WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Air defence systems repelling Russian missile attacks in Kyiv region, officials say

Air defence systems were repelling missile attacks in the early hours on Monday in the Kyiv region, local authorities said, after air raid alerts were issued throughout all of Ukraine by emergency services.

"Air defences are at work!" Kyiv's regional administration wrote on the Telegram messaging app, after reports of explosions heard in the region.

"Keep calm! Stay in shelters until the air alarm goes off!"

Ukrainian media also reported blasts in the Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the reports ot blasts.

** Russia pledges harsh response after Polish 'seizure' of embassy school

Russia on Saturday promised it would respond harshly to what it said was Poland's illegal seizure of its embassy school in Warsaw, an act it called a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.

Polish state-run news channel TVP Info had earlier reported that police had showed up outside the Russian embassy school on Kielecka street in Warsaw on Saturday morning.

When asked about the incident, a Polish foreign ministry spokesman told Reuters the building housing the embassy school belonged to the Polish state.

Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement that the Polish authorities had burst onto the embassy school's grounds with the aim of seizing it.

"We regard this latest hostile act by the Polish authorities as a blatant violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and as an encroachment on Russian diplomatic property in Poland," the ministry said.

"Such an insolent step by Warsaw, which goes beyond the framework of civilised inter-state relations, will not remain without a harsh reaction and consequences for the Polish authorities and Polish interests in Russia," it said.

Russia's Investigative Committee said late on Saturday on the Telegram messaging app that it will give "a legal assessment" of the "seizure," but it did not provide any further details.

Lukasz Jasina, a Polish foreign ministry spokesman, told Reuters that it was Russia's right to protest but that Poland was acting within the law.

"Our opinion, which has been confirmed by the courts, is that this property belongs to the Polish state and was taken by Russia illegally," he said.

Sergei Andreyev, Moscow's ambassador to Poland, had earlier told Russian state news agencies that the building housing the embassy school was a diplomatic one which Polish authorities had no right to seize.

The two countries' already fraught relations have soured further over the war in Ukraine with Warsaw positioning itself as one of Kyiv's staunchest allies, playing a leading role in persuading allies to provide it with heavy weaponry.

Andreyev, the Russian ambassador, said earlier this week that Polish prosecutors had seized significant amounts of money from the frozen bank accounts of the Russian embassy and trade mission.

In March 2022, Poland said it was expelling 45 Russian diplomats suspected of working for Moscow's intelligence services.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian ammunition train destroyed – Russian MOD

Russian forces have destroyed a Ukrainian train carrying up to 200 tons of ammunition, Moscow’s Defense Ministry claimed on Sunday. The strike reportedly occurred in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic, near the city of Kramatorsk, which remains under Ukrainian control.

The Russian military has also been actively targeting Ukrainian artillery units, the ministry spokesman, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, announced during a media briefing.

“Over the past 24 hours, tactical and army aviation, missile and artillery units of the Russian Armed Forces hit 82 Ukrainian artillery units at their firing positions, manpower and equipment in 115 areas,” Konashenkov stated.

The attack on the train appears to be the largest military gain of the day, but earlier Russian forces also claimed a strike on a command post of Ukraine’s 81st airborne brigade near the village of Belogorovka, in Lugansk People’s Republic.

Over the past few days, both Russian and Ukrainian forces have been ramping up long-range strikes against each other.

On Saturday, the Russian military claimed the destruction of a major Ukrainian command center, responsible for operations of Kiev’s southern troops. The bombing was carried out with sea-based cruise missiles, according to Moscow.

Earlier this week, the Russian military launched a major missile salvo at Ukraine, targeting multiple groupings of Ukrainian military reserves. The military said the strike was a success, and prevented the redeployment of reserves toward the front line.

During the bombardment, a multi-story residential building was damaged in the Ukrainian city of Uman, with more than 20 civilians killed, according to Kiev. While it was not immediately clear what exactly hit the building, Ukrainian authorities have blamed Moscow for the incident. However, Kiev’s own troops have hit civilian targets in the country – and even beyond – with air defense projectiles on multiple occasions during the conflict, which has been raging since February 2022.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has intensified the shelling of Russia’s border regions, including the city of Donetsk, which has been subjected to artillery and rocket attacks on an almost daily basis. On Friday the city endured a massive shelling, which destroyed and damaged multiple residential buildings and critical infrastructure, leaving at least nine civilians dead and over a dozen injured.

Overnight, Kiev’s forces shelled the village of Suzemka in Russia’s Bryansk Region, killing at least four civilians according to the local Governor, Aleksandr Bogomaz.

Reuters/RT