RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Russia delivers 35 precision strikes on Ukrainian military sites over week — top brass
Russian troops delivered 35 strikes by long-range precision weapons against Ukrainian energy sites, military-industrial enterprises, railway infrastructure, warehouses and fuel depots, army and mercenaries’ deployment areas over the past week in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Saturday.
"On April 20-27 of this year, the Russian Armed Forces delivered 35 combined strikes by seaborne and air-launched long-range precision weapons, including by Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles in retaliation to the Kiev regime’s attempts to inflict damage on Russia’s energy and industry facilities. The strikes targeted Ukrainian energy sites, military-industrial enterprises and railway infrastructure, air defense systems, arsenals, fuel depots, workshops for the production and repair of naval drones and unmanned aerial vehicles," the ministry said in a statement.
Russia’s strikes also targeted temporary deployment sites of nationalist formations and foreign mercenaries, massed Ukrainian manpower and military equipment at railway loading stations, it specified.
** Russian forces inflict over 3,890 casualties on Ukrainian army in Donetsk area over week
The Ukrainian army lost more than 3,890 troops, four tanks and 17 electronic warfare stations in battles with Russian forces in the Donetsk area over the past week, the ministry reported.
"Over the week, the enemy’s losses in that direction amounted to more than 3,890 personnel, four tanks, nine armored combat vehicles, 51 motor vehicles and 22 field artillery guns, among them a Paladin self-propelled artillery system and five M777 howitzers of US manufacture. Russian forces also destroyed 17 Nota, Anklav and Bukovel-AD electronic warfare stations and 22 field ammunition depots," the ministry said.
** Russian air defenses destroy almost 1,700 Ukrainian UAVs over week
Russian combat aircraft and air defense forces shot down 2 Ukrainian warplanes and almost 1,700 enemy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the past week, the ministry reported.
"Over the week, aircraft and air defense capabilities shot down Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 and Su-25 aircraft, 18 French-made Hammer guided aerial bombs, a Tochka-U tactical missile, 35 rockets of the HIMARS, Olkha and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems and 1,659 unmanned aerial vehicles," the ministry said.
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Russian missiles pound power plants in central and western Ukraine
Russian missiles pounded power facilities in central and western Ukraine on Saturday, increasing pressure on the ailing energy system as the country faces a shortage of air defences despite a breakthrough in U.S. military aid.
The air strike, carried out with long-range missiles, including cruise missiles fired by Russian strategic bombers based in the Arctic Circle, was the fourth large-scale aerial assault targeting the power system since March 22.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy repeated a plea to partners for defensive missiles, notably the Patriot system. He said the targets included electricity and gas transit facilities, in particular those important for gas supply to the European Union, though he did not say whether any such facilities were damaged.
Russia continues to supply gas to the EU via Ukraine under a transit deal with Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM) that is set to expire in December and which Ukraine says it does not plan to extend.
"The enemy again massively shelled Ukrainian energy facilities," said DTEK, Ukraine's largest private electricity company, adding that four of its six thermal power plants had suffered damage overnight.
Rescuers battled to put out fires at several energy facilities in the western regions of Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, which border NATO members Poland and Romania, officials said.
After strikes on energy facilities in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, running water supplies were disrupted in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih, officials said.
Ukrainian air defences brought down 21 of the 34 incoming missiles, the commander of the air force said in a statement.
None of the facilities hit was identified by name, a security measure intended to prevent Russia quickly assessing the impact of its strikes.
Zelenskiy said the trajectories and nature of the attack had been calculated to make preventing it as hard as possible. "Each downed rocket today is a significant result," he said.
Ukraine's state-run oil and gas firm Naftogaz said Russia had attacked its facilities but that no-one was hurt and supplies to Ukrainian consumers and clients were unaffected.
Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, denies targeting civilians but says the Ukrainian energy system is a legitimate military target. Ukrainian authorities said one energy worker was hurt overnight.
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, which has been heavily bombed in recent weeks, a missile struck a hospital holding 60 patients overnight, injuring a woman and damaging the building, nearby water pipes and power lines, the regional governor said.
Ukraine, which has tried to take the fight back to Russia in recent months using long-range drones, attacked the Ilsky and Slavyansk oil refineries in Russia's Krasnodar region overnight, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters.
The drone strike conducted by the SBU security service caused fires at the facilities, the source said. Russia's Kushchevsk military airfield was also attacked in the southern region, the source added.
The Slavyansk oil refinery was forced to suspend some operations after being damaged in the attack, Russian state news agency TASS cited an executive overseeing the plant as saying.
ROLLING BLACKOUTS
Ukraine has lost 80% of its thermal power generation and 35% of its hydroelectric capacity during Russian attacks, officials say.
Though the core of the energy system comes from nuclear power, that lost capacity serves a balancing function in the grid and its loss could be a big problem when consumption rises later this year, officials say.
Rolling blackouts have been introduced in several regions, but the full impact of the attacks has not been felt as consumption, which peaks in winter and the height of summer, is low because of mild weather.
There were no planned blackouts for now in Lviv region, but the governor urged residents to economise on electricity use, especially during the evening hours of peak consumption. He said the two critical energy infrastructure objects in Stryi and Chervonohrad districts were damaged in Saturday's attack.
Zelenskiy called for more air defence supplies, faster deliveries and decisive actions from Kyiv's allies.
The United States approved a major aid package for Ukraine this week, overcoming a congressional deadlock that dragged on for six months as Kyiv's weapon stocks became depleted.
The Pentagon said on Friday it would buy $6 billion worth of new weapons for Ukraine including interceptors for the Patriot air defence system.
Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles, who visited Lviv on Saturday, announced a $100 million military aid package including short-range air defence and drones with air-to-ground precision munitions coming separately.
Tass/Reuters
