2024-07-29 01:53:21
Ukraine sets fire to a Russian oil depot. Putin threatens the West with a response to US missiles in Germany. All information in the news blog.
0.37 am: According to Russian sources, a Ukrainian drone attack damaged a power plant in the southwestern Russian region of Oryol. “There are no casualties,” declared the governor of the region, Andrei Klitschkov, on the short message service Telegram. Two drones were destroyed. The exact number of drones shot down is currently unclear. Further details on the extent of the damage to the power plant and possible effects on the energy supply are currently not available.
17:51: The Ukrainian military has reportedly inflicted heavy losses on Russian troops in Luhansk in the east of the country with a missile attack. Members of an armored infantry unit were fired upon with ATACMS missiles during a gathering at a training ground, Ukrainian media reported, citing Russian social media and its own military circles.
At least 19 Russian soldiers were killed and another 71 wounded in the surprise attack, which is said to have taken place on Saturday. The information could not be independently verified.
2.47 p.m.: At the large naval parade in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to react with dozens of warships to the planned stationing of US missiles in Germany in 2026. If the plans are implemented, Russia will react in a “mirror-like” manner and will no longer feel obliged to an earlier ban on land-based medium-range nuclear weapons.
The INF Treaty banning these weapons is no longer valid anyway after the USA withdrew from it in 2019. According to Putin, however, Russia had so far imposed a moratorium and continued to adhere to the agreements. The USA, on the other hand, has long complained about Russian violations of the treaty.
Russia had sharply criticized the US decision announced this month to station cruise missiles and rockets in Germany in 2026 as an additional deterrent. Putin himself complained about a relapse into the Cold War. The plans are seen as a reaction to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
9.10 am: According to authorities, an oil depot caught fire during a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian region of Kursk. Three fuel tanks on the airport grounds caught fire and fire-fighting operations are ongoing, said acting governor Alexei Smirnov in his Telegram channel this morning. “No one was injured among the residents and workers of the industrial facility.” Dozens of firefighters are reportedly working to extinguish the fire.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow also reported several more Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian territory, including the border region of Kursk. Ukraine bombards Russian targets on a daily basis, including on the territory of its neighboring country, in order to stop military supplies. With Western help, the country, which has been defending itself against the Russian war of aggression for more than two years, has significantly expanded its own production of drones.
5.55 am: More than 75 percent of injured Ukrainian soldiers return to duty after rehabilitation, Deputy Defense Minister Natalia Kalmykova told the Ukrainian news agency Interfax Ukraine. Kyiv has not provided information on the total number of injured Ukrainian soldiers since the start of the large-scale Russian invasion. President Volodymyr Zelensky recently spoke of at least 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers, reports Kyiv Independent. Soldiers who have suffered injuries of varying severity can undergo rehabilitation in almost all civilian and military health facilities, Kalmykova said.