2023-05-04 11:36:33
It is a drone incursion in Moscow which would be a first since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February 2022. Russia claimed, this Wednesday, May 3, to have shot down two Ukrainian drones which targeted the Kremlin in Moscow. “Last night, the Kiev regime tried to hit the Kremlin” with two drones that were “disabled” by electronic warfare systems, the Russian presidency said.
Russia considers “these actions as an attempted terrorist act and an attempt on the life of President” Vladimir Putin. The Russian Investigative Committee said in the evening that it had opened an investigation for terrorism “in connection with an attempt to strike the residence of the Russian president in the Kremlin”. “Russia reserves the right to take retaliatory measures,” the Kremlin added. The United States, allies of kyiv, however said to take with “great precaution” the accusations of the Kremlin.
A wave of “unprecedented” sabotage on its soil
Russia on Thursday denounced a wave of “terrorist activities” and “unprecedented” Ukrainian “sabotage” on its soil, the day after an alleged drone attack targeting the Kremlin that Moscow blamed on Kiev.
“The terrorist and sabotage activities of the Ukrainian armed forces are taking on an unprecedented scale”, denounced the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release
Zelensky at the ICC
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived Thursday morning at the headquarters of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the court which issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin in March. Volodymyr Zelensky, whose unexpected visit to the Netherlands is framed by important security measures, arrived around 10:00 a.m. (08:00 GMT) at the seat of the Court in The Hague, observed an AFP correspondent.
Dressed in his usual green clothes, flanked by several members of his staff wearing combat gear, the Ukrainian president was greeted by the president of the jurisdiction, Piotr Hofmański, and other high-ranking officials. A Ukrainian flag was hoisted next to the ICC banner.
18 drones neutralized in Ukraine
Ukraine said on Thursday it shot down 18 out of 24 drones sent by Russia overnight, a day after Moscow accused Kiev of launching a drone attack on the Kremlin.
“The encapsulators launched 24 Shahed 136/131 drones. The Ukrainian Air Force, in cooperation with the other air defense units, shot down 18 drones,” she said in a statement on Telegram.
Zelensky denies any Ukrainian attack on Putin
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday denied any Ukrainian attack targeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, after Moscow claimed to have shot down two drones launched against the Kremlin compound in Moscow.
“We did not attack Putin. We leave him to the court. We are fighting on our territory, we are defending our villages and our cities”, affirmed the Ukrainian head of state during a press conference in Helsinki with leaders from northern European countries. “We are not attacking Putin or Moscow. We don’t have enough weapons for that,” he added. Asked about Moscow’s reasons for accusing kyiv, Volodymyr Zelensky replied that “Russia does not win victories” in Ukraine. “He (Putin) can no longer motivate his society and he can no longer send his army to die for nothing,” he argued.
In one of the videos broadcast by Russian media on social networks, we see a device explode in a sheaf of flames at the top – surmounted by a Russian flag – of the dome of the Palace of the Senate, one of the main buildings in the enclosure of the Kremlin.
Suspected drone attack: Dmitry Medvedev calls to “eliminate” Zelensky
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday called for the “elimination” of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in retaliation for the alleged drone attack on the Kremlin, blamed by Moscow on Kiev.
“After today’s terrorist attack, there is no alternative but the physical elimination of Zelensky and his clique,” wrote on Telegram Dmitry Medvedev, current number two of the Russian Security Council and customary vitriolic statements.
Station and supermarket: 21 dead in Russian strikes on Kherson in Ukraine
“Massive” Russian strikes left 21 dead and 48 injured on Wednesday in the Kherson region (southern Ukraine), notably in a train station and a supermarket, according to the latest report released. “At present, 21 people have been killed and 48 injured! In less than a day! In one region alone!”, President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram messaging. A previous assessment of the Ukrainian presidency reported 18 dead and 46 wounded, and specified that the attacks were continuing.
“A train station and a crossroads, a building, a tool shop, a supermarket and a petrol station: do you know what these places have in common? The bloody trail that Russia leaves with its shells, killing civilians in Kherson and in the region”, wrote the Ukrainian president again. “The world must see and know,” he added. “We will never forgive. We will overcome […] and all perpetrators will be held accountable,” he wrote.
A “strange” affair according to the head of French diplomacy
The case of Ukrainian drones that Russia says it shot down because they allegedly targeted Vladimir Putin “is strange to say the least”, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on France Inter on Thursday. Catherine Colonna, however, refused to “indulge in the little game of hypotheses”. The fact that drones reach the Kremlin “is quite difficult to understand in normal situations”, she also reacted. She recalled that the Ukrainians “officially declared yesterday that they had nothing to do with this event which remains unexplained”.
Russia: Drone attack burns down oil refinery
A drone attack in southern Russia has caused a fire at an oil refinery, Russia’s official TASS news agency reported on Thursday (May 4). The fire, now extinguished, broke out in a tank at the facility in Ilsky, Krasnodar region, after an attack by “an unidentified drone”, according to an emergency services official quoted by the report. TASS agency.
Local governor Venamin Kondratiev said on Telegram that the fire was contained to an area of 400 square meters and then quickly extinguished by emergency services. This incident comes after several drone attacks denounced by Russia, including one having aimed, according to Moscow, to assassinate President Vladimir Putin.
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