RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
UN condemns Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ office has condemned a series of drone attacks on Moscow and called for an end to “any and all attacks on civilian facilities.” Russia has blamed the “terrorist strikes” on Ukraine, and Kiev has heavily suggested that it was responsible.
“We are against any and all attacks on civilian facilities and we want them to stop,” Guterres’ deputy spokesman, Farhan Haq, told reporters on Monday.
Haq spoke a day after multiple unmanned airborne vehicles (UAVs) were intercepted over Moscow’s financial district, with debris from the downed craft damaging two skyscrapers and injuring one person.
One of the same buildings was damaged again on Tuesday, when one of three incoming UAVs was electronically jammed and veered off course into the glass facade of the tower, according to Russian authorities.
While Kiev has not taken direct responsibility yet, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky declared on Sunday that “war is returning to the territory of Russia,” while one of his top advisers, Mikhail Podoliak, said on Tuesday that “Moscow is rapidly getting used to a full-fledged war,” and will soon experience “more unidentified drones, more collapse, [and] more civil conflicts.”
Zelensky and his officials have followed a similar pattern after previous Ukrainian strikes on civilian infrastructure. Ukrainian officials cheered the bombing of the Crimean Bridge last October, but denied responsibility. Ukrainian security officials eventually admitted to the attack earlier this summer, and claimed responsibility for a follow-up strike on the bridge last month.
Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Ukraine is launching “terrorist strikes” on Moscow and other civilian targets in Russia out of frustration over its failures on the battlefield. The attempted drone strikes are “some sort of acts of desperation against the background of those failures. And, of course, Kiev resorts to such terrorist tactics,”Peskov said.
Russia has thus far limited its missile and drone strikes within Ukraine to military and infrastructure targets. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned last month that this may soon change if Kiev continues to attack Russian civilians.
“We need to choose non-typical targets for our strikes. Not only warehouses, energy hubs, and oil bases,” said Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council. “There are other places where they are not expecting us yet. And where the effect will be very significant.”
** Russian forces repel eight Ukrainian army attacks in Donetsk area over past day
Russian air defense forces intercepted 16 rockets of the US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system and shot down 21 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Tuesday.
"In the past 24 hours, air defense capabilities intercepted 16 rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system," the spokesman said.
In addition, Russian air defense systems "destroyed 21 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Zaliman in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Novoandreyevka, Spornoye, Berestovoye, Kremenets and Volnoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Michurina, Balochki and Konskiye Razdory in the Zaporozhye Region, Staraya Zburyevka, Radensk and Novaya Kakhovka in the Kherson Region," the general reported.
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Explosions, drone debris hit Kyiv, mayor, officials say
Anti-aircraft units worked to shoot down drones attacking the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, early on Wednesday, with drone debris falling in three districts but causing no injuries, Mayor Vitali Klitschko and military officials said.
Klitschko, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said that debris had fallen in the central Solomianskyi district and that a non-residential building had been damaged. Emergency services were on site.
Klitschko said that debris had also fallen in the Svyatoshyn district, further west, and that a tree had caught fire.
Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, said debris also came down in a playground in the Holosiivskyi district, near the city centre, and set fire to a non-residential building.
Neither official reported injuries.
Air raid alerts were lifted for the capital, the surrounding Kyiv region and most other parts of the country.
** Russia hits port, grain silo in Ukraine's Odesa region - official
Russian drones attacked port and grain storage facilities in the south of Ukraine's coastal Odesa region in the early hours of Wednesday, setting some of them on fire, regional governor Oleh Kiper wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
There have been no reports of casualties, he said. Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian agricultural and port infrastructure after refusing to extend the Black Sea grain deal which had allowed for exports of Ukrainian grain.
RT/Tass/Reuters