Drones hitting Odesa had ‘for Moscow’ and ‘for the Kremlin’ scrawled on them
Peter Beaumont
There’s been one other evening of considerable Russian missile assaults and drone assaults on Ukrainian cities, which has develop into one thing of a sample within the final week or so after a interval of relative calm. Within the aftermath of Russia’s claims that Ukraine focused the Kremlin with its personal drones and tried to assassinate Vladimir Putin, Moscow launched a wave of kamikaze drones primarily focusing on Kyiv and Odesa.
Whereas the entire 18 drones launched in opposition to the Ukrainian capital had been reported shot down, three drones landed within the space of a college dormitory constructing in Odesa though there have been no casualties reported. Tail fragments for 2 of the drones had “for Moscow” and “for the Kremlin” scrawled on them.
Key occasions
Peter Beaumont
Guardian reporter Peter Beaumont is in southern Ukraine and visited Kherson on Tuesday. At present he managed to speak to 2 residents within the metropolis who described an evening of very heavy shelling. Peter says:
Once we had been in Kherson on Tuesday there was intermittent shelling. As a result of the town fell with out a battle on the begnning of the conflict, a lot of the harm you see has been from Russian shelling because the liberation on 11 November final yr.
To present a way of what it’s like, essentially the most harmful areas have been near the River Dnieper which has just lately been in a pink zone forbidden to journalists and non-locals.
Whereas there have been individuals transferring across the metropolis on Tuesday, that’s modified with residents telling us they plan to remain indoors even earlier than the strict weekend lengthy curfew that begins tomorrow evening. If individuals are going out in any respect it’s to refill on meals and water.
Some individuals instructed us they had been sleeping of their garments to be able to go to the shelters.
Andriy Vanin, aged 54, is a neighborhood cameraman, though he’s been unemployed because the conflict began. Right here’s what he needed to say.
We stay within the north of the town, as removed from the river as you will get. We couldn’t sleep final evening. Till 1am it was very noisy with a whole lot of shelling. After 1 there was a break and we tried to sleep, then at 4.30 m the Ukrainian artillery began shelling the Russian positions on the left financial institution.
Yesterday I needed to exit round metropolis I drive alongside metropolis. I used to be close to one of many locations that was shelled. It felt like strolling on a razor blade. Now I don’t need to go away the home.
From tomorrow evening we’ll be underneath a strict curfew introduced by the authorities. Very first thing is security however we assume this has one thing to do with the counter offensive.
Proper now it’s quiet in my district. We’re going out to purchase consuming water and bread. There’s a few small markets close by however we’re going do it quick, like in half an hour, due to the shelling.
I additionally spoke to Kateryna Symonova, who owned a bar earlier than the conflict, and now works on the technical college.
It was actually loud. We heard rather a lot bombing. Massive and shut and we may hear it on a regular basis. It was unhealthy sufficient that the entire residence was shaking. We went all the way down to basement for a time after it began at 10pm.
We assume they’ll begin once more right this moment. Now they’re closing the town and I assume it means one thing huge is coming. We’ve sufficient meals and water and I’ve despatched my mother and father out of Kherson, so it’s simply me my husband.
Now regardless that the curfew doesn’t begin till tomorrow night, most individuals have determined to remain at residence. It’s actually scary to go outdoors. Nevertheless it’s additionally actually scary staying at residence.
Anton Gerashchenko, the previous deputy minister of inside affairs and a present adviser to the inside ministry, has posted to social media what he claims is a video clip of air defences in Ukraine being launched in opposition to the in a single day drone assault.
Russia attacked Kyiv and Ukraine with drones final evening – the fourth large assault on Ukrainian cities previously week.
Air protection shot down all drones focused at Kyiv and 12 out of 15 drones focused at Odesa. Three of them hit a college dorm in Odesa. Fortunately, nobody… pic.twitter.com/dzPwnjXFL8
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) Might 4, 2023
The Guardian has not independently verified the situation and timing of the video.
Russia’s state-owned information company Tass has printed in a single day quotes from Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the US. It quotes him as saying:
How would the People react if a drone hit the White Home, the Capitol or the Pentagon? The reply for any politician, and even the layman, is apparent: the punishment might be powerful and inevitable. Russia will reply to a daring and smug terrorist assault.
In criticism of the US response to the incident, he mentioned Washington “didn’t discover it attainable to recognise the plain – a terrorist act deliberate by the regime of Zelenskiy and an try on the lifetime of the president of the Russian Federation”.
Putin isn’t thought to have been within the Kremlin on the time of the incident.
Antonov went on to say:
Blasphemous and deceitful had been the theses that this terrorist assault was allegedly an ‘operation underneath a false flag’. That’s, it was Russia itself that organised the provocation in opposition to the guts of our statehood?
The world remembers how, in 2001, the Russian president was the primary to achieve out to the American individuals, who had been then subjected to a terrorist assault. Every little thing is forgotten. At present, the US defends Kyiv criminals.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, has this report on its Telegram channel for the partly occupied Donetsk area:
On the evening of 4 Might, the Russian army launched a rocket assault on Kramatorsk, damaging the constructing of the academic establishment and close by residential buildings. There aren’t any lifeless or injured, reported the pinnacle of the Donetsk area Kirylenko.
Additionally, Avdiivka got here underneath hearth from artillery – the town was additionally hit by an air missile – homes and the territory of the enterprise had been broken.
Through the previous day, the Russian army shelled Kurakhivska, Kostyantynivska and different communities of Donetsk area. On 3 Might, two residents had been killed and 9 others had been injured in Donetsk area.
The claims haven’t been independently verified.
Listed below are a few of the newest photographs despatched to us from Ukraine over the information wires, exhibiting Ukraine’s border guards in army workout routines.
Drones hitting Odesa had ‘for Moscow’ and ‘for the Kremlin’ scrawled on them
Peter Beaumont
There’s been one other evening of considerable Russian missile assaults and drone assaults on Ukrainian cities, which has develop into one thing of a sample within the final week or so after a interval of relative calm. Within the aftermath of Russia’s claims that Ukraine focused the Kremlin with its personal drones and tried to assassinate Vladimir Putin, Moscow launched a wave of kamikaze drones primarily focusing on Kyiv and Odesa.
Whereas the entire 18 drones launched in opposition to the Ukrainian capital had been reported shot down, three drones landed within the space of a college dormitory constructing in Odesa though there have been no casualties reported. Tail fragments for 2 of the drones had “for Moscow” and “for the Kremlin” scrawled on them.
Abstract
Should you’re simply becoming a member of us, that is what occurred in a single day in Ukraine:
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Ukrainian air defences mentioned they downed 18 out of 24 kamikaze drones that Russia launched in a pre-dawn assault on Thursday. In an announcement, Kyiv metropolis administration mentioned that every one missiles and drones focusing on the Ukrainian capital for the third time in 4 days, have been destroyed. No casualties had been reported.
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The US embassy in Ukraine has warned US residents within the nation of that there’s an “ongoing heightened risk of missile assaults, together with in Kyiv and Kyiv oblast”. It mentioned, “In mild of the latest uptick in strikes throughout Ukraine and inflammatory rhetoric from Moscow, the Division of State cautions US residents of an ongoing heightened risk of missile assaults, together with in Kyiv and Kyiv oblast.”
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Russian emergency providers extinguished the fireplace at a big oil refinery in Russia two hours after it was hit in a drone assault, TASS information company reported early on Thursday. TASS mentioned the incident occurred on the Ilsky refinery close to the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk within the Krasnodar area. A day earlier, a gasoline depot additional to the west caught on hearth close to a bridge linking Russia’s mainland with the occupied Crimea peninsula.
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Dutch media are reporting that Zelensky arrived at Amsterdam’s airport late Wednesday, with a visit to the worldwide prison court docket in The Hague on his agenda. Zelenskiy is predicted to ship a speech in The Hague entitled “No peace with out justice for Ukraine”, in accordance with public broadcaster NOS.
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Zelenskiy has denied Russian claims that Ukraine was concerned in a drone assault on the Kremlin that was meant to kill the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. The Ukrainian president mentioned on Wednesday: “We don’t assault Putin, or Moscow, we battle on our territory and defend our cities and cities.” The Kremlin mentioned on Wednesday that two drones had been used within the assault, however that they’d been disabled by Russian defences. It has vowed to take retaliatory measures.
Zelenskiy denies Moscow declare of Kremlin drone assault
The Guardian’s Pjotr Sauer and Dan Sabbagh reported earlier that Volodymyr Zelenskiy has denied Russian claims that Ukraine was concerned in a drone assault on the Kremlin that was meant to kill the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
The Ukrainian president mentioned on Wednesday: “We don’t assault Putin, or Moscow, we battle on our territory and defend our cities and cities.”
“We go away it to the tribunal,” he added.
The Kremlin mentioned on Wednesday that two drones had been used within the assault, however that they’d been disabled by Russian defences. It has vowed to take retaliatory measures.
The Kyiv metropolis administration says that the one harm accomplished by drones within the capital final evening was to automobiles from falling particles.
“Particles fell on numerous streets round roughly 10 buildings. Because of falling particles, parked automobiles (amount to be decided) and street floor had been partially broken,” the administration wrote on Telegram.
Extra on this morning’s drone strikes, from Reuters:
Ukrainian air defences mentioned they downed 18 out of 24 kamikaze drones that Russia launched in a pre-dawn assault on Thursday.
In an announcement, Kyiv metropolis administration mentioned that every one missiles and drones focusing on the Ukrainian capital for the third time in 4 days, have been destroyed.
“The Russians have attacked Kyiv utilizing Shahed loitering munitions and missiles, possible the ballistic sort,” the administration mentioned.
Out of 15 Shahed kamikaze drones fired on the Black Sea coastal metropolis of Odesa, air defences destroyed 12, whereas three struck a college compound. There have been no casualties, the Ukrainian southern army command mentioned.
Russia has frequently bombarded Ukraine since October final yr, putting at a wide range of targets. The most recent blasts had been reported lower than 24 hours after Kyiv mentioned 21 individuals died in a Russian strike on the town of Kherson.