WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine says it hit two Russian munitions depots overnight

Ukraine said on Saturday it had hit two Russian munition depots overnight, in attacks that illustrated its growing capability to strike targets deep inside Russia.

Russian officials acknowledged the Ukrainian attack on one of the depots in southern Krasnodar region, saying it was carried out with drones. They introduced local emergency measures to mitigate the effects of the assault.

A statement by Ukraine's military general staff said the munitions depots were at Tikhoretsk in Krasnodar region and Oktyabrsky in the western region of Tver.

"The (Tikhoretsk) facility is in the top three largest munitions storages of the occupiers, and is one of the key points in the Russian military logistical system," the general staff wrote in a statement on Telegram.

It said Ukraine had information that a train carrying 2,000 tonnes of munitions, including from North Korea, had been on the territory of the depot at the time of the strike.

Reuters was unable to verify the report independently.

A Ukrainian security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said drones were used in the attacks.

The source said Ukraine's domestic SBU intelligence service hit the depot in Tikhoretsk in a joint operation with the Ukrainian military, while the SBU hit the target in Oktyabrsky on its own.

The SBU has conducted regular drone attacks deep inside Russia over the past year of the war.

Krasnodar region governor Venyamin Kondratyev, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said officials had evacuated some residents while tackling the effects of the attack.

"What is important is that there is no longer any threat to residents," he wrote. "But time is needed to carry out fully all the necessary checks of the territory."

More than 100 residents of Tikhoretsk district and nearby Vyselkovsky district had been housed in hotels, while others had gone to stay with relatives.

Ukraine has used long-range drones as a means of closing the armament gap with Russia, which has a vast arsenal of long-range missiles. Kyiv is also seeking permission from its Western allies to use long-range missiles they have provided Ukraine with to strike deep inside Russia.

The source added that SBU drones had also hit unspecified infrastructure at the Shaikovka military airfield in Russia.

An overnight Russian missile strike on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killed a 12-year-old boy and two elderly women, the regional governor said. Russia said it had struck Ukrainian energy facilities overnight using high-precision weapons and drones, Russian news agencies reported.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia reports strike on ship carrying Western weapons to Ukraine

The Russian military has hit a ship that was transporting Western-made munitions to Ukraine, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said. It added that it has conducted another series of strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

In a statement on Saturday, the ministry claimed that Russian warplanes, drones, missiles, and artillery forces destroyed two Ukrainian ammo depots and “struck a dry-cargo carrier with missiles and ammunition, provided to the Kiev regime by Western countries.”

Officials did not say how badly the ship was damaged or where the attack took place, though Ukraine relies mainly on the Black Sea and Danube routes to receive sea shipments.

The ministry also said Russian forces conducted strikes using high-precision weapons and drones on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure linked to Kiev’s defense industrial complex as well as UAV workshops, and military deployment areas. “The objectives of the strike have been achieved. All designated targets have been hit,” it added.

While Ukrainian officials have not commented on Moscow’s claim that it hit a dry cargo ship, local media overnight reported explosions in Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Sumy, Krivoy Rog, and several other cities.

Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since Kiev’s attack on the Crimean Bridge in autumn 2022, with officials in Kiev and the West saying the strikes have destroyed around half of the country’s electricity capacity. Moscow has maintained that it never targets civilians.

Reuters/RT