Sunday, August 6, 2023

Ukraine has said it suffered several waves of aerial attacks overnight, which Moscow said targeted military airfields, a day after a strike on a Russian tanker on the Kerch Strait.

The Ukrainian air force said Sunday it shot down 30 out of the 40 cruise missiles and all Shahed drones launched by Russia.

It added that Russia launched three Kinzhal hypersonic missiles but did not say if they had been destroyed.

The Ukrainian armed force did not specify which sites were hit by the missiles that got through air defences.

The Russian army however said it struck "Ukrainian armed forces airbases around the settlements of Starokostiantyniv in the Khmelnytskyi region and Dubno in the Rivne region".

Home to a major airbase, the western Khmelnytskyi region located hundreds of kilometres from the front lines of the fighting has been repeatedly targeted during the war.

"Since yesterday evening, the Khmelnytskyi region has been attacked three times... most missiles were shot down" said local official Sergiy Tyurin.

Several buildings and the bus station were damaged, he said on Telegram.

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1549 GMT - Ukraine confirms it hits 2 key bridges to Crimea

The Ukrainian armed forces have confirmed that they hit the Chonhar and Henichesk bridges leading to Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

"At around 15.00, the defense forces struck the Chonhar and Henichesk bridges, which are important communication routes of the invaders," the armed forces said in a statement.

Earlier, Russia said that Ukraine fired missiles at the Chonhar bridge that connects the Kherson region to the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula.

1304 GMT - France condemns Russian missile, drone strikes on Ukraine

France has condemned "in strongest terms" Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukraine over the weekend.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said a series of Russian strikes on Saturday and Sunday left several dead and wounded.

“These Russian strikes deliberately targeted the civilian population which constitutes a new flagrant violation of international humanitarian law,” it said.

Quoting Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna's remarks, the statement said these "unacceptable acts constitute war crimes and cannot go unpunished."


“France will continue to provide Ukraine with the necessary assistance to enable it to exercise its self-defense and will also continue to support Ukrainian courts and the International Criminal Court in combating impunity for crimes committed by Russia,” it added.

1251 GMT - Russia claims Ukraine attacked bridges to Crimea with missiles

Russia has claimed that Ukraine fired missiles at the Chonhar bridge that connects the Kherson region to the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed illegally in 2014.

“The bridge was damaged by a rocket,” Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed head of Ukraine’s Kherson region, said in a statement on Telegram.

In a separate statement, Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian-backed head of Crimea, claimed on Telegram that some missiles were shot down by air defense systems and that there were no casualties.


Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on the claim, which could not be independently verified due to the ongoing war.

1056 GMT - Ukraine calls Jeddah talks productive, Russia calls them doomed

Kiev has said that the weekend summit on ways to resolve the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah was “a step toward implementing Ukrainian peace initiatives.”

The statement by the Ukrainian presidency said that more than 40 countries were represented in Jeddah at the meeting held on the level of national security advisers and foreign policy officials.

The statement also quoted Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, who said that productive consultations were held on “the key principles on which a just and lasting peace should be built.”


He added: “There were different views, but all the participants demonstrated their countries' commitment to the principles of the UN Charter, international law, and respect for the sovereignty and inviolability of the territorial integrity of states".

Without the participation of Russia, the two-day meeting in Jeddah began on Saturday, following a similar meeting held in the Danish capital Copenhagen in June.

0912 GMT - Russia says Western bid to get Global South to back Ukraine is doomed

Moscow has said that weekend talks in Saudi Arabia including the US, China and India aiming to establish principles for a peaceful end to Russia's war in Ukraine were a doomed Western attempt to align the Global South behind Kiev.

Senior officials from some 40 countries were attending the two-day meeting, part of a push by Ukraine to build support beyond its core Western backers among countries that have been reluctant to take sides in the conflict. Russia was not invited.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday he hoped the initiative would lead to a peace summit of leaders from around the world this autumn to endorse principles for a settlement based on his own 10-point formula.

At its heart is a withdrawal of Russian troops and the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity.

0546 GMT- Russia destroys two drones over Bryansk region: local governor

Russia's air defence system destroyed two aircraft-type drones over the Karachevskyi district in the Bryansk region, Alexander Bogomaz, governor of the Russian region that borders Ukraine, said.

"There were no damages or casualties," Bogomaz said on the Telegram channel.

It was not clear who launched the drones, and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Kiev almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russia-controlled territory in Ukraine.

Russian authorities say the Bryansk region - which borders both Ukraine and Belarus - has seen multiple attacks by Ukrainian forces and pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups in the 17 months since Russia launched its attack on Ukraine.

0046 GMT- Russia promises retaliation after Ukrainian drones hit Russian tanker

Moscow has promised after Ukrainian drones hit a Russian tanker in the Black Sea near Crimean peninsula late Friday, the second sea attack involving drones in one day.

Ukraine struck a major Russian port earlier on Friday.

Moscow strongly condemned what it sees as a Ukrainian "terrorist attack" on a civilian vessel in the Kerch Strait, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

"There can be no justification for such barbaric actions, they will not go unanswered and their authors and perpetrators will inevitably be punished,” she wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

2240 GMT -Zelenskyy vows house cleaning to prevent Ukraine from weakening

Zelenskyy has promised a fresh round of institutional "cleaning," a reference to his ongoing campaign to impress Western partners by showing Kiev has moved on from a history of deep-rooted graft.

"Next week will be a continuation of our work on cleaning state institutions of those who tried to drag from the past all those old habits, old schemes that weakened Ukraine for a very long time, for decades," he said in his nightly address.

Zelenskyy gave no details about who might be a target.

He has recently expressed indignation at corruption uncovered during an audit of Ukraine's military recruitment centres but is anxious to root out graft in general as he presses to join NATO and the European Union.

For our live updates from Saturday (August 5), click here.