#That was the russian drone our air forces shot down

[wistfulpoltergeist]

Ask Game: List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who liked or reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers :)

Things that make me happy: 1 - My art 2 - My cat 3 - Sunny days 4 - Damn good sleep 5 - Збитий російський літак, або корабель, або ракета, або дрон, або ще яке лайно, що суне вбивати українців.

Here's ma dancing boys to make this post fun!

I used poses by @simmireen

[usafphantom2]

Aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford will return from mission in defense of Israel

The largest aircraft carrier in the United States returns from the Mediterranean Sea, where it has been parked for almost three months.

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 03/01/2024 - 08:27in Military, War Zones

The U.S. Navy has determined that its largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), will return home after a nearly three-month mission to defend Israel in the Middle East.

The USS Gerald Ford has been stationed at a close distance of Israel's attack in the Mediterranean Sea since October, in an effort to prevent the country's war against Hamas from turning into a regional conflict. However, the U.S. Navy states that the ship will begin its journey back home "in the next few days" and will be replaced by the USS Bataan - an amphibious assault ship named after a battle fought in the Philippines during World War II.

The USS Gerald R. Ford is one of the largest aircraft carriers in the world and the latest and most advanced aircraft carrier in the United States. He was already in the Mediterranean - involved in naval exercises with Italy - before receiving orders to provide support to Israel's Defense Forces after the October 7 terrorist attacks perpetrated by Hamas.

“Immediately after Hamas' brutal attack on Israel, the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group was ordered to go to the eastern Mediterranean to contribute to our regional deterrence and defense posture,” the U.S. Navy said in a statement.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin extended Ford's detachment three times in the hope that his presence would dissuade Iran and groups aligned with Iran, especially Hezbollah from Lebanon, from attacking Israel.

The ship, which carried about 5,000 sailors and more than 100 warplanes in eight squadrons, is now returning to its naval base in Virginia. However, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower will remain in the Red Sea to face the recent attacks on commercial ships perpetrated by Yemen's Houthi rebels.

“The DoD (Department of Defense) will continue to leverage its posture of collective force in the region to dissuade any state or non-state actor from escalating this crisis beyond Gaza,” the Navy said.

At the end of October, a U.S. Navy warship located in the northern Red Sea shot down three cruise missiles along with a batch of drones that were launched from Yemen and appeared to target Israel, the Pentagon said.

Tags: Military Aviationaircraft carrierUSN - United States Navy/U.S. NavyWar Zones - Middle East

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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[mariacallous]

Morning: day 659 of the full-scale invasion

From early, picket lines are set up near the walls of Kyiv’s city state administration. My friends and acquaintances are protesting, demanding that the capital’s budget be directed not to the repaving of roads, but towards the purchase of drones and FPVs for the battlefield. People close to me are saying: “I don’t want new roads; I want my friends to come back alive.”

A deputy from Kyiv city council has the audacity to suggest that the cities have enough on their plate: let the state take care of the war budget, he argues. Cities need their budgets for maintenance. And this perfectly sums up the widening gap between civilians and the military. Every day the same discussions take place – who should be mobilised? Who is ready to enlist? Can we live our lives for anything other than the war?

We are not even talking about replacing the hundreds of thousands of military personnel who have served in the army for almost two years now. Not to mention those who were already defending the country before the invasion. The latest mobilisation is a question of somehow restoring the military after daily losses.

The night before last, Kyiv was woken up by our air-defence sirens. But they began to sound after the first explosions, which meant that no one had time to run to the shelters. Russia had fired 10 missiles and 10 attack UAVs (drones). Our air defence forces shot down all of them, but the debris fell in four Kyiv districts. Fifty-three people were injured, mostly with lacerations. Nine of the victims are children.

The Russians are targeting infrastructure to deprive civilians of heat and electricity. The harsher the winter, the more missiles we can expect. And this expectation, the psychological threat, has been going on for three months.

Noon: day 659 of the full-scale invasion

A Russian cyber-attack targets one of the major phone networks. About 20 million Ukrainians are left without mobile connection and mobile internet for three days. On social networks Ukrainians post messages of support and gratitude to the network operator for its efforts.

For three days I have been catching a signal in wifi hotspots. I think about those areas where mobile is the only way to access the internet. Finally, on the afternoon of the third day, the phone connection reappears. I call my mother. I ask whether everything is OK, whether she has been worried. She says everything is fine, it is just wartime.

Every day there are reports of the deaths of artists at the front. Friends of friends. Within one week, several members of the film community perish. A cameraman, an actor. Not for the first time, I think: Russia is knocking us out one by one, dozen by dozen. Civilians, military. Cinema, literature, visual arts, agriculture, architecture, education, economics, sports – pick any field, there are irreparable losses everywhere.

The full-scale invasion turns social media feeds into endless obituaries of black-and-white photos. And at any moment in time, when it seems that the heart can no longer contain the losses, there’s another newsflash and another death appears.

Afternoon: day 659 of the full-scale invasion

A broadcast with Vladimir Putin is on at the Kremlin – a media spectacle during which the dictator allegedly speaks to the Russian people live. And while the tsar is talking to his lackeys, he is also sending a message to Ukraine – a MiG-31K is taking off from a Russian airfield, and Kinzhal missiles are flying in our direction. Those missiles will reach Kyiv in three minutes, and Kharkiv in two.

Despair and rage.

A video appears of Russian military using captured Ukrainian soldiers as human shields. The Russians attack Ukrainian positions, hiding behind the Ukrainians.

Despair and rage.

We discuss Oleksii Anulia’s story about his time in Russian captivity. The catalogue of torture inflicted on him is unfathomable. In civilian life, he used to be a kickboxing champion and an elite sportsman. He used to weigh 102kg; he lost 40kg in captivity. Oleksii also lost 6cm in height. Barely a single organ in his body remains intact – the Russians made sure of that.

Among other inhumane punishments, prisoners had to stand still for 18 hours a day. Holding their hands behind their backs with their heads lowered, they had to splay their fingers and were not allowed to move. They cut the tendons on his thumb with a rusty knife, saying: “You were shooting at our military with this finger, killing our soldiers.”

Once Oleksii brought in an earthworm from outside. He put it in the toilet cistern and after a week he had a whole brood of them. This is how he got his first portion of protein in a long time. Another time, he was hunting a little mouse and had to shove the not-yet-killed pest into his mouth and eat it alive so that the guards would not take his nutritious prey from him.

Despair and hatred.

Evening: day 659 of the full-scale invasion

At one of the many new bookstores that, despite everything, have opened in Kyiv this year, a “book of the year” ceremony, awarded annually by editorial staff of BBC News Ukraine, is taking place.

The fifth air-raid alarm of the day sounds. The organisers suggest that in keeping with their security protocols, we should go to the air-raid shelter. To which one of the members of the jury, a respected professor, replies: “Let the BBC be scared, we are not.”

The ceremony carries on uninterrupted, but most of us have phones in our hands. Mobile internet has been restored, and we monitor Telegram channels tracking Russian missile and drone launches.

Just another day of full-scale invasion, packed with pain.

I look around the event; these are my friends and colleagues, representing several literary generations. And as has become a habit in recent months, I simply cannot help but imagine all of us dead. All. At once.

In the rest of the world, hearts are hardening. Attention is divided between conflicts. Activists’ focus is absorbed by the rise to power of populists and rightwing conservatives. But two important things remain constant in the beating of these hardened hearts of ours.

The first: Russia always strives for chaos and for rightwing politicians to be in power.

The second: what Ukrainians have had to accept – is that there will be no other life. This is the way it is. And when you hear the promise of a politician who, instead of fighting for democracy and the future, promises you a return to stability, be sure to check who is financing him. Perhaps this is another Russian puppet.

Late evening: day 659 of the full-scale invasion

News breaks about discussions on Ukraine’s accession to the EU. What started nine years ago on the Maidan is now being decided on the battlefield. The future of Europe, in which the question will be determined: where will Russia stop?

Soldiers’ canteen. Eating with a colleague. It’s the 22nd month of my service in the military. Every time I scoop up the soup, I feel like I’m sipping my own sadness. I tell her about my anxiety before missile attacks, about my anger at those who dodge serving in the armed forces, and those who desperately pretend that the war is not about them.

She listens to me, puts her plate aside, looks me in the eye and says: can you imagine Ukraine without Kharkiv? Without Kyiv? Sasha, we might lose the country. And I will be in the armed forces until this threat goes away.

These are simple, clear words. But someone has to say them out loud. And when I think about the coming year, what 2024 will bring, I realise once again that the issue is not about my personal lack of hope, burnout or my non-existence.

The question is whether my country will still be there.

And when will the F-16s finally soar in our skies.

Morning: day 660 of the full-scale invasion

9am. As it does every morning, the country stands still, for a minute of silence in memory of the dead.

The thought occurs to me that by the end of my life, these minutes of silence will add up to 24 hours of silence for those who are no longer with us.

For those thanks to whom we still exist.

Translated by Maryna Gibson

Oleksandr Mykhed is a writer and member of PEN Ukraine. His book Language of War won the George Shevelev prize on 17 December 2023 and will be published by Allen Lane in June 2024

[ukrainenews]

Daily Wrap Up May 5-7, 2023

Under the cut:

Ukraine hailed the return of 45 Azov battalion fighters captured during the battle for Mariupol while Russia said three of its pilots had been released by Kyiv, but neither side gave a full account of the apparent prisoner swap, Reuters reports. The freed Ukrainian prisoners included 42 men and three women from the Azov battalion, said Andriy Yermak, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office.

Ukraine’s air force has claimed to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using newly acquired American Patriot defence systems, the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow’s most modern missiles.

At least five people were wounded in Russian strikes on Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported in the early hours of May 8, as Moscow launched another large-scale attack on Ukraine. Three people were injured in blasts in Kyiv’s Solomyanskyi district, and two others were injured when drone wreckage fell in the Sviatoshynskyi district, both west of the capital’s center, Klitschko said via his official Telegram channel. (These numbers may continue to change. Also, due to time zones, I'm including in this wrap up because it's still 7 May for me.)

Some 1,679 people, including 660 children, have been evacuated from areas near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, a Moscow-installed official in the Russia-controlled parts of the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine said late on Sunday.

Ukraine hailed the return of 45 Azov battalion fighters captured during the battle for Mariupol while Russia said three of its pilots had been released by Kyiv, but neither side gave a full account of the apparent prisoner swap, Reuters reports.

The freed Ukrainian prisoners included 42 men and three women from the Azov battalion, said Andriy Yermak, the head of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office.

Azov battalion fighters, who did much of the fighting in the failed defence of the port city of Mariupol, have been lionized as heroes by many Ukrainians but are widely vilified in Russia.

On the Telegram app in a post that did not mention the release of Russian prisoners, Yermak said:

Excellent news on this sunny day. We are returning home 45 of our people. Thirty-five privates and sergeants, 10 officers.

The Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement that three pilots had been returned and were being provided with medical and psychological assistance.

The statement, which did not mention the 45 Ukrainian prisoners, said:

As a result of a difficult negotiation process, three Russian pilots of the Russian Aerospace Forces, who had been in mortal danger while in captivity, were returned from Kyiv-controlled territory.

There were no reports on Russian state media of additional Russian prisoner releases.

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, which coordinates prisoner exchanges with Russia, did not immediately respond to a request for more details.

Moscow and Kyiv have agreed a number of prisoner exchanges since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February last year.

Russia says it launched its “special military operation” to counter a threat from Kyiv’s relations with the west, while Ukraine and its western partners say it was an unprovoked land grab.

-via The Guardian

~

Ukraine’s air force has claimed to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using newly acquired American Patriot defence systems, the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow’s most modern missiles.

Air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a Telegram post that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile had been intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It was also the first time Ukraine is known to have used the Patriot defence systems.

“Yes, we shot down the ‘unique’ Kinzhal,” Oleshchuk wrote. “It happened during the night time attack on 4 May in the skies of the Kyiv region.”

Oleshchuk said the Kh-47 missile was launched by a MiG-31K aircraft from the Russian territory and was shot down with a Patriot missile, AP reported.

The Kinzhal is one of the latest and most advanced Russian weapons. The Russian military says the air-launched ballistic missile has a range of up to 2,000km (about 1,250 miles) and flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept.

A combination of hypersonic speed and a heavy warhead allows the Kinzhal to destroy heavily fortified targets, like underground bunkers or mountain tunnels. The Ukrainian military has previously admitted lacking assets to intercept the Kinzhals.

Ukraine took its first delivery of the Patriot missiles in late April. It has not specified how many of the systems it has, but they have been provided by the US, Germany and the Netherlands.

Germany has acknowledged sending at least one system and the Netherlands has said it has provided two.

-via The Guardian

~

At least five people were wounded in Russian strikes on Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported in the early hours of May 8, as Moscow launched another large-scale attack on Ukraine.

Three people were injured in blasts in Kyiv’s Solomyanskyi district, and two others were injured when drone wreckage fell in the Sviatoshynskyi district, both west of the capital’s center, Klitschko said via his official Telegram channel.

Two injured from the Sviatoshynskyi district were transferred to the hospital.

Klitschko later added that drone wreckage fell on a two-story building in the Sviatoshynskyi district, adding that explosions continued in Kyiv.

The city’s military administration said debris also fell in the central Shevchenkivskyi district. A high-pressure gas pipe is damaged as a result of the attacks. The first responders have been called to the scene.

A parked car caught fire in the yard of a residential building due to the falling debris, and other debris fell on a separate residential building, the roadway, and the runway of the Ihor Sikorsky Kyiv International Airport (Zhuliany), according to the administration.

The Kyiv Independent reporters had heard numerous explosions in Kyiv, with local officials saying that air defense systems were repelling the attacks.

While an air raid alert has been on, an explosion was also heard following a missile attack that hit the Black Sea city of Odesa overnight, a local Ukrainian official said. Ukrainian media reported sounds of explosions in the southern Kherson Oblast.

Russian forces fired Kh-22 missiles at the warehouse of a food company and a recreational area on the Black Sea coast, according to Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa military administration. There were no reports of casualties.

-via Kyiv Independent

~

Some 1,679 people, including 660 children, have been evacuated from areas near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, a Moscow-installed official in the Russia-controlled parts of the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine said late on Sunday.

The head of the U.N.'s nuclear power watchdog warned on Saturday that the situation around the plant has become "potentially dangerous" as Moscow-installed officials began evacuating people from nearby areas.

Ukraine is expected to start soon a much-anticipated counteroffensive to retake Russian-held territory, including in the Zaporizhzhia region.

"(The evacuees) have already been placed in the temporary accommodation centre for residents of the front-line territories of the Zaporizhzhia region in Berdiansk," Yevgeny Balitsky, Russian-installed governor of the Russia-controlled part of Zaporizhzhia region, said on his Telegram messaging channel.

Berdiansk is a south-eastern Ukrainian port city on the coast of the Sea of Azov, which has been occupied by Russia since the early days of Moscow's invasion on Ukraine in February 2022.

-via Reuters

~

[kamogryadeshi]

😡 Late yesterday evening, the Russian occupiers released drones over the Dnipro, — Regional Military Administration

There is a hit in a private enterprise of the city. A fire broke out, which the rescuers have already extinguished. There were no casualties as a result of the attack.

Two more drones shot down our air defense forces.

[blueiskewl]

New Years Eve in Kyiv

Russia went all out to ruin the New Year for Ukrainians with missile strikes and nightly drone attacks. Only in Kyiv on New Year's Eve 32 air targets were detected - and all 32 destroyed. Air defense forces with the help of NASAMS from our partners showed excellent result! 🦾🇺🇦

This is Iranian drone which was shot down over Kyiv. It fell on a playground. Russian wrote on this drone: "Boom" and "Happy New Year". Sick freaks.

[beardedmrbean]

Iran is reportedly preparing to send about 1,000 additional weapons, including short-range ballistic missiles and more attack drones, to Russia to use in its war against Ukraine.

CNN first reported the deal, citing officials from a western country that closely monitors Iran’s weapons program. Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat told Ukrainian media that the Kremlin is buying the Iskander ballistic missiles from Iran because Russia is running out of them. 

“It is theoretically possible to shoot them down but very difficult with the means we have at our disposal," Ihnat said. "We have air defense, not missile defense.”

He said he believes they will be placed on the northern border with Ukraine to fire at targets across Ukraine. Iran already has been supplying Russia with explosive drones. They have caused heavy damage to infrastructure, although the Ukrainian military says it is seeing increasing success in shooting them down.

"Transferring missiles to RF, Iran knows that it will attack our cities. Teaching Russians to use drones, it knows that they will attack energy sector," Ukraine presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted. "Tehran is an accomplice of aggression in Europe and must be officially recognized as such."

Other developments:

►A Moscow court stripped citizenship from antiwar activist Arshak Makichyan, his father and two brothers.

►The National Constitution Center will present its annual Liberty Medal to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his "heroic defense of liberty in the face of Russian tyranny." Zelenskyy said he will give the $100,000 prize to the Ukrainian Veteran Fund.

►Explosions rocked the city of Poltava in northeastern Ukraine early Tuesday,  Gov. Dmytro Lunin said on Telegram. Four Russian drones crashed into buildings and ignited fires, three other drones were shot down, Lunin said.

[panelki]

Russian Drone Barrage Injures 7 in Ukraine Ukraine said Wednesday its air defense systems had intercepted dozens of Iranian-designed attack drones launched by Russian forces in an overnight barrage that left seven people injured. "As a result of combat operations, 38 Shahed [drones] were shot down," the air force said in a statement, adding that the drones were launched from Russian border regions and annexed Crimea. Read more | Subscribe to our channel

[jcmarchi]

When Do Shahed Drones Become Black? - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/when-do-shahed-drones-become-black-technology-org/

When Do Shahed Drones Become Black? - Technology Org

More interesting information has come to light about the unusual Shahed-136 drones that have been used to attack Ukraine in recent weeks.

Technically, they are very similar to those that Russia started using more than a year ago. Well, except that they are now allegedly manufactured in Russia, which calls them Geran-2, instead of Iran, which developed them. They have more Russian components. However, there has been one cosmetic change recently.

Shahed drones are still causing a lot of damage in Ukraine, even though most of them are shot down. Image credit: State Emergency Service of Ukraine via Wikimedia (CC BY 4.0)

Russian forces have recently started attacking Ukraine with black Shahed-136 drones. However, as the spokesman of the Air Force of Ukraine Yuriy Ihnat pointed out, most drones are still white-grey, and black Shaheds are still rare.

Shahed-136 are suicide drones and their strength is in numbers. They are not very fast or manoeuvrable. Air defense systems and even individual soldiers notice them quite easily – more than one was shot down by a simple automatic rifle.

However, Iran designed the Shahed-136 to be a very cheap drone that could overwhelm the enemy’s air defense capabilities. Their light colour probably has something to do with the fact that Shahed-136 simply has to be as cheap as possible. Also, maybe it is less noticeable against the background of lighter-coloured clouds.

However, during the massive drone attack in Kyiv on November 20, one black Shahed-136 drone was detected and shot down. It surprised the defenders of Ukraine, and to this day black Shahed drones are a rarity in the Ukrainian sky.

😐 Russians used black-painted Shaheds to strike Kyiv for the first time.

This makes them difficult to detect at the night. pic.twitter.com/V4EnP7F9oo

— MAKS 23 👀🇺🇦 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) November 25, 2023

“It’s been painted or got a new composite material like carbon fibre, which can also be black,” Ihnat said. At first, the Ukrainians thought that the black drones were from a new batch and were leaving the factory in this new camo paintjob.

However, it turned out that at least some of the drones became black in a much less sophisticated way – they were spray-painted on the field. Obviously, this is how the Russians are trying to make the Shahed drones more difficult to detect in the night sky, but that doesn’t work.

“As far as I know, there was only one such Shahed at the time, which may have been launched as an experiment to see how our air defenses would react to it. But it too was destroyed, as were those that arrived in later days. Now it is clear that the occupiers have started to paint them with spray paint,” Ihnat added.

Got bitten 🤔🤣 pic.twitter.com/pWh4uU3350

— Stigahund (@stigahund) December 1, 2023

According to him, the Russians are constantly updating the Shahed kamikaze drones. Although their fundamental design remains the same, some components are experimented with. For example, different navigation systems, hull color, and even warheads are being tested. A Shahed-136 drone with a thermobaric 40 kg warhead was recently shot down in Ukraine.

Written by Povilas M.

Source: Censor.net

[featurenews]

Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 614

Ukraine and Russian need to negotiate an end to the conflict, says Putin ally Lukashenko; Ukrainian peace talks open in Malta without Moscow present * See all our Ukraine war coverage Russia says it has shot down 36 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula. There were claims in local media outlets that a fire at an oil refinery in the early hours of Sunday had been caused by a drone strike or debris from a downed drone. Ukraine has said it shot down five Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones launched from Russia overnight. State media in Russia has reported that more than 100 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in Yuzhno-Donetsk over the past 24 hours. The 58th motorised infantry, 79th air assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the 128th territorial defence brigade were reportedly involved in the attack by Russian troops. Russian forces are believed to have suffered some of the country’s biggest casualty rates so far this year as a result of continued “heavy but inconclusive” fighting around the Donetsk oblast town of Avdiivka, according to the UK Ministry of Defence. Russia would confiscate assets belonging to EU states it deems unfriendly if the bloc “steals” frozen Russian funds in a drive to fund Ukraine, a top ally of Vladimir Putin said. The comments were made after Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said that the EU executive was working on a proposal to pool some of the profits derived from frozen Russian state assets to help Ukraine and its postwar reconstruction. Ukraine and Russia are locked in a stalemate on the frontlines of their war and the two sides need to sit down and negotiate an end to the conflict, Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarus president, said. Lukashenko, a key Putin ally, described the current state of the conflict as “head-to-head, to the death, entrenched … seriously stalemate.” Four Ukrainian police officers were wounded when a shell fired by Russian troops exploded by their police car in the city of Siversk, located in the partly occupied Donetsk oblast. A third round of Ukrainian-backed peace talks opened in Malta, but without Moscow. In a statement, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said 66 countries had taken part, proof that his plan “has gradually become global”. Ukraine’s deputy minister Mykola Tochytskyi has said his country aims to hold a global “peace summit” of world leaders this year. A mob in Russia’s mostly Muslim region of Dagestan has stormed the airport in Makhachkala in search of Jewish passengers arriving from Israel, after reports emerged that a flight from Tel Aviv was arriving in the city. There were reports of some injuries at the airport, while some passengers were forced to take refuge in planes or hide in the airport for fear of being attacked. About 2,000 Ukrainians ran a 1km race on Sunday in Kyiv, wearing bibs displaying the name of a person instead of a number. Each runner chose one person to whom they dedicated their run. Spouses, children, friends, siblings, neighbours, and colleagues ran for someone they knew who either was killed, taken captive or injured during the war. Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/30/russia-ukraine-war-at-a-glance-what-we-know-on-day-614?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

[shahananasrin-blog]

[ad_1] Zelensky says ‘Russian society has raised a second Hitler’ in attack on PutinFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsUkraine says its air defences shot down 34 kamikaze drones this morning and overnight as Russia launched a major new wave of air strikes across the country.Russia’s attacks involved at least 44 Iranian-made Shahed drones in total, according to Ukraine’s Air Force.“Fighter aircraft, anti-aircraft missile units and mobile fire groups were engaged to repel the attack,” Ukraine’s military said on Telegram.A large number of the drones were fired on southern Ukrainian cities from the Black Sea, the air force said.It comes as Kyiv said hundreds of fighters from the Wagner mercenary group have returned to Ukraine to fight in Russia’s continuing invasion for the first time since the group’s leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died in August.The Ukrainian military said it had seen “no significant impact” on frontline dynamics from Wagner’s return to the battlefield, however.Earlier, there were reports that a fresh offensive by Russia’s forces in the coming weeks is “unlikely”, according to British intelligence.Britain’s Ministry of Defence reported that patterns in Russian deployments suggest that Vladimir Putin’s troops are “overstretched” across the frontlines in Ukraine.Key PointsShow latest update 1695825665Fresh offensive by Putin’s troops ‘unlikely’ as frontline ‘over-stretched’The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) have suggested a fresh Russian offensive would be ‘unlikely’ as they deploy fresh troops to their ‘overstretched’ front line.The MoD says that following the creation of Russia’s 25th Combined Arms Army (25 CAA), which was reportedly seen in Ukraine for the first time in August, Moscow has deployed them to reinforce under-defended areas on the frontline. They suggest that this makes a fresh offensive from Russian forces unlikely, as they were not deployed en masse to one area.New Russian units are reported to be fighting on the front in a sector west of Severodonetsk and Kreminna, along the border between Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, the MoD say.Athena Stavrou27 September 2023 15:411695877200Hillary Clinton mocks Putin over Nato expansion: ‘Too bad, Vladimir. You brought it on yourself’“Defending democracy in Ukraine, expanding Nato – just as an aside, too bad Vladimir, you brought it on yourself,” the former US secretary of state said, prompting laughter and applause.Ms Clinton was speaking at the State Department where she unveiled her official portrait and addressed current and former officials in the ornate Benjamin Franklin State Dining room.Eleanor Noyce28 September 2023 06:001695873600Russia accuses Ukraine's Western allies of helping attack its Black Sea Fleet headquartersRussia on Wednesday accused Ukraine’s Western allies of helping plan and conduct last week’s missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters on the annexed Crimean Peninsula.“There is no doubt that the attack had been planned in advance using Western intelligence means, NATO satellite assets and reconnaissance planes and was implemented upon the advice of American and British security agencies and in close coordination with them,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.Moscow has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. and its NATO allies have effectively become involved in the conflict by supplying weapons to Ukraine and providing it with intelligence information and helping plan attacks on Russian facilities.Eleanor Noyce28 September 2023 05:001695870000How Ukraine’s forces have surged back against RussiaUkraine’s forces have made a number of breakthroughs against Russian positions in recent weeks as intense fighting rages on in southern and northeastern parts of the country.Brig Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskiy, who is leading Ukraine’s southern counteroffensive, said that Russian troops had dedicated 60 per cent of their time to its first defence, and only 20 per cent to the second and third lines.Eleanor Noyce28 September 2023 04:001695866400Why did Russia invade Ukraine?Ukraine has fought back courageously against Mr Putin’s warped bid to restore territory lost to Moscow with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid.Eleanor Noyce28 September 2023 03:001695862800Ukrainian forces ‘enjoy success’ near Bakhmut as Putin deploys reservesUkrainian troops “enjoyed success” in villages near Bakhmut, a key town seized by Russian forces in May after some of the heaviest fighting in the 19-month-old war.Ilia Yevlash, spokesperson for Ukraine’s forces in the east, told national television that Russia trained fire on Ukrainian soldiers 580 times on this front and used aircraft four times.“On the southern flank, we continue the offensive operation. In particular, we have had successes near Zaitseve, Klishchiivka, Odradivka and Ivanivske. There, our defenders continue to knock out the enemy. Under heavy fire, they are holding the defence and consolidating positions,” he said during the 24/7 national forecast.Eleanor Noyce28 September 2023 02:001695859200New video of ‘dead’ Russian Black Sea fleet commander raises doubts over Ukraine’s claimA top Russian naval officer who Ukraine claimed was killed in a missile strike has been seen in a new video released by Russia, sparking confusion among the war-hit country’s officials.Ukraine’s special forces on Monday had claimed Russian admiral Viktor Sokolov and 33 other officers were killed in a missile strike carried out on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in Sevastopol in Crimea.The video released by Russia’s defence ministry on Tuesday, however, showed Black Sea Fleet commander Sokolov appearing on a video conference call with Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu. It remains unclear when the video was recorded.Eleanor Noyce28 September 2023 01:001695855660Viktor Sokolov seen for second time in newly emerged video as he claims Russia’s Black Sea Fleet ‘performing successfully’The video has been released by the Russian Defence Ministry. It is unclear from his comments whether the clip was filmed after Ukraine’s missile strike on 22 September.Ukraine’s special forces said on Monday that Russian admiral Viktor Sokolov and 33 other officers were killed in a missile strike carried out on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in Sevastopol in Crimea on Friday.Russian commander seen again in new video as he says fleet ‘performing successfully’Russia’s Black Sea Fleet commander Viktor Sokolov has claimed his fleet is “performing successfully” in a newly emerged video, just days after Ukraine claimed he had been killed in a missile strike. The video has been released by the Russian Defence Ministry. It is unclear from his comments whether the clip was filmed after Ukraine’s missile strike on 22 September. Ukraine’s special forces said on Monday that Russian admiral Viktor Sokolov and 33 other officers were killed in a missile strike carried out on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in Sevastopol in Crimea on Friday.Eleanor Noyce28 September 2023 00:011695852019Destruction in Ukraine’s eastern village of Klishchiivka captured in aerial footageDrone footage shows the extent of destruction in the village of Klishchiivka in eastern Ukraine after months of fierce fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.Ukraine’s military said it seized Klishchiivka from Russian troops on 17 September.The village is about 10km (6 miles) south of the Russian-controlled town of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.Retaking Klishchiivka is considered tactically important, allowing Ukrainian forces to further extend their gains around Bakhmut.The commanding heights of the village offer a view into Bakhmut and could open up new opportunities for Ukrainian forces to encircle the town.Destruction in Ukraine’s eastern village of Klishchiivka captured in aerial footageDrone footage shows the extent of destruction in the village of Klishchiivka in eastern Ukraine after months of fierce fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces. Ukraine’s military said it seized Klishchiivka from Russian troops on 17 September. The village is about 10km (6 miles) south of the Russian-controlled town of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. Retaking Klishchiivka is considered tactically important, allowing Ukrainian forces to further extend their gains around Bakhmut. The commanding heights of the village offer a view into Bakhmut and could open up new opportunities for Ukrainian forces to encircle the town.Eleanor Noyce27 September 2023 23:001695848419Britain approves new North Sea oil drilling in welcome news for the industry but not activistsBritish regulators on Wednesday approved new oil and gas drilling at a site in the North Sea, a move environmentalists say will hurt the country’s attempt to meet its climate goals.The U.K.’s North Sea Transition Authority said it had approved the Rosebank Field Development Plan, “which allows the owners to proceed with their project.”Britain’s Conservative government argues that drilling in the Rosebank field, northwest of the Shetland Islands, will create jobs and bolster the U.K.’s energy security.Eleanor Noyce27 September 2023 22:00 [ad_2]

[cyberbenb]

Air Force: Ukraine downs 13 kamikaze drones overnight

Ukrainian forces shot down 13 Russian Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones overnight, the Air Force reported on Aug. 16.

“The Russian aggressor attacked our peaceful cities and villages with drones. The protectors of the sky destroyed 13 Shaheds.” the Air Force said.

The Air Force <a href=“https://kyivindependent.com/

Source

[usafphantom2]

F-35 fighters leave the Middle East after deployment to deter Iran and Russia

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 10/07/2023 - 14:44 in Military, War Zones

The U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters, sent to the Middle East to prevent Iranian aggression in the Persian Gulf and react to Russian intimidation in the Syrian skies, have left the region, according to service officials.

"What the F-35s did was give us additional capacity," said the commander of the Air Force Central (AFCENT), Lieutenant General Alexus G. Grynkewich, to reporters on October 4 at a Defense Writers Group event.

The deployment was completed in late September, according to the 388ª Fighter Wing at Hill Air Base, Utah. All aircraft have left the Middle East and are "in transit home," according to a spokesman for the 388th Fighter Wing.

Operating as the 421º Air Expeditionary Squadron, the F-35 were first deployed on July 26, when fifth-generation fighters were rushed to the region by the Pentagon after Iranian attacks on commercial ships around the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic bottleneck between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, through which 20% of the world's oil flows.

Additional U.S. Navy ships, led by the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group with thousands of Marines, followed the F-35. The amphibious assault ship USS Bataan brought more air power to the region with a squadron of short or vertical takeoff and landing Harriers (V/STOL).

The US still has the F-16 and A-10 in the region. However, the stealthy F-35 provided more advanced capabilities.

The F-35 allowed the U.S. to “continue to carry out the missions we were carrying out in Iraq and Syria and elsewhere in the region, and to increase what we were doing in support of the Navy, basically doing air combat patrols over the Strait of Hormuz,” said Grynkewich, who added that the Navy's detachment was particularly important.

“This increase in surface ships combined with our air power has dissuaded Iran from taking any action against maritime transport,” he said.

In addition to their mission in the Gulf, the F-35 were useful in discouraging Russian warplanes from chasing American aircraft in Syria. The F-35 also joined the U.S. allies in Syria, including flying with French Rafale fighters.

Russia's aggressive tactics emerged as a major concern in July, when Russian fighters launched flags that damaged U.S. MQ-9 drones that were carrying out missions against Islamic State militants.

After the U.S. released the video of Russian harassment and deployed the F-35, Russia moderated its tactics and became less aggressive.

"They still fly in airspace, but not directly above our forces, so I welcome this change in behavior," Grynkewich said. "With the flags being released on our MQ-9, we no longer see this behavior."

The U.S. military presence in the region is very modest compared to the years when Americans fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. But U.S. air operations over Syria were also reinforced by coalition partners, including the French and British.

“We are still at risk of terrorist attacks in our capitals or on our lands,” General Stéphane Mille, head of the French Air and Space Force, told journalists in September. "We are flying together."

Not all the challenges that the U.S. has faced come from opponents. Turkey, also a member of NATO, has been attacking Kurdish groups in northern Syria, which is responsible for a bomb attack in the capital Ankara on October 1, in operations that may put American troops at risk.

On the morning of October 5, a Turkish drone hit targets within a restrictive operating zone (ROZ) declared by the U.S. military, according to the Pentagon. The attacks reached one kilometer from U.S. forces, forcing them to protect themselves in bunkers.

When a Turkish drone returned to the area about four hours later and headed for U.S. forces, it was shot down by a U.S. F-16 half a kilometer away from U.S. personnel in an act of self-defense, according to U.S. authorities.

On October 6, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs minimized the episode in a statement, saying that its drone “was lost due to different technical evaluations in the conflict resolution mechanism with third parties”.

The biggest concern, however, remains Iran. Despite the departure of the F-35, which Grynkewich observed has always been planned to be “temporary”, the U.S. is prepared to flex forces for the region.

“My opinion is that the deterrence is temporal,” Grynkewich said of Iran. “We have increased strength in response to a specific threat. This shows the American commitment to the region. This shows that our American strategy has been, with our posture being less than before, we demonstrate the commitment to bring strength to great exercises for guarantee purposes or when a threat required it. And we certainly did that in this case."

Source: Air Force & Space Magazine

Tags: Military AviationF-35 Lightning IIUSAF - United States Air Force / U.S. Air ForceWar Zones - Middle East

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Daytona Airshow and FIDAE. He has work published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work throughout the world of aviation.

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[mariacallous]

It was the tale of two explosions: the first, a likely Ukrainian attack on the Russian-built Kerch Strait Bridge sent smoke billowing into Crimea’s skies and lit up social media in the wee hours of Saturday. The second, Russian cruise and ballistic missile strikes hit the heart of downtown Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, on Monday morning, targeting a 3-year-old glass pedestrian bridge in a Kyiv park in addition to some playgrounds. A chunk of the Russian bridge collapsed into the Black Sea; but even amid ongoing air raids on Monday, the glass bridge was still standing.

That was the split screen that Ukrainian officials tried to emphasize on Monday, as Russia launched cruise and ballistic missile strikes across the country, which targeted civilians and energy infrastructure, killing at least 11 people and injuring more than 87 people. The reprisals struck Kyiv for the first time in months, during rush hour, in what Ukraine’s National Police described as the largest missile assault on the country in its history. But even as Ukrainian and Western officials described the attacks that left a smoking crater in Kyiv’s Taras Shevchenko Park as an act of desperation, and as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stepped outside Mariinsky Palace to record a defiant Telegram message, they acknowledged that the war-torn country would need more air and missile defenses to guard against the Kremlin’s increasing salvos—and fast.

For months, Ukraine had been seeking long-range rockets and plentiful artillery shells; after Russia destroyed public schools, parks, playgrounds, and power plants, Ukrainian officials were urgently resorting their weapons demands to NATO nations. On Monday, Ukraine’s top parliamentarian, Ruslan Stefanchuk, sent letters to congressional leadership calling on the United States to prioritize the delivery of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), which are jointly produced with Norway, as well as counter-rocket, mortar, and artillery systems—a clear sign that those defensive weapons had moved up the Ukrainian military priority list ahead of multiple rocket launchers, fighter jets, and long-range rocket systems that Kyiv has been demanding for months. Zelensky, after a phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden, stated that obtaining air defenses was his No. 1 priority.

“Ukrainian Armed Forces had successfully [shot] down almost half of the missiles and Iranian drones, but unfortunately our air defense resources are limited,” Stefanchuk wrote in the letter seen by Foreign Policy. “By this attack, Russia received no military advance; it was an act of terror, targeted exclusively against the civilian population. NASAMS Ground Air Defense Systems are crucial to secure critical civil and military infrastructure from Russian cruise missiles and bombings, while Land-Based Phalanx Weapon System (C-RAM) would allow for the closest point protection of the most important objects, especially crucial power plants.”

Stefanchuk said Ukraine was also seeking American F-15 and F-16 fighter jets to enforce a no-fly zone against Russian cruise missiles and bombers, possibly with air-to-air missiles. Ukraine also wants the Biden administration to shake off its reticence and provide longer-range U.S. Army Tactical Missile Systems—known as ATACMs—which could hit Russian targets 200 miles away, and Gray Eagle strike drones to counteract the off-the-shelf Iranian drones that have wreaked havoc on Ukrainian lines. Politico reported this month that Ukrainian officials were putting greater emphasis on requesting air defenses from the West.

Although Western air defenses could provide a patchwork shield against Russian missile strikes, the arrival of new batteries would not make Ukrainian airspace a no-go zone, even as the country’s native air defenses have held up for more than 200 days—far longer than Western intelligence agencies initially anticipated. Russian Kalibr cruise missiles, the Kremlin’s weapon of choice in Monday’s strikes, fly at lower altitudes that allow them to more readily evade air defenses. Western officials believe that the Kremlin’s stocks of precision-guided missiles have dwindled significantly since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion in February.

But nearly eight months into the war, Ukrainian troops are still left with makeshift options to defend against Russia’s onslaught from the skies—and today’s strikes only brought more urgency after the attacks shattered the relative calm that had fallen over Kyiv in the past few months. On Monday, a Ukrainian territorial defender managed to shoot down an incoming Russian missile with a shoulder-launched rocket. In downtown Kyiv, missiles blew out the windows of university buildings and a blood-soaked older woman, who had been walking her two dogs in the park, was hustled away from the scene by a firefighter.

And officials are warning that the worst is yet to come. Stefanchuk, the top Ukrainian lawmaker, said Russia was likely to continue to escalate attacks on civilians as Ukraine advanced on the battlefield in an effort to cut the public off from heat and electricity ahead of looming subzero temperatures with the coming winter—threats that have been echoed by Putin’s allies. Zelensky, who huddled with his top advisors to discuss the energy situation, said Russia had targeted energy facilities in nearly a dozen regions of the country and called on the Ukrainian public to reduce electricity consumption for a five-hour period on Monday evening to prevent an emergency shutdown after a series of strikes on power plants.

For weeks, the Kremlin has telegraphed that it has wanted to slow down Ukraine’s battlefield advances with strikes targeting infrastructure and civilians. Russian troops’ cruel logic, experts said, is that if they can’t beat Ukrainian troops on the battlefield, they will try to harm their wives and children at home. And Putin also has to play for time, spreading out Ukrainian defenses, with a purported 300,000 mobilized Russian reserves not set to be ready for weeks, if not months, to prevent ceding more ground.

“If the strategy that Putin is pursuing is to play for time so that you can build up your own new forces through mobilization and gain time for economic warfare against Europe to properly bite, moving to the point where it really starts to genuinely wreak havoc, … then you don’t really want to cede somewhere that’s actually quite defensible and where they have a lot of prepared positions,” said Jack Watling, a senior research fellow for land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank.

With images of Kyiv’s blood-spattered streets all over the news, Western leaders rallied around Zelensky. Following a call with the Ukrainian leader, French President Emmanuel Macron, who has hesitated to send more weapons, called today a profound change. The German defense ministry pledged that the first of four IRIS-T air defense systems, a truck-mounted infrared missile that can hit targets miles away, would show up in Kyiv “within days.” U.S. officials have also said that some of the eight NASAMS batteries pledged to Ukraine will begin arriving in the coming months, though some of those systems are not available to be pulled out of defense stocks and will need to be manufactured.

Zelensky is also set to join a virtual meeting of the G-7 nations tomorrow. And U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley are set to head to Brussels on Wednesday for the latest meeting of the 50-nation Ukraine Defense Contact Group that will hash out Kyiv’s latest arms requests.

But for some Ukrainian officials, Western military aid is coming too little, too late—feelings that were echoed within Zelensky’s inner circle.

“I think it’s obvious to everybody they should have been here before today happened,” Oleksandra “Sasha” Ustinova, a Ukrainian lawmaker who has made several trips to Washington in recent months to urge U.S. counterparts and administration officials to speed up weapons transfers, told Foreign Policy in a phone interview. “I don’t know what the excuses are, but it costs lives for Ukrainians. We’re not asking for offensive weapons. This is purely defensive—for the civilians.”

And that’s becoming more urgent, former U.S. officials said, as Putin is increasingly falling behind in the military ground game.

“This shows that Russia only has one option to respond to successes by the Ukrainian military: attacks designed to terrorize Ukrainian civilians,” Mick Mulroy, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense, told Foreign Policy in a text message. “The Russians are losing the war on the ground and are not turning that around.”

“The U.S. and the international community must immediately provide the Ukrainians with the most advanced air and missile defense systems available to guard population centers,” he added. “[T]hese attacks will likely only get worse.”

[ukrainenews]

Daily Wrap Up May 15-16, 2023

Under the cut:

The UK prime minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch leader Mark Rutte have agreed to build an “international coalition” to help procure F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine, the British government has announced.

Ukrainian forces have taken back about 20 square km (7.5 square miles) of territory from Russian forces around the eastern city of Bakhmut in recent days, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Tuesday.

The renewal of the Black Sea Grain Initiative is critical to limit "future shock" to the security of global food supplies, the International Rescue Committee said in a statement on Tuesday. "The looming expiration of the Black Sea grain deal risks further food market instability at a time of record food insecurity," the humanitarian organization said. "With 349 million people across 79 countries estimated to experience acute food insecurity this year, the Black Sea grain deal must be extended."

Ukraine said on Tuesday it had shot down six Russian Kinzhal missiles in a single night, thwarting a weapon Moscow has touted as a next-generation hypersonic missile that was all but unstoppable.

Drone attacks were reported in Russia's Kursk and Bryansk oblasts over the past 24 hours, according to local officials and independent media.

The UK prime minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch leader Mark Rutte have agreed to build an “international coalition” to help procure F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine, the British government has announced.

A Downing Street spokesperson said Sunak and Rutte “would work to build an international coalition to provide Ukraine with combat air capabilities, supporting with everything from training to procuring F-16 jets”.

“The prime minister reiterated his belief that Ukraine’s rightful place is in Nato and the leaders agreed on the importance of allies providing long-term security assistance to Ukraine to guarantee they can deter against future attacks.

“The leaders agreed to continue working together both bilaterally and through forums such as the European Political Community to tackle the scourge of people trafficking on our continent.”

The statement on Tuesday came a day after Ukraine’s president hinted that Kyiv could soon receive F-16 fighter jets, saying he was hopeful of “very important” decisions on the subject with the help of the UK.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy flew in by helicopter for a one-to-one unnanounced meeting with Sunak on Monday at Chequers, the prime minister’s country retreat.

Standing next to Sunak after the meeting, Zelenskiy said they had discussed fighter planes “because we can’t control the sky”, and was positive about persuading the US and other western nations to supply them.

“We spoke about it and I see that in the closest time you will hear some, I think, very important decisions, but we have to work a little bit more on it,” he said.

At the meeting, Britain also promised to supply “hundreds of attack drones”.

The UK said in February that it would begin training Ukrainian pilots in standard Nato techniques, and Downing Street repeated that on Monday, saying the plan was to help “build a new Ukrainian air force with Nato-standard F-16 jets”.

Britain does not use F-16s, which are made by the US defence firm Lockheed Martin in South Carolina. Ukraine has been seeking to obtain them for some time to augment its small Soviet-standard air force because they are widely available, with about 3,000 in service in 25 countries.

Both countries will have to persuade the US if Ukraine is to receive F-16s. Asked later on Monday if the US had changed its position on supplying the jets to Ukraine, John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White House’s national security council, gave a one-word reply: “No.”

-via The Guardian

~

Ukrainian forces have taken back about 20 square km (7.5 square miles) of territory from Russian forces around the eastern city of Bakhmut in recent days, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Tuesday.

She said on the Telegram messaging app that Russian forces had advanced “somewhat” in the city of Bakhmut itself, and that heavy fighting continued.

She said: “The enemy is advancing somewhat in Bakhmut itself, completely destroying the city with artillery. In addition, the enemy is raising units of professional paratroopers.

“Heavy battles continue with different results. In the current situation, our troops are doing their best and even more.

“The fact that the defence of Bakhmut lasts for so many months and there are advances in certain areas is the strength of our fighters and the high level of professionalism of the defence command.

“I will remind you that the enemy has an advantage in the number of people and weapons. At the same time, thanks to the actions of our military, he has not been able to implement his plans in the Bakhmut direction since last summer.”

-via The Guardian

~

The renewal of the Black Sea Grain Initiative is critical to limit "future shock" to the security of global food supplies, the International Rescue Committee said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The looming expiration of the Black Sea grain deal risks further food market instability at a time of record food insecurity," the humanitarian organization said. "With 349 million people across 79 countries estimated to experience acute food insecurity this year, the Black Sea grain deal must be extended."

The grain initiative, which is set to expire on May 18 if not renewed, is a deal between Russia and Ukraine allowing the safe exportation of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

According to the IRC, as much as 90% of imports into East African countries are shipments supported by the grain deal. Should these imports stop, there will be a "spike in the number of undernourished people" to almost 19 million in 2023, it said.

IRC East Africa Emergency Director Shashwat Saraf said in the statement that food shortages and a lack of affordable fertilizer are increasing food prices, making it difficult for people in countries like Somalia to "predict if they will be able to afford a meal the next day."

"The expiration of the Black Sea Grain Initiative is likely to trigger increased levels of hunger and malnutrition, spelling further disaster for East Africa," he continued. "Constructive extension of the grain deal means bringing in more food into the global system and, as a result, helping to lower soaring costs and to maintain market stability." "It is crucial the international community unequivocally stands behind maintaining Ukraine’s grain exports," he added.

-via CNN

~

Ukraine said on Tuesday it had shot down six Russian Kinzhal missiles in a single night, thwarting a weapon Moscow has touted as a next-generation hypersonic missile that was all but unstoppable.

When asked about the Ukrainian claim, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu dismissed it, the RIA news agency reported.

The number of claimed Ukrainian missile intercepts in general is "three times greater than the number we launch", RIA quoted Shoigu as saying.

"And they get the type of missiles wrong all the time. That's why they don't hit them," he said, without elaborating.

It was the first time Ukraine had claimed to have struck an entire volley of multiple Kinzhal missiles, and if confirmed would be a demonstration of the effectiveness of Kyiv's newly deployed Western air defences.

The United States and the European Union have supplied Ukraine with weaponry to defend itself since Russia invaded in February 2022. EU and NATO member Hungary has refused, however, to provide any military equipment to neighbour Ukraine, and on Tuesday, the government said it had blocked the next tranche of the EU's off-budget military support known as the European Peace Facility.

Air raid sirens blared across nearly all of Ukraine early on Tuesday and were heard over the Ukrainian capital and the surrounding region for more than three hours.

"A year ago, we were not able to shoot down most of the terrorists' missiles, especially ballistic ones," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in praising the military's claim to the Council of Europe rights body in Iceland by video link.

"And I am asking one thing now. If we are able to do this, is there anything we can't do?"

The meeting of European leaders over two days was to focus on ways to hold Russia to account for its war, officials said.

Russia says its invasion was necessary to counter threats to its security posed by Ukraine's growing ties to the West. Kyiv and its allies call it an unprovoked war of conquest. Kyiv says it won't stop fighting until all Russian forces leave its land.

The six Kinzhals were among 27 missiles Russia fired at Ukraine over the past 24 hours, Ukraine's military General Staff said in its evening update on Tuesday, lighting up Kyiv with flashes and raining debris after they were blasted from the sky.

It was not clear which Western weapon Ukraine used to defeat the Kinzhals. The Pentagon had no immediate comment.

For its part, Russia's defence ministry claimed to have destroyed a U.S.-built Patriot surface-to-air missile defence system with a Kinzhal missile, the Zvezda military news outlet reported.

But the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said all had been successfully intercepted.

Kyiv authorities said three people were wounded by falling debris.

"It was exceptional in its density - the maximum number of attack missiles in the shortest period of time," Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's city military administration, said on Telegram.

Zvezda quoted the Russian ministry as saying the attacks had been aimed at Ukrainian fighting units and ammunition storage sites.

Zaluzhnyi said his forces had intercepted the six Kinzhals launched from aircraft, as well as nine Kalibr cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea and three Iskanders fired from land.

Two S-300 missiles targeted infrastructure in Kostyantynivka, west of the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut, the General Staff update said.

-via Reuters

~

Drone attacks were reported in Russia's Kursk and Bryansk oblasts over the past 24 hours, according to local officials and independent media.

Independent Russian media publication Astra reported on May 16 that "three rounds of ammunition" were dropped by a drone onto a building of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) in the village of Glushkovo in Kursk Oblast.

According to Astra, the incident took place at around 11:00 p.m. local time on May 15.

Five border guards were allegedly hospitalized with shrapnel wounds to the neck, stomach, and face.

Meanwhile, Kursk Oblast Governor Roman Starovoyt reported on May 15 that a "Ukrainian drone" dropped an explosive device on a construction worker near the village of Plekhovo in the region. The construction worker was "lightly wounded" on his shoulder, Starovoyt said.

Bryansk Oblast Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz claimed on May 16 that a "Ukrainian drone" was shot down over the town of Klintsy in the region.

According to Bogomaz, there were no casualties and only the balcony of a residential building was damaged.

Russia's Investigative Committee publicly acknowledged on May 16 the drone attacks in Plekhovo and Klintsy, but not the alleged attack on the FSB office in Glushkovo.

There have been multiple reports since the start of the full-scale invasion about fires, explosions, and other acts of sabotage within Russia and the Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscow.

-via Kyiv Indpendent

[wiseedition]

Deadly Russian missile strikes hit Ukraine

Overnight, in the eastern cities of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka, Russian missile strikes killed three people and destroyed dozens of private houses, regional authorities said.

Deadly Russian missile strikes hit southern and eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, as Kyiv claimed fresh advances in its long-awaited counter-offensive.

Russia fired four Kalibr missiles on the southern port city of Odesa from a warship in the Black Sea, Ukraine's air force said. The country's Western-backed air defences shot down three of them.

But one missile hit a food warehouse, killing three employees and wounding seven, said Oleg Kiper, the head of the region's military administration.

Another six people were wounded after a business centre, shops and a residential complex in central Odesa were damaged "as a result of air combat and the blast wave", he said.

Overnight, in the eastern cities of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka, Russian missile strikes killed three people and destroyed dozens of private houses, regional authorities said.

A blast in Kramatorsk left a huge crater in a street of one- and two-storey family houses, an AFP correspondent said.

The blast completely demolished some houses, and several more around lost their windows and roofs.

The attack killed at least two men, while several other people were wounded and evacuated for treatment.

Police officer Anastasiya Korzun, 33, told AFP she and her husband had escaped their damaged house as others helped with trying to dig neighbours out of the rubble.

"My colleagues from the police were on the scene in 20 minutes to help," Korzun said, showing cuts on her arm from flying glass.

Shelling kills six Russia said it had launched multiple strikes overnight, targeting Ukraine's troops and "foreign mercenaries" as well as warehouses containing foreign-made weapons.

"All the assigned targets have been hit," the defence ministry said.

Kyiv also reported that Russians had a day earlier shelled a van in northeastern Ukraine, close to the border with Russia, killing six people.

Moscow has intensified its nightly attacks on major Ukrainian cities in recent weeks while Kyiv has launched a long-awaited counter-offensive to reclaim Russian-occupied territory.

Ukraine said Wednesday that its forces had retaken around three square kilometres (about one square mile) of territory and advanced in some areas as far as 1.4 kilometres in the last three days. Fighting was continuing near recaptured villages.

The latest strikes came as the death toll from Tuesday's missile strikes on Kryvyi Rig -- the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky -- rose to 12.

Although Kyiv says it is making gains after launching its counter-offensive, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday claimed his forces were inflicting "catastrophic" losses on Ukrainian troops.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday urged the defence alliance to ensure Ukraine keeps getting enough arms to pursue its counter-offensive, ahead of a meeting of Kyiv's allies in Brussels on Thursday.

"It is still early days and we do not know if this will be a turning point," he said.

IAEA chief to visit plant Putin said during a Kremlin meeting with war bloggers that Russian forces were suffering from diminishing stockpiles of some military equipment, pointing in particular to attack drones and missiles.

Kyiv insisted that Ukraine's push, bolstered with Western weapons and training, had had "certain gains, implementing our plans, moving forward".

According to military analysts, Ukraine has not yet committed the bulk of its forces in its counter-offensive and is currently still testing the front with probing attacks to determine weak points.

In recent days, Kyiv has claimed to have re-captured several villages in the eastern and southern regions.

UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi was expected at the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant on Wednesday.

But Russian news agencies reported the visit had been delayed by a day.

Kyiv and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) did not confirm the delay.

A Western diplomatic source contacted by AFP said Grossi's visit had been delayed "by a few hours, but not cancelled", adding that security reasons were causing the postponement.

The safety of Europe's largest nuclear power plant, located in Ukraine's southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, has been a concern since Russian forces seized it over a year ago.

Those concerns have been exacerbated by the breach of the Kakhovka dam that provided the cooling water for the plant.

While in Kyiv on Tuesday, Grossi said that while there was "no immediate situation", the water level in the cooling pond was of concern.

The IAEA has warned that the dam disaster, which has left dozens dead and missing, further complicated "an already precarious nuclear safety and security situation" at the plant.

Kyiv has accused Moscow of blowing up the dam on the Dnipro River, while Russia has blamed Ukraine.