Ukraine's military intelligence on Sunday claimed responsibility for attacks on a Russian gas terminal on the Baltic Sea coast and several military installations in the Russian regions of Smolensk, Tula and Oryol. According to a Ukrainian military intelligence source cited by the RBK portal, the fire at the liquefied gas terminal operated by Novatek in Ust-Luga, in the Gulf of Finland, was due to the impact of a Ukrainian drone.
“The blow was precise. It started a huge fire, which still continues. The Russians were forced to evacuate employees,” the source said. “Fuel is processed there, which, in particular, goes to the Russian Army. A successful attack on this terminal not only causes economic losses to the enemy, depriving him of the opportunity to earn money from the war in Ukraine, but also significantly complicates fuel logistics for the Russian Army,” he added.
Ust-Luga is located 35 kilometers from the border with Estonia and almost a thousand kilometers from the border with Ukraine, although in the Leningrad region, where it is located, two incidents against crude oil deposits claimed as attacks had already been recorded this week. by Kiev.
In turn, according to what military intelligence services told several Ukrainian media outlets, the target in Tula, south of Moscow, was a unit where the Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile systems are manufactured, while the attack in Smolensk (west) it was directed against an aircraft factory.
On the other side of the battlefield, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Sunday the downing last night of five Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over the Smolensk and Tula regions. Four of the unmanned devices were shot down in the Smolensk region, adjacent to Belarus, according to a Defense Ministry statement published on Telegram, while the fifth drone was intercepted in Tula. Simultaneously, a fire broke out at the Ust-Luga terminal, which Novatek – Russia's biggest liquefied gas exporter – said was due to an “external factor”.
Pro-Russian government in Ukrainian region says attack on market killed 18 people
At least 18 people died and another 13 were injured in an attack carried out this Sunday by Ukraine against a market in the city of Donetsk, capital of the homonymous region – belonging to Ukraine, but annexed by Russia in September 2022 –, according to the latest reports data provided by the city's mayor, Alexei Kulemzin. “At this moment we know of 18 dead and 13 injured. The information continues to arrive”, wrote the mayor on his Telegram channel.
Previously, the pro-Russian leader of the Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, had estimated the number of victims of the attack, which he described as “monstrous”, at 13 dead and 10 injured. Pushilin particularly highlighted the fact that the attack occurred on a Sunday, the busiest day for the public.
The Tekstilshchik microdistrict is located southwest of Donetsk and just over ten kilometers away, so the regional capital, over which Kiev lost control in 2014, is within range of Ukrainian artillery.
The attack on Donetsk comes at a time of intensifying fighting on the Ukrainian eastern front, where Russian troops have made some progress in recent days, according to the think tank American Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Russia assures that it took the initiative in actions on all fronts, while Ukraine declares that it maintains an “active defense” that contains the advances of Moscow’s troops.
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