(Kyiv) Ukraine claimed Thursday to have successfully struck a Russian military airfield the day before in Djankoi, Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.
“A successful operation by the Ukrainian armed forces on the Djankoi military airfield” notably made it possible to “destroy or seriously damage” S-400 system launchers, radar equipment and an air defense control center, said on Telegram Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR).
Moscow has so far made no official comment, but military bloggers and Russian media reported the day before a Ukrainian strike overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday on the Russian military base of Djankoi in Crimea annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Alleged videos of the attack, posted on social media, show impressive explosions in the middle of the night.
According to the Rybar Telegram account, close to the Russian army and followed by more than a million people, 12 ATACMS tactical missiles delivered to Kyiv by the United States could have hit this target, damaging equipment and a building.
The Ukrainian GUR is renowned for daring attacks deep into Russia and Ukrainian territories occupied by the Russian army.
These targeted strikes are, according to some Ukrainian officials, the most effective way for Kyiv to inflict significant damage on Russia, whose forces far outnumber the Ukrainian army in numbers and weapons, while Western aid to Ukraine is reduced.
Two dead in Russian bombings, 20 drones shot down in Russia
Two people were killed in Russian bombings in Ukraine on Thursday, according to local authorities, with Russia claiming to have shot down 20 Ukrainian drones and two missiles in several border regions.
These attacks come the day after a triple Russian strike on Cherniguiv, a large city in northern Ukraine, which left 18 dead, according to the final official report published Thursday, after the end of relief operations.
In the Donetsk region, partially occupied by Russia in eastern Ukraine, one person was killed in Selydové during Russian bombings which damaged houses and set fire to an industrial zone, announced on Telegram the Governor Vadym Filashkin.
Another person, a 56-year-old man, was killed in Otcheretyne, in the same region, he added.
Two people were also injured in Krasnogorivka and another in Chassiv Yar, a town under threat of a Russian ground offensive, he added.
In the Kherson region (south), 16 people were injured in several bombings over the past 24 hours, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram.
The Ukrainian Air Force announced that it had shot down 13 explosive drones overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.
In Russia, authorities reported several Ukrainian air attacks overnight. The Ministry of Defense claimed to have neutralized 20 drones and two ballistic missiles in flight, particularly over the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine and is regularly targeted.
A woman, injured in this attack, was hospitalized, according to the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov.
The other regions targeted are those of Voronezh, also bordering Ukraine, and Rostov, which houses the military headquarters of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Arrest of a man suspected of helping to prepare an attack against Zelensky
PHOTO UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE, PROVIDED BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
A man suspected of helping Russian intelligence prepare a possible attack against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was arrested in Poland, Polish and Ukrainian prosecutors announced Thursday.
The Polish national, identified only as Pawel K., was tasked with “collecting and providing information to the military intelligence services of the Russian Federation […]in particular helping the Russian secret services to plan a possible assassination attempt on a foreign head of state, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky,” according to a press release from the Polish prosecutor’s office.
Pawel K. said he was “ready to act on behalf of the military intelligence services of the Russian Federation and established contacts with citizens of the Russian Federation directly involved in the war in Ukraine,” he said. he adds.
The notification of Pawel K.’s activities was transmitted to Warsaw by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, subsequently making it possible to obtain “essential evidence”.
According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, Andriï Kostine, the man arrested was in particular responsible for “collecting and transmitting to the aggressor state information on the security of the Rzeszów-Jasionka airport”, in the south-east of the Poland, through which the Ukrainian head of state often passes during his foreign trips, officials from other countries going to Ukraine and aid convoys to this country.
“This case highlights the persistent threat that Russia poses not only to Ukraine and Ukrainians, but also to the entire free world,” Mr. Kostine said on X.
He accused Kremlin of organizing and carrying out “sabotage operations on the territory of other sovereign states.”
Pawel K. was placed in pre-trial detention, announced the Polish and Ukrainian prosecutors.
According to the Polish prosecutor’s office, the coordinated operation of the Polish and Ukrainian services made it possible to “obtain evidence also outside Poland”.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski congratulated the Polish prosecutor’s office and special services.
“Good cooperation with fraternal Ukraine,” he wrote on X.
Poland has been among Ukraine’s strongest supporters since the launch of the Russian offensive in February 2022.