missile entered Polish airspace above the Lublin region for 39 seconds before flying back into Western Ukraine during Russia’s latest mass aerial attack. The Polish Operational Command of the Armed Forces knew that the missile would circle back to Ukraine and decided not to down it, the command said.
"The decision resulted from information from our radar systems. The assessment of the missile's trajectory, speed and altitude indicated that it would leave our airspace,"
#RussiaInvadedUkraine #airspace #RussianAggression #StandWithUkraine
Earlier this month, the Ukrainian military claimed that Russia has used chemical weapons 1,068 times since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began two years ago. This includes allegations that Russia used #chloroacetophenone, a chemical comparable to tear gas but with higher toxicity.
A Russian commander even openly bragged about using chemical weapons last year.
The usage of these chemicals on the battlefield is "unquestionably" illegal, said Brett Edwards, who specializes in chemical weapons issues and lectures at the University of Bath. It goes against the #ChemicalWeapons Convention, to which Russia is a signatory.
In this documentary, its author, investigative reporter Danylo Mokryk explores whether there is #genocidal intent in the actions of the Russian military and officials, as well as in Russian state propaganda.
He interviews several scholars whose views oppose one another. William A. Schabas, one of the most renowned scholars in the field, is a skeptic. Eugene Finkel has written an opinion piece stating that the Russian invasion was genocide back in 2022. Dmytro Koval emphasizes that one cannot fully understand Russia’s war in Ukraine if one doesn’t call it #genocide
It also features survivors and witnesses of Russian war crimes: a widow of a man killed in Bucha; a twin sister of a woman murdered in Skadovsk; a kid who had been deported to Crimea, and witnessed an attempt to russify Ukrainian children; and two people who had been detained during the occupation of Kherson
In an unexpected admission, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on March 22 that Russia is in a "state of war" in an interview with the Russian state-owned media outlet Arguments and Facts.
Peskov later clarified his words, saying that "de jure" it remained a "military operation," but "de facto" had become a #war.
Russia refuses to refer to its war against Ukraine as a war, referring to it instead as a "special military operation" for #propaganda purposes and to downplay its actions for both domestic and international audiences. Russia's choice of wording plays a key part in the framing of its full-scale war.
https://kyivindependent.com/kremlin-admits-russia-de-facto-at-war-calls-ukraine-occupying-force/
The recent incursion into Russia by Russian #anti-Kremlin #militias made Moscow "change plans" on a possible new attack in Ukraine's northern sector.
Russian nationalist Denis Kapustin, the commander of the #Russian Volunteer Corps, said at a press conference on March 21 that the militias "stabilized the front" and "eased the pressure of Russian troops in certain areas."
Alexei Baranovsky, the Freedom of Russia Legion volunteer, claimed that anti-Kremlin forces had received intelligence about Russia's alleged plans to advance further into Kharkiv Oblast.
"The clashes (on Russia's territory) forced Russia to deploy additional reserves and withdraw its troops from their positions (in Ukraine) to relocate them to Belgorod Oblast," Yusov said.
With the recent incursions, the Ukraine-led militants say their goal was to "open a second front" and ease pressure on Ukrainian troops on the Kupiansk axis.
Russian nationalist Denis Kapustin, commander of the right-wing Russian Volunteer Corps, said that the fighters of the units "stabilized the front" and "eased the pressure of Russian troops in certain areas."
Russia is continuing the redeployment of its Black Sea Fleet from occupied #Crimea to the relative safety of #Novorossiysk after yet more successful strikes on its ships, Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) reported on March 21.
Speaking on national television, HUR spokesperson Andrii Yusov said Black Sea Fleet headquarters infrastructure and warships “are being actively relocated.”
“The redeployment to Novorossiysk continues, although they cannot completely leave temporarily occupied Crimea without naval forces as such,” he said, adding: “Otherwise, that would mean fleeing.”
https://kyivindependent.com/russia-continues-to-redeploy-black-sea-fleet/
After the capture of #Avdiivka on Feb. 17 and several other settlements shortly after, #Russian forces were concentrating their main efforts on making a breakthrough near the fallen town in #Donetsk Oblast, Syrskyi reported last week. Avdiivka fell as Ukraine was facing an ongoing ammunition shortage.
In a phone call with Thierry Burkhard, France's army chief, Syrskyi said he had spoken about the current situation on the battlefield and thanked Paris for the support.
https://kyivindependent.com/syrskyi-ukraines-forces-stabilizes-situation-in-east/
#RussiaInvadedUkraine #Imperialism #RussianAggression #StandWithUkraine
Ammunition suppliers taking part in the #Czech-led initiative to provide Ukraine with artillery shells include "some allies of Russia," the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing unnamed Czech officials.
The Czech officials told WSJ that Prague had managed to utilize its good relations with many nations in the Global South that have large stockpiles of Soviet-era arms and the ability to produce more.
Czech President Petr Pavel said on March 16 that it is not possible to imagine Russia and Ukraine negotiating a peace agreement because Russia's proposals indicate a greater investment in continued Ukrainian subjugation than in lasting peace.
"All Russian proposals so far have been in fact a diktat," Pavel told Czech Radio.
"The Kremlin has presented its list of conditions that it as an aggressor has no right to put forward."
#WarCrimes #Imperialism #RussiaInvadedUkraine #StandWithUkraine
Western countries should not rule out the notion of sending troops to Ukraine if the battlefield condition further deteriorates, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told Politico on March 15.
Valtonen's remarks were the latest in a series of discussions about the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine that have been ongoing since French President Emmanuel Macron said in February that it should not be taken off the table.
https://kyivindependent.com/politico-finnish-fm-does-not-rule-out-sending-western-troops-to-ukraine/
One Ukrainian soldier, who was detained and tortured by Russian authorities in several detention facilities, recounted his experience in the correctional colony in the town of Donskoy, Tula region, where he was repeatedly subjected to torture and left with broken bones, broken teeth and gangrene on an injured foot,” the report reads.
“‘I lost any hope and the will to live,’ the soldier said, adding that he had tried to kill himself but perpetrators subjected him to further beating.”
The document also highlights “incidents of rape and other sexual violence committed against women in circumstances which also amount to torture” as well as “incidents of torture with a sexualized dimension and threats of rape against male prisoners of war.”
Speaking to journalists in #Geneva after the release of the findings, the chair of the commission, Erik Møse, said: “Victims' accounts disclose relentless brutal treatment inflicting severe pain and suffering during prolonged detention, with blatant disregard for human dignity.”
The torture and execution of Ukrainian POWs has been well-documented throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion.
#WarCrimes #RussiaInvadedUkraine #RussianWarCrimes #Imperialism #StandWithUkraine #POWs #HumanRights
Sweden joined the Czech-led initiative to supply Ukraine with hundreds of thousands of artillery shells, pledging 30 million euros ($32.6 million) to the cause, the Swedish embassy in Czechia announced on March 14.
https://kyivindependent.com/sweden-pledges-almost-33-million-to-czech-ammunition-initiative/
#RussiaInvadedUkraine #WarCrimes #shells #artillery #Sweden #StandWithUkraine #Czech
The European Commission may soon propose a plan to confiscate 27 billion euros ($29 billion) in profits generated by frozen Russian assets and transfer them to Ukraine, The Guardian reported on March 14, citing its sources.
The commission's officials plan to put forward a "legally robust proposal" for consideration by the member states, possibly before a meeting of prime ministers in Brussels on March 21, the outlet said.
#RussiaInvadedUkraine #WarCrimes #FrozenAssets #StandWithUkraine
