Three Killed in Russian Bombings in Eastern Ukraine
Three people were killed and two others injured on Tuesday evening in Russian bombardments on two villages near Lyman in eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russian air defense shot down two drones in Moscow and its surrounding areas, targeted by a sixth consecutive day of attacks, the mayor of the capital said early Wednesday. Follow the latest developments in the war in Ukraine hour by hour.
Russian air defense shot down two drones in Moscow and its surrounding areas, targeted by a sixth consecutive day of attacks, the mayor of the capital said early Wednesday.
“Last night, air defenses shot down a drone in the Mozhaisky district of the Moscow region. The second drone hit a building under construction in (Moscow) City,” said Sergey Sobyanin on Telegram. According to initial reports, the attack caused no casualties.
The Russian news agency RIA Novosti earlier reported that an “explosion” had been heard in the business district of Moscow City.
“A building under construction in Moscow City suffered minor damage,” reported the TASS agency, citing emergency services. In nighttime images circulated on social media, smoke rose near skyscrapers. Air traffic at Moscow’s international airports, Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, and Vnukovo, was also interrupted, TASS reported, citing air services.
UK Energy Minister announces £192 million allocation to Ukraine for nuclear fuel purchase
The UK will guarantee a £192 million ($225 million) export finance deal to enable Ukraine to purchase nuclear fuel, including from British producers, said UK Energy Minister Grant Shapps during a visit to Kiev.
Ukrainian energy infrastructure was severely damaged during Russian strikes last winter. Ukraine now increasingly relies on its aging nuclear power plants, which provided about half of the country’s electricity before the war.
“The guarantee we will provide is aimed at helping Ukraine ensure that its nuclear fuel no longer needs to pass through Russia in the future,” said Grant Shapps to Reuters.
“This funding will ensure that (nuclear fuel) comes from much safer sources.” Shapps also stated that one of these fuel sources would be the British-based uranium enrichment specialist Urenco.
1:18 am: Russia could annex Georgian separatist regions, says Medvedev
Moscow could annex the separatist regions of Georgia, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia, said former Russian President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
“The idea of joining Russia is still popular in Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” wrote Dmitry Medvedev, who now serves as Vice President of the Russian Security Council, in an article published early Wednesday by the newspaper Arguments and Facts.
“This could be implemented if there are good reasons for it,” Dmitry Medvedev estimated. Georgia lost control of South Ossetia and Abkhazia – located respectively in the Caucasus and on the shores of the Black Sea – after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Moscow recognized the independence of these regions following the war against Georgia in 2008. Although relations between Moscow and Tbilisi have improved since, Dmitry Medvedev accused the West of creating tensions by discussing a possible NATO membership for Georgia.
“We will not wait if our concerns seem to be close to realization,” said Dmitry Medvedev in this article, marking the 15th anniversary of the recognition of the independence of the two regions. Georgian officials have repeatedly stated that they are determined to join the Alliance, which would preserve the country’s territorial integrity.
Three people were killed and two others injured on Tuesday evening in Russian bombardments on two villages near Lyman in eastern Ukraine, said the head of the military administration of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko.
Russian forces “struck the villages in the Lyman community tonight: three people were killed and one injured in Torske, and another civilian was injured in Zakitne,” wrote Pavlo Kyrylenko on Telegram.
“According to preliminary data, the invaders attacked the villages with artillery,” the regional prosecutor’s office in Donetsk added on its Facebook page.
The first attack occurred against Torske at 6:50 pm (3:50 pm GMT), and the one against the village of Zakitne half an hour later. The people killed in Torske were two women and one man, aged 63 to 88, who were sitting on a bench at the time of the strike, the prosecutor’s office added, and one person in the same village suffered injuries to the chest, shoulder, and hip.
According to the same source, a 26-year-old man sustained a fractured skull and a concussion in the village of Zakitne. On the other hand, four civilians were injured by mortar fire, and a residential building was damaged by two explosive drones in Seredyno-Buda, in the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine, according to the regional military administration on Facebook.
Russia claimed on Tuesday to have “destroyed” two Ukrainian military ships in the Black Sea, the latest maritime clashes since it broke off an agreement to export Ukrainian grain.
Moscow also claimed to have repelled a new armed incursion from Ukraine in the border region of Bryansk and destroyed drones near the capital.
Reuters
