RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Britain ‘de facto’ at war with Russia – Medvedev

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has described the UK as waging an “undeclared war” against Russia. The comment came after Britain’s foreign secretary condoned a large-scale drone attack on Moscow earlier this week.

In a Twitter post on Wednesday, Medvedev accused London of being Moscow’s “eternal enemy.” The former leader, who currently serves as deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, claimed that based on international law, “including the Hague and Geneva Conventions with their additional protocols,” Britain “can also be qualified as being at war.”

The former president argued that by providing Ukraine with weapons and training, the UK “de facto is leading an undeclared war against Russia.”

Medvedev hinted that this could have direct ramifications for “public officials” in Britain.

His tweet cited remarks made on Tuesday by UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who said Ukraine has the right to “project force beyond its borders to undermine Russia’s ability to project force into Ukraine itself.”

Cleverly further claimed that striking “legitimate military targets” in Russia is an acceptable part of Ukraine’s self-defense.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, eight UAVs were detected in Moscow’s airspace on Tuesday morning, in what officials described as a “terrorist attack” by Kiev.

The ministry reported that three drones were suppressed by electronic warfare measures and deviated from their intended course before crashing, while the other five were shot down by Pantsir-S air defense systems outside the city.

Several residential buildings sustained superficial damage and two people suffered minor injuries as a result of the raid.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Kiev of launching the attack in an attempt to avenge a recent series of Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian airfields, ammunition dumps, and “decision-making centers.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed on Tuesday that the headquarters of the Ukrainian military’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) had been among the targets hit in the strikes.

** Russian forces wipe out last Ukrainian combat ship in Odessa — top brass

Russia’s Aerospace Forces destroyed the last Ukrainian combat ship in the Odessa port in the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Wednesday.

"On May 29, the Ukrainian Navy’s last combat ship Yury Olefirenko was destroyed as a result of a strike by the Russian Aerospace Forces’ precision weapons against the anchorage of naval ships in the Odessa port," the spokesman said.

The Ukrainian Navy operated about 25 combat ships, including five patrol and six artillery boats before Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine.

In addition, the Ukrainian Navy’s combat assets included the Gola Pristan anti-saboteur boat and the Svatovo assault boat. Upon Kiev’s attempt to storm Snake Island in the Black Sea on May 9 last year, Russian forces sank three Ukrainian Centaur-class armored assault boats and each of them could have carried a marine infantry platoon.

The Ukrainian Navy also operated nine armored gunboats, one of which, the Akkerman, was abandoned by the crew in Berdyansk, according to information of the Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily. The Vinnitsa corvette and the Yury Olefirenko medium amphibious assault ship were sunk.

 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine says Russian missiles kill two children in Kyiv

A Russian missile attack on Kyiv killed three people including two children and injured 14 on Thursday, officials in the Ukrainian capital said.

The Kyiv military administration said in a statement the attack struck the Desnyanskyi region on the capital's eastern outskirts as well as Dniprovkskyi district, closer to the centre.

It was the 18th attack on the capital this month.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said nine people needed hospital treatment. Emergency crews had extinguished fires caused by falling debris near the sites of the strikes.

Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app a medical clinic had been hit. Photographs posted on the city's website showed windows blown out in the clinic and in nearby apartment buildings.

Pictures from the scene posted on social media showed rescue teams attending to residents in buildings, with shattered building materials strewn about on the street.

City authorities said the impact was from shot-down cruise or ballistic missiles.

Air raid alerts in Kyiv and in most of eastern Ukraine were in effect for about an hour.