Kyiv launched British-supplied missiles at bridges between Crimea and occupied Ukraine: Official
Explosions on two bridges to Crimea Sunday were caused by Storm Shadow long-range missiles supplied to Ukraine by the United Kingdom, according to Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed acting head of Kherson region.
Saldo said the two bridges were used by civilian and not military traffic, and that a rupture to a gas pipeline running alongside the bridge cut off supplies to 20,000 residents of the city of Henichesk in Kherson.
Saldo added the attack targeted civilians and did not impact military operations.
“These strikes do not do anything for the special military operation that is currently underway,” he said.
“They have decided to take petty revenge on civilians and those who are now moving through the territory of the Kherson region,” Saldo added.
The Russia-backed leader stated the missiles did not cause structural damage to the Chonhar bridge, which links the Kherson region and Crimea. The bridge is now closed to traffic, but Saldo predicted it would reopen by the end of the day.
In May, the United Kingdom delivered multiple Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine, giving the nation a new long-range strike capability to use during the counteroffensive against Russian forces, senior Western officials said.
The Storm Shadow is a long-range cruise missile with stealth capabilities, jointly developed by the UK and France, which is typically launched from the air. With a firing range in excess of 250 kilometers (155 miles), it is just short of the 185-mile range capability of the US-made Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, that Ukraine has long asked for.
The extended range gives Ukraine the ability to strike deep into Russian-held territory in eastern Ukraine.
Multiple explosions hit road bridges between Crimea and occupied Ukraine: Russian-installed officials
Multiple explosions have been reported on critical road bridges linking Crimea with parts of the Russian-occupied Kherson region in Ukraine, according to Russian-installed officials.
A bridge connecting the Arabat Spit, which is located on Crimea’s east coast, and the Ukrainian city of Henichesk was among the reported targets. Explosions have been heard in the city, according to an unofficial Telegram channel, RIA Melitopol.
Strikes also hit the Chonhar bridge, which links the Kherson region and Crimea, said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian-installed government in Zaporizhzhia.
“A total of three or four hits are reported. The extent of the damage is still unknown,” he said.
The Russian-appointed leader of occupied Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, said Ukraine fired 12 missiles at the Chonhar bridge and nine had been shot down.
Saldo claimed Kyiv used advanced British Storm Shadow missiles in the attack. He also said the strikes hit a village school, and that one civilian who was on the bridge at the time of the attack was wounded.
Saldo added officials were still sorting through details of the attack and the extent of the damage to the bridge, a gas pipeline and nearby towns.
The Russian-appointed head of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, also acknowledged the attack, saying on Telegram that a bridge for cars and trucks was damaged, and “repair work is already beginning.”
Russia annexed the peninsula of Crimea in 2014, in a move condemned by Ukraine and its allies as illegal under international law. Kyiv has vowed to retake Crimea along with the territory occupied by Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Key bridges connect the peninsula to mainland Russia and to areas of Ukraine occupied by Moscow’s troops, which are now controlled by Russia-installed leaders.
Crimean bridges have emerged as key targets in Ukrainian drone and missile attacks, especially as Ukraine vows to ramp up its assault on Russian targets in and around the Black Sea, and as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Kyiv’s troops are working “to bring the war back where it came from.”
There are no grounds for any agreement with Kiev on settling the conflict in Ukraine, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with The New York Times.
“There are currently no grounds for an agreement. We will continue the operation for the foreseeable future,” he stated.
Russia only want to control those territories that are Russian under its constitution, he continued
“No,” he said when asked whether Russia wants to add more Ukrainian territories.
“We just want to control all the land we have now written into our Constitution as ours,” Peskov added.
Russian bomb hits blood transfusion center in Kharkiv region: Zelensky
A Russian guided aerial bomb struck a blood transfusion center in the country’s northeastern Kharkiv region Saturday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He said on Telegram that there are dead and wounded victims as a result of the attack, but did not provide any specific numbers.
Zelensky said the blood transfusion center is located in the Kupyansk community, where Russia has recently amassed troops on the eastern front line. A fire broke out at the center following the attack, he added.
Peace talks at Ukraine summit in Saudi Arabia productive and honest so far: Official
The second meeting on restoring peace in Ukraine took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with more than 40 countries participating.
A senior official from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said the peace talks, so far, have been productive.
“We had an extremely honest, open conversation, during which representatives of each country could voice their position and vision,” Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential office, stated.
Yermak added all the participants demonstrated their countries’ commitment to the principles of the UN Charter. He described the peace consultations as “very productive.”
Among the participants are senior officials from the European Union, United States, Germany, United Kingdom, China, India, South Africa and Turkey. Russia was not represented.
The meeting is expected to continue through Sunday.
The talks involve Ukraine, Western nations and representatives from developing countries — some of whom have refused to take sides in the conflict. Host country Saudi Arabia is hoping the summit results in support for Kyiv’s peace proposals from beyond its core Western backers.
The meetings are likely to center more around the talking stages rather than concrete steps towards peace, as Ukraine and Russia continue to express conditions that are unacceptable to the other. Despite all this, the conference is being closely watched.
Russia hasn’t made major advances as fighting rages along the eastern front: Ukrainian military
There has been heavy fighting along the eastern front line in the war, with hundreds of recent engagements, but Russia has failed to make any significant advances, a Ukrainian military official said Sunday.
Kyiv’s soldiers have been particularly successful around Bakhmut, where some of the bloodiest fighting of the war has taken place, Serhii Cherevatyi, a deputy commander and spokesperson for Ukrainian forces in the country’s east, told CNN.
Cherevatyi said Ukrainian troops were advancing “hundreds of meters every day” despite a tough Russian resistance. Kremlin forces fired more than 650 shells there in the past day alone, he said.
“The enemy is putting up fierce resistance,” Cherevatyi told CNN.
He added that movement along the front line was broadly static despite the intensity of the fighting.
While Ukraine is advancing on Bakhmut, Russia is trying to move toward Kupyansk, a city to the north in the Kharkiv region, Cherevatyi said.
Six attacks had taken place in settlements close to Kupyansk and Kharkiv’s border with the region of Luhansk. Some involved fighter jets and attack helicopters.
“The Russians are concentrating their forces in this area, with powerful units there. However, we can see their intentions, we know what they want to do and what areas to attack,” Cherevatyi stated.
The Russian military announced its forces had taken a village near Kupyansk on Saturday. Cherevatyi denied claims that Russia had made any ground, “unless we are talking about tens of meters. Nothing significant.”
Cherevatyi also shot down any assertions that Kyiv had lost territory south of Svatove, another hotspot on the front that runs along the border of Kharkiv and Luhansk regions.
Important Ukrainian air base targeted in wave of Russian strikes: Kyiv
Russian forces attempted to strike a key air base in western Ukraine as they launched a wave of missiles and drones overnight into Sunday.
The Starokostiantyniv airfield, in the Ukrainian region of Khmelnytskyi, has previously been targeted.
“The Starokostiantyniv airfield keeps troubling the enemy,” said Yurii Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force command.
“And we can understand why — our pilots are hauling the enemy over the coals,” Ihnat added.
A local official said several homes were damaged in the attack and a fire had broken out on the premises of a grain elevator.
Missiles also struck the Khmelnytskyi region on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia fired 70 aerial attack weapons at targets across Ukraine in the latest wave of strikes.
All 27 drones used in the barrage were shot down, as were 18 of the 26 cruise missiles used by Russia’s troops, according to Ukrainian officials. Kyiv did not specify how many hypersonic missiles made it through its air defenses.
“Unfortunately, we do not always succeed in shooting down everything,” Ihnat continued.
Flights at Moscow airport disrupted during a drone alert
Flights at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport were temporarily disrupted during a drone alert.
Citing the airport’s press service, Russian state news agency TASS said flight restrictions began at 10:26 a.m. in the capital due to “reasons beyond the airport’s control.”
Nearly 30 flights were affected.
Separately, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated a drone attempted to break through Moscow’s air defenses at about 11 a.m. local time but was destroyed on approach.
The Russian Defense Ministry later announced that a drone attack at 11:27 a.m. local time was “thwarted.”
Drone attacks on Moscow and inside Russia have become increasingly common in recent weeks. Officials in Kyiv have warned of more to come.
Russia ‘destroys’ hostile drone approaching Moscow: Mayor
A hostile drone was destroyed by air defences as it approached Moscow on Sunday, city mayor Sergei Sobyanin has said.
Sobyanin wrote on messaging app Telegram: “Today at around 11 am a drone attempted to make a breakthrough toward Moscow. It was destroyed while approaching by air defence forces.”
The Russian Defence Ministry announced the Ukrainian drone was destroyed over the Podolsky district in the Moscow region.
“There were no casualties or damage,” the ministry added.
Temporary restrictions that had been introduced at Moscow’s Vnukovo international airport were lifted, Russian-state run news agency RIA Novosti said.
Russia accused Ukraine of two drone attacks on its capital last week. A skyscraper in Moscow was attacked twice in two days over the past week, according to Sobyanin. Several drones had been shot down but “one flew into the same tower at the Moskva City complex” that was targeted last Sunday.
Japan’s PM deplores ‘Russia’s nuclear threat’ on 78th anniversary of Hiroshima
Japan’s prime minister has hit out at Russian threats to use nuclear weapons as the country marked the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
Around 140,000 people died in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and 74,000 in Nagasaki three days later, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on the two Japanese cities days before the end of World War II.
“Japan, as the only nation to have suffered atomic bombings in war, will continue efforts towards a nuclear-free world,” said Fumio Kishida at a ceremony in Hiroshima on Sunday.
“The path towards it is becoming increasingly difficult because of deepening divisions in the international community over nuclear disarmament and Russia’s nuclear threat,” he added.
Speaking at the ceremonies, the Hiroshima mayor urged the abolition of nuclear weapons and called the G7 leaders’ notion of nuclear deterrence a “folly”.
“Leaders around the world must confront the reality that nuclear threats now being voiced by certain policymakers reveal the folly of nuclear deterrence theory,” stated the Hiroshima mayor, Kazumi Matsui.
