RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kremlin responds to Ukraine’s threats to assassinate Putin

Russia is aware of the dangers coming from the “Kiev regime,” including its threats to assassinate President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

The spokesman was approached for comment on assassination threats against the Russian leader that had been voiced by the head of Kiev’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), Kirill Budanov, in a recent interview. Moscow is aware of the threats and takes measures accordingly, Peskov said.

“All the threats coming from the Kiev regime are obvious. Therefore, the security of the president is established at the proper level,”the spokesman told Russian media outlet Life on Saturday.

Budanov, who had been placed on Moscow’s terrorist and extremist list over his activities, revealed Kiev’s efforts to kill Putin in an interview with Ukrainian news outlet NV published earlier in the day. His service has made several attempts to assassinate the Russian president, he claimed, without providing any further information.

“[The attempts to assassinate Putin] took place, but, as you can see, they were unsuccessful thus far,” Budanov claimed.

Amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, several Western media outlets reported attempts on Putin’s life, attributed to Kiev. In September 2022, British tabloid The Sun reported an explosion near the Russian president’s motorcade, while, in early 2023, several German media outlets claimed the president was unsuccessfully attacked by a drone. At the time, the Kremlin dismissed such reports as empty sensationalism with nothing behind it.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Two dead in Russian 'double tap' attack on town near Ukraine's Kharkiv

Russian forces launched a "double tap" missile attack on Saturday on a small town near Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv, killing two people, an emergency services official and a police officer, officials said.

Officials also reported four dead in a series of attacks in Donetsk region to the southeast and two more in southern Kherson region.

Prosecutors said the mid-afternoon missile attack targeted the railway station in Budy, southwest of Kharkiv. After rescue teams arrived, a second missile hit the area.

They said 25 people were injured in the incidents, including two children.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the head of the Kharkiv district emergency services was killed, along with a police officer from a rapid reaction unit. Among the injured were three emergency workers, a policeman and about 20 civilians.

Reuters could not verify independently the accounts and Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians. But Russian forces have used the "double tap" tactic to devastating effect.

Kharkiv remained out of Russian hands in the initial advance of the Kremlin's forces after the February 2022 invasion.

The city and surrounding area have since come under constant attack, though Ukrainian officials say the frequency has diminished since U.S. supplies of weaponry to Ukraine resumed after a break of several months.

Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin said an attack by multiple rocket launchers hit a multi-storey apartment building killed one person in Chasiv Yar -- a town targeted by Russian forces as a staging point in advancing through Ukraine's east.

A guided bomb, increasingly used in Russian attacks, killed one person near the town of Kurakhove, where some of the heaviest fighting is taking place along the 1,000-km (600-mile) front.

Two bombs dropped on a village further west near the town of Komar killed two people. Ten buildings and a shop were damaged.

In southern Kherson region, regional governor Oleksander Prokudin said Russian shelling had killed a couple in a village outside the main administrative centre, also known as Kherson.

Prokudin said Russian forces had shelled Ukrainian-held positions throughout the day. Russian forces seized Kherson region in the early days of the 2022 invasion, but Ukrainian forces recaptured many areas later in the year.

RT/Reuters