Ukraine war briefing: Russian-occupied Crimea declares ‘emergency’ as Zelenskyy’s forces step up attacks
Ukrainian president says Crimea at centre of Kyiv’s ‘policy of ensuring justice’ against Moscow. What we know on day 1,584 Authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea have
Ukrainian president says Crimea at centre of Kyiv’s ‘policy of ensuring justice’ against Moscow. What we know on day 1,584 Authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea have declared an “emergency situation” in a bid to ease the fallout from increasing Ukrainian aerial attacks on the peninsula. Friday’s announcement came amid fuel shortages and power cuts triggered by the Ukrainian attacks on logistics chains and oil facilities across Crimea, the rest of Russian-occupied Ukraine and southern Russia. Kyiv calls its stepped up air attacks fair retribution for Russia’s near-daily barrages on Ukraine, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying on social media: “We are doing everything to force Russia to end the war and restore justice. And it is Crimea that is at the centre of this policy of ensuring justice.” The Russia-installed governor of Sevastopol said emergency crews had worked to ease power cuts but told residents of Crimea’s largest city to use appliances sparingly to avoid power overloads and shortages. Crimea authorities have already suspended fuel sales to private motorists, and Sevastopol introduced restrictions on operating hours for public transport, shops, cafes and street lights. The restrictions come as Russian air defences shot down 660 Ukrainian drones overnight, including over Moscow and Crimea, its defence ministry said on Friday – one of the highest figures since the start of the war.
“Today, Ukraine is depriving Russia of this launchpad and drawing a line under its attempts to normalise war,” Zelenskyy said. Two countries on Nato’s eastern flank have warned that Russia is preparing a possible “provocation” in the Baltic states or Poland in an effort to test the cohesion of the western military alliance, reports Dan Sabbagh. Western sources also fear there could be danger on the horizon because the Kremlin is coming under pressure from Ukraine’s campaign of long-range attacks on targets near Moscow and St Petersburg. A Russian drone strike on Friday killed two passengers aboard a minibus in Ukraine’s south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region and one person in the border Sumy region, regional officials said. Dnipropetrovsk’s regional governor said on two people died and 12 were injured, including two children, in the strike in Nikopol, while Sumy’s regional governor said a drone strike there killed a man in a village outside the main regional centre, also called Sumy. An oil tanker suspected of being part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” was taken to waters near Marseille on Friday, a day after it was seized by France’s navy near Sicily, local authorities said.
The BriefWire