WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine says Russia lost two bombers in attacks on airfields

Ukraine's intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said recent attacks on Russian airfields had destroyed two TU-22 bombers and damaged two more bombers.

"Two were destroyed, two were damaged. Two can not be repaired," Budanov said in a TV interview on Wednesday night for the Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

He said a fifth Russian aircarft could have been hit.

Russian officials reported drone attacks on military airfields Soltsy in the Novgorod region on Saturday and Shaykovka in the Kaluga region on Monday and said that one warplane was damaged during the first attack.

On Tuesday, British military intelligence said that Russia was likely to have lost a nuclear-capable TU-22M3 supersonic long-range bomber in the attack on Soltsy.

Budanov said that his intelligence agency was in direct contact with people who attacked the airfields.

"These were people who carried out certain tasks from the Russian territory," he said.

A spokesperson for the Ukrainian intelligence said this week that the agency coordinated the attack on the Shaykovka airfield.

** EU military chief casts doubt on Ukraine regaining territory

The European Union's military leadership has expressed doubts that Ukraine will regain any territory lost in the war with Russia, according to German newspaper Die Welt.

"It remains questionable whether Ukraine's full sovereignty can be restored with the resources available," said Robert Brieger, chairman of the European Union Military Committee (EUMC), the highest military body in the EU which is composed of the 27 member states.

Regarding the Ukraine's counter-offensive, which has been ongoing since June, Brieger said he would be "cautious to expect a breakthrough of the Ukrainian forces through the Russian defence lines."

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine crisis caused by Western attempts to preserve hegemony – Putin

Attempts by the West to maintain its hegemony are the main cause of the conflict in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed. He added that members of the BRICS group of nations unanimously reject the idea of exceptionalism.

“We are against any hegemony, the notion of exceptionalism promoted by some nations, and the policy of neocolonialism derived from that claim,” the Russian leader said on Wednesday during a speech via video link to a summit of BRICS leaders in South Africa.

The BRICS group, which includes Brazil, China, India, Russia, and South Africa, firmly believes in “the formation of a multipolar world order, truly just and based on international law,” Putin stated.

Explaining the origins of the Ukraine crisis, Putin accused Western powers of facilitating the “anti-constitutional coup” in Kiev in 2014. After seizing power, the new Ukrainian authorities “unleashed a war” against those who rejected them, Putin said.

“Our actions in Ukraine have but one motive: to put an end to this war that the West and its satellites in Ukraine started against the people living in Donbass,” the president stressed.

He conveyed Moscow’s gratitude to BRICS members, which he said are working to resolve the situation “in a fair way through peaceful means.”

Russia deployed troops against Ukraine in February 2022, stating that its goals were to stop Kiev’s attacks on Donbass, ensure Ukrainian military neutrality, and eliminate radical nationalist forces. The US and its allies have claimed that Moscow’s military action was “unprovoked,” and have pledged to arm and fund Kiev for “as long as it takes” to defeat Russia.

Moscow has identified NATO’s expansion in Eastern Europe and particularly its increasing influence in Ukraine as a major threat to Russian national security. In 2021, the Russian government sought to negotiate with the West to address those concerns, but its efforts were rejected.

** Two Ukrainian drones shot down above Russia’s Bryansk Region — defense ministry

The Kiev government has sent two drones to attack facilities in Russia, but Russian air defenses shot them down above the western Russia’s Bryansk Region late on Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters.

"An attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out terrorist attacks using fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles was foiled at around 10:00 p.m. Moscow time [on Wednesday]," the ministry said.

"Two Ukrainian UAVs were detected and destroyed by air defense systems over the territory of the Bryansk Region," it said.

Reuters/RT/Tass