Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy declares 40-day Russia blitz to ‘influence the aggressor state’
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after consulting the head of the Ukrainian security service that he had authorised a 40-day operation against Russian targets to “influence the
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after consulting the head of the Ukrainian security service that he had authorised a 40-day operation against Russian targets to “influence the aggressor state in order to press for an end to the war”. Ukraine’s president said on Thursday that Kyiv’s forces hit two more Russian oil refineries in Ufa, 1,500km (930 miles) from the frontline, and an oil depot in the Krasnodar region, 300km (180 miles) from Ukraine. Aleksandr Kharitonov, head of Krasnoarmeysk district in Krasnodar Krai, confirmed an oil depot at Poltavskaya was hit. Authorities in illegally occupied Crimea will impose more power outages, the region’s Russian-appointed governor said Thursday. A day earlier Ukrainian strikes blacked out Sevastopol, Crimea’s largest city – coming as the peninsula grapples with gasoline shortages that have led to a complete ban on sales to the general public. Power was fully or partially cut off across the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s Kherson region bordering Crimea, the Moscow-installed governor, Vladimir Saldo, said early on Friday. Meanwhile the number of trains to Crimea, a popular summer destination for Russian tourists, was being cut back, Crimea’s Russia-installed governor, Sergei Aksyonov, said on Thursday. Russian relay stations in Belarus used for attacks on Ukraine have been switched off, Zelenskyy said on Thursday, after last week warning neighbouring president Alexander Lukashenko to remove them “or we will do it”. Ukrainian intelligence had determined the repeaters were off, Zelenskyy said on Thursday, but “along our state border, Belarus is completing the construction of road infrastructure and storage facilities for ammunition and fuel, which have no purpose other than military use.
Belarus knows what steps are needed on its part for peace. The development of border infrastructure for aggression from Belarus must be stopped.” For his part Lukashenko on Thursday accused Ukraine rather than Russia of trying to drag his country into the war – at the same time saying he “stands with Russia”; calling for a “substantive” agreement; and declaring Belarus had no desire to fight Ukrainians. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based thinktank, said Lukashenko is walking a fine line. “Lukashenko continues to stall and deflect the Kremlin’s intensified attempts to drag Belarus into the war in Ukraine while maintaining relatively neutral rhetoric towards Ukraine.” Ukrainian military officials on Wednesday ordered a mandatory evacuation for the approximately 1,000 people still in the Chernihiv region bordering Russia and Belarus starting on 1 July. Zelenskyy said Russia was moving air defences to protect key targets like Moscow from Ukrainian drones – potentially leaving other areas vulnerable. Russia was also moving air defences to protect the palatial residence of Vladimir Putin at Valdai, a town about 500km (300 miles) north-west of Moscow. Zelenskyy said the Kerch Bridge, connecting the Crimean Peninsula with the Russian mainland, was also being prioritised for air defence. The Ukrainian army said on Thursday a unit commander was suspended over a probe into alleged abuse of soldiers, after a media report found alleged non-military deaths in the regiment’s training camps.
The BriefWire