2023-05-03 06:42:18
Zelensky says he was not notified of leaked US documents
Ukrainian President Zelensky said in an interview published by the Washington Post that he learned from the press, not from Washington, of the existence of a leak of confidential American documents concerning his country’s war against Russia.
“I did not receive any information from the White House or the Pentagon beforehand,” he told the American daily, adding: “We did not have this information, I did not have it”. , deplores the Ukrainian president.
Classified US documents, released to the press in early April as a result of online leaks, detail Washington’s views on the war in Ukraine, including the worrying state of Ukraine’s air defenses as of late February.
Another derailment of a freight train due to an explosive device in Russia
A Russian freight train derailed after the detonation of an explosive device, the second in two days, while acts of sabotage multiply.
Russia and annexed Crimea are the target of a series of attacks which kyiv, which recently claimed that its preparations for a counter-offensive were nearing completion, has not claimed responsibility for.
In four days, explosive devices derailed two freight trains and damaged a high-voltage line in the Leningrad region (north-west), a drone attack caused a huge fire in an oil depot in annexed Crimea and a Ukrainian strike left four dead in the Bryansk region.
“An unidentified explosive device exploded near Snejetskaya station,” said the governor of the Bryansk region, bordering Ukraine, Alexander Bogomaz.
“The incident led to the derailment of a locomotive and several train carriages,” he added, adding that there were no casualties.
The station is located two kilometers from the region’s main city, Bryansk, which has a population of nearly 370,000.
A burning fuel depot in Crimea
A fuel depot caught fire overnight in the Russian village of Volna, near Crimea, the governor of Krasnodar Krai, Veniamine Kondratiev, announced on Telegram.
“A tank with petroleum products caught fire in the village of Volna in the Temryuksky district. The fire has been assigned the highest degree of severity,” wrote Mr. Kondratiev, who did not mention the cause of the disaster.
“According to preliminary information, there are no deaths or injuries” and there is “no threat against the residents” of the village, he added.
EU pushes fires to produce 1 million shells a year
The European Commission will today propose a financial instrument to boost the European Union’s ammunition production capacity to one million shells per year in order to replenish its arsenals and help Ukraine. This proposal is the third phase of the action plan approved at the end of March by the EU to provide at least one million 155 mm shells to the Ukrainian forces and to replenish the strategic stocks of European countries, some of which are close to breaking down. It will be endowed with 500 million euros, including 260 million from the European Defense Fund. It will make it possible to co-finance the investments of manufacturers to increase the production of their factories in the EU. About fifteen companies produce in eleven Member States.
These manufacturers “do not currently have the scope to meet the security needs of Ukraine and our Member States. But they have all the potential to do so,” according to Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton, who visited the sites of the main EU ammunition producers.
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