kyiv said Friday it had destroyed “at least six Russian military planes” at an air base in the Rostov-on-Don region in southwest Russia, while a key city in the east of Ukraine is under “constant fire” from Russian forces.
Information to remember
⇒ Ukraine: six Russian military planes destroyed
⇒ Russia claims to have conquered the village of Vodiané
⇒ Russia: “unfounded” accusations from Macron on the Olympics
Ukraine says it destroyed military planes at Russian base
Ukraine said Friday it had destroyed “at least six Russian military aircraft” and “significantly” damaged eight others during an attack on an air base in Russia. The attack on the Morozovsk airfield, in Russia’s Rostov region (south), bordering Ukraine, was a “special operation” carried out by the Ukrainian security service (SBU) and the Ukrainian army, claimed to AFP a source within the Ukrainian defense sector.
The source did not specify how this operation was carried out but Russia earlier in the day reported one of the largest Ukrainian drone attacks, carried out on several regions, including Rostov, overnight and in the morning. In total, 53 Ukrainian unmanned aircraft were “destroyed”, including 44 over the Rostov region, the Russian ministry assured.
Eight people were, however, injured at midday in the explosion of an explosive device present on one of the downed drones, its governor, Vassily Goloubev, announced on Telegram. And an electrical substation was “damaged” while “around 600 residents” of the region were deprived of electricity in the morning, he said.
Russia claims to have conquered the village of Vodyane in eastern Ukraine
The Russian army said on Friday it had captured the village of Vodyane, about 5 kilometers from the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, under Moscow’s control since 2014.
“On the Avdiïvka front, units of the Center grouping” of the Russian armed forces “liberated the locality of Vodiané,” said the Russian Ministry of Defense in a press release, assuring that Russian troops were also able to “occupy more advantageous positions.
Chassiv Yar under constant fire from the Russian army
The town of Chassiv Yar is under “constant fire” from the Russian army, which has intensified its attacks on this key locality in eastern Ukraine, the head of its military administration told AFP on Friday . For a week, “the situation has been heating up, the city has become even more dangerous”, declared this official, Serguiï Tchaous, adding that “if before there were moments when there was silence in the city, now there is there are no more […]the whole city is burning.”
A possible capture of this locality located on a height could allow Moscow’s forces to step up their attacks against Kramatorsk, the last major city in Donbass controlled by kyiv located 25 km to the northwest. Chassiv Iar has fewer than 800 inhabitants compared to nearly 13,000 before the Russian invasion of Ukraine launched two years ago and many buildings there are destroyed, added Serguiï Tchaous.
The Kremlin denounces “unfounded” accusations from Macron on Russian targeting of the Olympics
The Kremlin denounced on Friday “unfounded” accusations from French President Emmanuel Macron, who assured that Russia was targeting the organization of the Olympic Games by disseminating information suggesting that Paris would not be ready. “These are completely unfounded accusations,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov told the press, assuring that they “are never supported by evidence.” “Such behavior is absolutely unacceptable,” he continued.
Emmanuel Macron accused Moscow on Thursday of “feeding every day the fact that we could not do this or that, so it would be a risk”, concerning the organization in France of the Olympics planned for this summer.