Ukraine downed 26 Russian drones over Wednesday evening, Mykola Oleshchuk, the head of Ukraine’s air power, mentioned on Thursday morning. “The enemy launched a missile air strike towards Ukraine utilizing three Kh-22 cruise missiles and an Kh-31P anti-radar missile (from the Black Sea), an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile (Donetsk) and 28 assault UAVs of the Shahed-136/131 sort. Twenty-six assault UAVs of the Shahed-136/131 sort have been destroyed inside Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia areas,” he mentioned on Telegram, with out offering particulars on the missile strikes.
Russia has bombed the north-eastern metropolis of Kharkiv, killing at the very least one civilian and wounding 16 others, in keeping with authorities. The airstrikes prompted widespread harm, hitting a number of residential buildings and damaging the town’s institute for emergency surgical procedure.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine’s president, condemned the assault as “Russian terror” and Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of the Kharkiv regional police, mentioned Moscow may need used a brand new sort of guided bomb, which he described because the UMPB D-30. “That is one thing between a guided aerial bomb which they [the Russians] have used not too long ago, and a missile. It’s a flying bomb so to say.” The regional governor, Oleh Synehubov, mentioned: “Plainly the Russians determined to take a look at their modified bombs on the residents of the homes.”
After the assault on Kharkiv, Zelenskiy urged Ukraine’s allies to hurry up deliveries of warplanes and air defence programs. “There aren’t any rational explanations for why Patriots, that are plentiful all over the world, are nonetheless not protecting the skies of Kharkiv and different cities.”
Russian has fashioned a “Dnipro River flotilla” in occupied Kherson that’s prone to be inclined to assaults by Ukraine’s uncrewed floor autos (USVs), or drone boats, in keeping with an intelligence replace from the UK Ministry of Defence.
Vladimir Putin has reportedly informed Russian army pilots that the provide of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine is not going to alter the scenario on the battlefield. However they’ll carry nuclear weapons and Moscow must take account of that in its army planning, the Russian president was quoted as saying. Earlier on Wednesday, the Ukrainian international minister, Dmytro Kuleba, mentioned the jets ought to arrive in Ukraine within the coming months.
A Ukrainian spy chief has hinted at a secretive assassination marketing campaign “probably” run by Ukraine’s SBU spy company to take out Ukrainian residents collaborating with Russia. In a televised interview with Ukraine’s nationwide broadcaster ICTV, the pinnacle of the SBU, Vasyl Malyuk, mentioned Ukrainian spies had focused “very many” folks accountable for warfare crimes and assaults towards Ukrainian residents. “Formally, we is not going to admit to this. However on the similar time I can provide some particulars.”
As soon as intelligence had been confirmed, the SBU was sanctioned to hold out the assassinations by civilian authorities, Malyuk mentioned. One high-profile goal was Ukraine-born, pro-Russia propagandist Vladlen Tatarsky. He was killed in 2023 when he was handed an explosive-rigged statuette in a St Petersburg cafe. Malyuk mentioned he was focused for his army service preventing towards Ukraine and his requires the elimination of Ukrainians.
The SBU has detained two alleged brokers of Russia’s intelligence company accused of passing the placement of delicate army targets to enemy forces. “Because of a particular operation, two [Russian] FSB brokers have been detained in Kyiv and Odesa,” the SBU mentioned in an announcement. “Each criminals have been detained red-handed whereas spying on potential targets for the occupiers.” One of many suspects photographed a thermal energy station, ostensibly to assist Russia with its bombardment of Ukrainian power infrastructure. Each have been charged with collaboration and face life in jail.
A Russian court docket has sentenced Lucy Shtein, a member of feminist group Pussy Riot and a former municipal deputy in Moscow, to six years in jail in absentia for anti-war social media posts, Reuters reported the court docket’s press service as saying on Wednesday. Shtein, 27, in March 2022 posted on Twitter accusing Russian troopers of “bombing international cities and killing folks”. Shtein fled home arrest in Moscow to reside in Iceland quickly after the invasion, and reportedly has Icelandic citizenship. At the least 19,855 folks have been detained in Russia for expressing anti-war views for the reason that full-scale invasion, in keeping with OVD-Data, a monitoring group.
Samsung has mentioned it’ll cease supporting the Russian fee card Mir on its cell fee service from 3 April – a results of anti-war sanctions. The US treasury has introduced sanctions on Russia’s nationwide fee card system, the central bank-owned entity that operates Mir.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will focus on assist for Ukraine throughout talks in Paris subsequent week with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the US state division has introduced. After Paris, Blinken will head to Brussels for talks of Nato international ministers forward of the alliance’s seventy fifth anniversary summit in Washington in July. Blinken may also maintain a three-way assembly in Brussels with EU leaders and the Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, who needs to department out from Armenia’s alliance with Russia.