WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Russia blames Ukraine drone attack for major Crimea fuel depot fire
A Ukrainian drone strike set ablaze a Russian fuel storage facility in the Crimean port of Sevastopol early on Saturday, sending a vast column of black smoke into the sky in the latest attack on the Russia-occupied peninsula.
The city's Moscow-installed governor blamed Ukraine and later said the fire had been put out before a disaster occurred.
A Ukrainian military intelligence official said more than 10 tanks of oil products with a capacity of about 40,000 tonnes intended for use by Russia's Black Sea Fleet were destroyed, RBC Ukraine reported.
The strike came as Ukraine prepares for a long-promised counter offensive to push Russian forces back from territory they seized since invading in February 2022.
Ukraine says control of all its legal territory, including Crimea, is a key condition for any peace deal. Russian forces occupied the peninsula in 2014.
Moscow has accused Kyiv of sending waves of aerial and seaborne drones to attack Crimea.
Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said only one drone hit the oil tanks.
"The enemy ... wanted to take Sevastopol by surprise, as usual, by staging a sneak attack in the morning," Razvozhaev wrote on the Telegram app. Russian firefighters had shown how to defeat a major blaze "and prevent a catastrophe", he added.
Ukraine lacks longer-range missiles that can reach targets in places such as Sevastopol, but has been developing drones to overcome this hurdle.
Ukrainian officials do not usually claim responsibility for explosions at military sites in Crimea, although they sometimes celebrate them using euphemistic language.
Andriy Yusov, a Ukrainian military official, did not say Ukraine carried out the attack. Instead, he told RBC the blast was "God's punishment" for a Russian strikeon the Ukrainian city of Uman on Friday that killed 23 people.
"This punishment will be long-lasting. In the near future, it is better for all residents of temporarily occupied Crimea not to be near military facilities and facilities that provide for the aggressor's army," RBC quoted Yusov as saying.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv would do all it could to ensure that those responsible for the attack on Uman be held accountable as soon as possible.
"You are all terrorists and murderers and you must all be punished," he said in an evening video address.
Zelenskiy did not refer directly to the months-long fighting for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, focus of repeated Russian assaults that have slowly closed in on the centre.
** Ukraine controls key supply route into Bakhmut - Military
Ukraine remains in control of a key supply route into Bakhmut, but the situation remains "really difficult" in the besieged eastern city, a Ukrainian military spokesman said on Saturday.
Russian forces have been trying for 10 months to punch their way into the shattered remains of what was once a city of 70,000. Kyiv has pledged to defend Bakhmut, which Russia sees as a stepping stone to attacking other cities.
"For several weeks, the Russians have been talking about seizing the 'road of life,' as well as about constant fire control over it," Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukrainian troops in the east, said in an interview with local news website Dzerkalo Tyzhnia.
"Yes, it is really difficult there, because their attempts to seize the road continue, as well as attempts to establish fire control. But ... the defence forces have not allowed the Russians to 'cut off' our logistics."
The "road of life" is a vital road between the ruined Bakhmut and the nearby town Chasiv Yar to the west - a distance of just over 17 km (10.56 miles).
If Bakhmut fell, Chasiv Yar would probably be next to come under Russian attack according to military analysts, though it is on higher ground and Ukrainian forces are believed to have built defensive fortifications nearby.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, who has often claimed unverifiable successes, said that his forces have advanced some 100 to 150 metres (109 to 164 yards) in Bakhmut, leaving just under 3 square km of the city in Ukrainian hands.
But he added that 94 of his troops died.
"It would have had been five times fewer if we had more ammunition," Prigozhin said in an audio statement published on the Telegram messaging app of his press service on Saturday evening.
He has often said the regular armed forces are not giving his men the ammunition they need and has sometimes accused top brass of betrayal.
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Ex-Russian president calls for ‘complete’ dismantling of ‘Kiev regime’
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called for the “complete dismantling” of the “Kiev regime,” as well as for inflicting “mass destruction” on the country’s military personnel and hardware.
Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chair of Russia’s National Security Council, made the remarks in a Telegram post on Friday, commenting on an interview Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky recently gave to several Nordic media outlets. He summarized Zelensky’s comments as consisting of demands for more weapons from Kiev’s Western backers and promises of a successful counteroffensive, including an attack on Crimea, while also warning that the conflict may drag on for “decades.”
While the interview appeared to be “contradictory” and “delusional,” even such statements should not be underestimated, Medvedev warned.
One should not underestimate even delusional speeches. This is a hysterical manifesto of the Kiev regime, which is seeking to consolidate its Nazi elites, maintain the morale of the troops and receive additional support from its sponsors.
To successfully foil Kiev’s plans, Russia must inflict “mass destruction of personnel and military equipment” during the much-hyped Ukrainian counteroffensive and inflict a “maximum military defeat” on Kiev’s military, Medvedev said. Ultimately, the “Nazi regime in Kiev” must be “completely dismantled” and demilitarized throughout the entire territory of “former Ukraine,”he added.
Apart from that, Russia must pursue those who manage to flee, and seek “retribution” against the “key figures of the Nazi regime, regardless of their location and without statute of limitations,” Medvedev stressed. Anything short of that would not suffice, the ex-president believes.
“Otherwise, they will not calm down, and the drug-addled nonsense can turn into reality and the war will drag on for a long time. Our country does not need that,”Medvedev said.
The ex-president has repeatedly warned Kiev against any attempts to seize the Crimean peninsula, which broke away from Ukraine in the aftermath of the 2014 Maidan coup and joined Russia after locals overwhelmingly supported such a move during a referendum.
Last month, Medvedev issued a nuclear warning to Kiev, cautioning that any attempt at a “serious offensive” targeting the peninsula would be “the basis for the use of all means of protection, including those provided for by the fundamentals of the Doctrine of Nuclear Deterrence.”
** Ukrainian command center destroyed – Moscow
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Saturday that it has destroyed a major Ukrainian command center. Cruise missiles launched from the sea were used to target the facility, the ministry’s spokesman, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, announced during a media briefing.
“On the evening of April 28 of this year, Russia’s Armed Forces delivered a group strike with sea-based long-range precision weapons at the location of the commanding officers of Ukraine’s joint troops grouping ‘Kherson,’” Konashenkov stated, adding that the goal of the strike “had been achieved.” The official did not provide any estimates on potential Ukrainian casualties.
The strike comes as both sides in the ongoing conflict, which has been raging since February 2022, have seemingly ramped up long-range attacks against each another. Earlier this week, Russia launched a cruise missile salvo targeting groupings of Ukrainian military reserves. The strikes successfully prevented their redeployment towards the frontline, according to the Russian military.
As a result of the attack a multistory residential building was damaged in the Ukrainian city of Uman, located in the central Cherkasy Region. It was not immediately clear what exactly struck the building, given the many instances of Ukrainian air defense projectiles having hit civilian sites in the country and even beyond. Nevertheless, Kiev squarely blamed Russia for the incident, which left more than 20 civilians dead, according to local officials.
Ukrainian forces, meanwhile, appear to have intensified attacks on residential areas in the Russian city of Donetsk, which has seen almost daily shelling throughout the conflict. On Friday, the city and its vicinity were subjected to particularly intense shelling, which left at least nine civilians dead and over a dozen injured. The attacks destroyed multiple residential homes and damaged a local hospital. Kiev’s forces also landed a direct hit on a passenger bus, killing all of its occupants.
The uptick in strikes comes ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive, long-advertised by the country’s top officials. On Friday, President Vladimir Zelensky said he expected the offensive to be “successful,” dismissing Western concerns over Ukraine’s capabilities that have appeared in several media outlets in recent weeks.
“A counteroffensive will happen. We are preparing for it,” Zelensky said in an interview with several Nordic media outlets. “I strongly believe that it will be successful and that we will de-occupy our territories.”
Reuters/RT
