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Ukraine destroyed a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber aircraft and an ammunition depot at an airfield some 165 miles from the frontline of the war, Kyiv’s military intelligence unit has claimed.
The attack on the Morozovsk airfield in Russia’s Rostov region on Saturday is also likely to have damaged two other Su-34 warplanes, Ukraine’s military said, citing satellite imagery.
It came as Volodymyr Zelensky unveiled the first Western-supplied F-16 warplanes to arrive in Ukraine, and asked for Nato allies to help protect them.
“These jets are in our sky and today you see them,” the Ukrainian president said from an undisclosed airbase, standing in front of two of the jets as others flew overhead.
Mr Putin has warned that Moscow could consider launching strikes at facilities in Nato countries if they host the warplanes used in Ukraine.
The arrival of the planes will bolster Ukrainian morale on the frontline, battered by incessant Russian strikes. Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said the arrival of the F-16s “means that more occupiers will be neutralised.”
Key Points
- Zelensky shows off Ukraine's new F-16 fighter jets
- Ukraine says it struck Russia’s Morozovsk airfield
- Ukraine accuses Russia of dismembering war prisoner
- Kyiv targets occupied Crimea with ‘massive’ strike
Pictured: Patriot air defence system
Senior Russian military official arrest for fraud
The director of the Russian military’s main congress centre and a top defence ministry official have been arrested on fraud charges as part of a sweeping probe into abuse of office in the country’s military leadership.
The Investigative Committee, Russia’s top state criminal investigation agency, announced that Vyacheslav Akhmedov, head of the Patriot Park was arrested on charges of fraud.
Major General Vladimir Shesterov, deputy head of the defence ministry’s innovations department, was detained along with Akhmedov.
The committee said the two men are suspected of embezzling government funds earmarked for the Patriot Park, a gigantic military exhibition and congress centre just west of Moscow.
Their detention follows a series of arrests of senior military officials who were part of an inner circle of Sergei Shoigu, whom Mr Putin dismissed as defence minister soon after his May inauguration for a new term.
Jabed Ahmed5 August 2024 16:00 1722868206Ukraine says Mali’s decision to cut ties was hasty and short-sighted
Ukraine condemned Mali’s decision to cut diplomatic ties as short-sighted and hasty, saying that no evidence had been provided to show Kyiv had played any role in fighting that killed Malian soldiers and Russian mercenaries last month.
The foreign ministry issued the statement on its website after Bamako announced on Sunday it was immediately severing relations with Kyiv following remarks by Ukraine‘s military spy agency about fighting in northern Mali in late July.
“It is regrettable that ... Mali decided to sever ... relations ... without conducting a thorough study of the facts and circumstances of the incident ... and without providing any evidence of Ukraine‘s involvement in the said event,” the Ukrainian foreign ministry said.
Jabed Ahmed5 August 2024 15:30 1722866100Ukraine claims to destroy Russian warplane in attack in Rostov
Ukraine destroyed a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber aircraft and an ammunition depot at an airfield some 165 miles from the frontline of the war, Kyiv’s military intelligence unit has claimed.
The attack on the Morozovsk airfield in Russia’s Rostov region on Saturday is also likely to have damaged two other Su-34 warplanes, Ukraine’s military said, citing satellite imagery.
Four technical buildings and two hangars were also damaged, officials claimed.
Andy Gregory5 August 2024 14:55 1722865024EU sanctions 28 Belarus officials accused of human rights violations
The European Union has sanctioned 28 officials accused of human rights violations in Belarus and linked to the ongoing crackdown against opponents of the country’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
In a move just ahead of the anniversary of the disputed 2020 elections that brought Mr Lukashenko to power, the EU said it had frozen the assets of prosecutors and judges “who have issued politically motivated sentences”.
Others targeted included senior officials at the Belarus interior ministry’s department for combatting organised crime and corruption, as well as top officials at some of the country’s prisons and alleged “regime propagandists” working in the media.
The EU said the ministerial department “is one of the main bodies responsible for political persecution in Belarus, including arbitrary and unlawful arrests and ill-treatment, including torture, of activists and members of civil society”.
Last Thursday, two Belarusian journalists working for news outlets that the government has declared extremist were handed prison sentences in a closed-door trial.
Andy Gregory5 August 2024 14:37 1722861480Putin offers disaster aid to North Korea to help it cope with recent flooding damage
Vladimir Putin has offered humanitarian assistance to help North Korea cope with damages from recent floods, both countries said, in another sign of expanding relations between the two nations.
In a message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the Russian president extended “extended deep sympathy and support” and conveyed his willingness to provide immediate disaster aid to help North Korea recover from the floods, the Korean Central News Agency reported.
Russia’s state news agency Tass carried a similar report, saying that Mr Putin told Mr Kim in the message: “You can always count on our assistance and support.”
Ties between North Korea and Russia have been improving significantly amid widespread outside beliefs that North Korea has supplied conventional weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance.
Hyung-Jin Kim has more in this report:
Russia's Putin offers disaster aid to North Korea to help it cope with recent flooding damage
Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered humanitarian assistance to help North Korea cope with damages from recent floods, in another sign of expanding relations between the two nations
AP5 August 2024 13:38 1722859306Russia detains another senior defence ministry official
Russian authorities have detained another senior defence ministry official, Russia’s investigative committee has said – marking the latest such arrest since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The committee said Major General Vladimir Shesterov was detained as part of an investigation into suspected fraud and of embezzlement.
Andy Gregory5 August 2024 13:01 1722858073Russia’s Shoigu arrives in Tehran for talks with Iranian president
Russia’s security council secretary Sergei Shoigu has arrived in Tehran for talks with Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.
Iran has vowed to “punish” Israel after Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas, was assassinated in Tehran last week, with Russia also condemning the killing and pointing to “the extremely dangerous consequences of such actions”.
Mr Shoigu, who was Russia’s defence minister before being moved to the security council in May, will also meet Iran’s national security chief and the head of the general staff, Interfax said.
Russia has cultivated closer ties with Iran since the start of its war with Ukraine and has said it is preparing to sign a wide-ranging cooperation agreement with the Tehran.
Andy Gregory5 August 2024 12:41 1722853492New US grant will help fund social and humanitarian spending in Ukraine, Kyiv says
A $3.9bn grant from the United States will be directed towards wages for teachers, staff of the State Emergency Service and other public employees, as well as assistance for displaced persons, low-income families and people with disabilities, Ukraine’s finance ministry has said.
“The grant will help the government of Ukraine to reimburse priority social and humanitarian expenditures without increasing the debt burden,” finance minister Serhiy Marchenko said on Monday.
The ministry said that, since February 2022, direct budget support from the US had reached almost $27bn, the largest source of financial assistance to Ukraine. Mr Marchenko said the grant was a part of a large $60bn package of support for Ukraine.
Andy Gregory5 August 2024 11:24 1722851805Mali severs diplomatic ties with Ukraine over fight involving Wagner mercenaries
Mali has announced an immediate severing of diplomatic ties with Ukraine over comments about fighting in the north of the West African nation, in which Malian soldiers and Wagner fighters were killed in late July.
Mali’s northern Tuareg rebels say they killed at least 84 Russian Wagner mercenaries and 47 Malian soldiers over days of fierce fighting, in what appears to be Wagner’s heaviest defeat since it stepped in two years ago to help Mali’s military authorities fight insurgent groups.
Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency has not confirmed Kyiv’s involvement in the fighting but, in comments published by public broadcaster Suspilne on Monday, GUR spokesperson Andriy Yusov said the Malian rebels had received the “necessary” information to conduct the attack.
“The rebels received all the necessary information they needed, and not just the information, which allowed [them] to conduct a successful military operation against Russian perpetrators of war crimes. We certainly won’t go into details now – you will see more of this in the future,” he said.
Mali said it had learned “with deep shock of the subversive remarks”, and said Mr Yusov had “admitted Ukraine’s involvement in a cowardly, treacherous and barbaric attack by armed terrorist groups that resulted in the death of members of the Malian Defence and Security Forces.”
“The actions taken by the Ukrainian authorities violate the sovereignty of Mali, go beyond the scope of foreign interference, which is already condemnable in itself, and constitute a clear aggression against Mali and support for international terrorism,” the Malian government said.
Andy Gregory5 August 2024 10:56 Newer1 / 7OlderDisclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
