RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

NATO has boots on the ground in Ukraine – Putin

It is no secret that NATO soldiers are present on the ground in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said, noting that those service members are facing extremely grim prospects.

Speaking to his supporters and reporters on Sunday night after the end of the presidential election, which he won by a landslide, Putin stressed that Moscow was well aware of the US-led military bloc’s push to deploy troops in Ukraine.

“We hear both French and English speech there. There is nothing good in this, first of all for them, because they die there and in large numbers,” he said.

He also weighed in on a potential full-scale conflict between NATO and Russia, warning that it could not be ruled out. “Anything is possible in the modern world… But everyone knows that this would be one step shy of a full-scale World War III. I don’t think that anyone is interested in that.”

French President Emmanuel Macron suggested last month that the West “cannot exclude” the possibility of sending soldiers to aid Ukraine. Later, he also described Russia as an “adversary,” insisting, however, that Paris is not “waging war on” Moscow.

Commenting on Macron’s remarks, Putin noted that while NATO troops in Ukraine are expected to act as an auxiliary force, helping Kiev train its military, “this is not much different from what mercenaries are doing there now.” Russia, he added, wants France not to escalate the conflict but to help find a peaceful solution to hostilities.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine says Russian missile attack kills one, injures 8 in Mykolaiv

A man was killed and at least eight people were wounded in a Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said, after an overnight strike on Odesa on the last day of Russia's presidential election.

Mykolaiv's regional governor, Vitaliy Kim, said on Telegram that said there had been two strikes on Mykolaiv from the same direction as the strike on Odesa, adding that a man born in 1974 died in hospital and the injured included a girl born in 2013.

Ukraine's ministry of internal affairs shared images of damaged houses, wrecked or burnt-out cars, including one with a pair of abandoned shoes and other damaged items strewn on the ground alongside its open driver's door, and rescue workers helping people leave the scene and dousing a blackened car.

"Police found an injured girl with shrapnel wounds who was given first aid on the spot and taken to hospital," the ministry said on its Telegram channel of the aftermath in Mykolaiv.

Separately, the Ukrainian military said Russian air attacks had damaged agricultural enterprises and destroyed several industrial buildings in the port city of Odesa.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 16 drones and seven missiles and 14 drones were destroyed over the Odesa region.

Moscow has accused Kyiv of election sabotagewith days of strikes on Russian infrastructure, one of the most sweeping air operations on Russian territory since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine two years ago.

RT/Reuters