Ukraine update: What happened in the night
Russia Chases Ukraine’s Most Dangerous Weapon – ‘And Keeps Failing’
Ukraine’s cruise missiles are state-of-the-art weapons. They come from Great Britain (Storm Shadow type) and France (Scalp type), have a range of up to 300 kilometers, are extremely precise and, with 450 kilograms of explosives, also have enormous penetrating power.
The Ukrainian military has already used them in numerous attacks on important infrastructure, whether bridges to Crimea or Russian weapons depots. The result: destruction and death for the Russian troops. Countermeasures have not been successful so far. The bullets are loud “Picture” well camouflaged and fly low. Russia simply lacks the means.
Another strategic approach taken by the Russian side has also failed so far. The cruise missiles have to be shot down by fighter planes in the air. Russia wants to destroy the Soviet Sukhoi Su-24 used for this purpose before they are used. These are stored in air force bases, including the Starokostiantyniv air force base.
The bases represent a possible target, but according to the Italian military expert Thomas C Theiner the Russian plans are not working at the moment. “Russia fires 90 percent of its cruise missiles and ballistic missiles at the base housing those planes. And yet Russia fails again and again,” he wrote on Twitter.
According to “Bild”, Ukraine protects the fighter jets by regularly moving them to another base (every 24 hours), making it more difficult for Russia to scout out the current location. In addition, video footage shows that the airfields are protected by Patriot and Iris-T anti-aircraft systems.
Two Russian missiles hit residential areas in Pokrovsk
According to Ukrainian sources, at least eight people were killed in Russian attacks on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk on Monday. Five civilians were killed, said the head of the military administration of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, in the online service Telegram after two attacks on a residential building. In addition, two employees of the rescue services and a soldier were killed. According to Kyrylenko, 14 civilians were injured.
The Russian armed forces had hit an “ordinary apartment building,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter, which was recently renamed “X.” Two rockets hit. He published photographs of a typical Soviet-era five-story building, the top floor of which had been destroyed. Journalists from the AFP news agency watched rescue workers work around the damaged building.
Pokrovsk is about 70 kilometers northwest of the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk and about 30 kilometers from the front line. Before the war, around 60,000 people lived in the city.
The military authorities of the Kharkiv region in north-eastern Ukraine also reported that two civilians were killed in a Russian airstrike on the town of Krugljakivka on Monday evening. Two men had been killed in an attack the day before.
Ukraine says ‘satisfied’ after peace talks in Saudi Arabia
After talks in Saudi Arabia on ways to end the Ukraine war, Kiev said it was “satisfied” that the meeting did not involve Russia. “We are very satisfied with the results of the summit,” said Andriy Yermak, chief of staff of the Ukrainian presidential office, on Monday. Accordingly, the participants agreed on another meeting, for which there is no exact date.
Almost 40 countries took part in the meeting, including Western countries such as the USA and Germany, but also emerging countries such as China, India and South Africa and developing countries. As expected, no final statement was released after the meeting. European diplomatic circles then said that the “territorial integrity and sovereignty” of Ukraine should be “at the heart of any peace agreement” according to the will of the participants.
Russia was not invited to the meeting. Moscow had previously stated that a peace solution would only be possible if Ukraine laid down its arms. Russia also asked Ukraine to cede territories to Moscow.
Foreign ministers of Russia and China hold talks on war in Ukraine
Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov was once again on the phone with his Chinese colleague Wang Yi. A number of “hot topics” were discussed, including the “Ukrainian crisis”, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The phone call between the two chief diplomats followed a Ukraine summit in Saudi Arabia last weekend, to which Russia was not invited but China was. Because Beijing is considered one of Moscow’s most important partners, the participation was considered a particular success.
Russia’s judiciary sentences author Glukhovsky to prison in absentia
The Russian cult author Dmitry Glukhovsky (“Metro”), who lives in exile, has been sentenced in his home country to eight years in a prison camp in absentia. A Moscow court found the 44-year-old guilty of allegedly spreading “fake news” about Russia’s army, Interfax reported. Glukhovsky, who has been denouncing the authoritarian policies of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin for years, had sharply criticized Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine on social networks.
US pledges $200 million in arms aid after accounting error
The US will pledge $200 million in arms aid to Ukraine today. The sum is a first installment of the $6.2 billion discovered after an overstatement of Ukrainian aid, according to government officials. In May, the Pentagon reported an accounting error, saying it erroneously overestimated the value of US arms shipped because employees used replacement value instead of depreciated value when calculating the value of ammunition, missiles and other equipment. The promised package includes mine clearance equipment, TOW and AT4 anti-tank weapons, rifles and ammunition, Lockheed Martin interceptors for the Patriot system, GMLRS (Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System) missiles and Javelin anti-tank missiles.
What will be important on Tuesday
The counter-offensive to recapture occupied areas is continuing in the east and south of Ukraine.
