Crimea

Russian-controlled officials installed in occupied Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, said Wednesday that a massive fire at a military base in Kirovske forced thousands of people to evacuate and shut down a major highway nearby.

Russian-installed authorities in Crimea reported shooting down a cruise missile and suspending traffic on the Kerch bridge.

The surprising and short-lived mutiny by Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin on June 24 brought new attention to the shadowy mercenary organization, which has been active in Africa and the Middle East for many years.

Zelensky declared that he will not participate in any peace negotiations until Russian forces have left the Donbas and the Crimean Peninsula.

Ukraine has “de-occupied” 130km², an area a little smaller than Staten Island in New York, since the start of the counter-offensive.

Killer dolphins? Russia has deployed combat-trained marine mammals to its naval base in Ukraine, says an intelligence digest.

President Biden claimed that Ukrainian’s Zelensky vowed American-made F-16 fighter jets will not be used to attack the Russian mainland.

Ukrainian armed forces claimed to have shot down a Russian hypersonic missile using the American-made Patriot missile defence system.

Russia sees “uptick in rail accidents” and country will struggle to protect the tracks it relies on to move military supplies, says UK.

A “new level” of attack may be imminent after an alleged drone strike on the Kremlin — “the symbol of Russian power,” according to retired Army Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis, who warned of a major escalation that could determine the war’s outcome.

Russia announced on Wednesday that security would be increased across Moscow, and Victory Day celebrations scaled back, due to the possibility of attacks by alleged Ukrainian saboteurs.

A massive fire erupted at an oil reservoir in Crimea after it was hit by a drone, a Russia-appointed official there reported Saturday.

The three Baltic states condemned comments by China’s envoy to France, who suggested that former Soviet republics aren’t sovereign nations.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin reportedly made his first visit to occupied Ukrainian territory over the weekend, stopping in Crimea on Saturday and the captive port city of Mariupol on Sunday.

Russia is taking passports from “increasingly disaffected” officials to prevent them fleeing abroad, the British Ministry of Defence said. 

Russia’s Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said on Tuesday that, contrary to the Pentagon’s account, Russian fighter jets did not shoot at or touch an American drone lost over international waters in Europe.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias has called for an immediate end to the war in Ukraine without any conditions. 

The conflict has inflicted horrendous destruction and loss of life, and staggering amounts of money have been poured into Ukraine’s defense by the Western world, but neither side is making much progress toward victory or a negotiated peace settlement.

Western powers must hand over their fighter jets to Ukraine in order to help them beat Russia, former UK Prime Ministers Liz Truss and Boris Johnson have said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has suggested that British long-range missiles, with the capability of hitting Crime, could be sent to Ukraine.

The White House on Thursday accused Iran of sending troops to assist the Russian invasion of Ukraine, by teaching the Russians how to pilot drones they purchased from Tehran.

Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko claimed in an interview on Tuesday that Russian missiles have damaged at least 30 percent of the energy infrastructure of the entire nation since Vladimir Putin announced a “massive” strike on Monday.

Russia arrested eight people over Crimea bridge bombing and accused the Ukrainian Defence Ministry of organising the attack.

The Kerch Strait Bridge, also known as the Crimea Bridge, became the focus of international attention when it was struck by a huge explosion on Saturday.

Former President Donald Trump is warning Americans about the rising risk of a nuclear war, while current President Joe Biden is intensifying pressure on Russia’s president to give up his claim to territories long ruled by Russia.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin declared the bombing of the Kerch Strait bridge, which connects Russia to occupied Crimea, “an act of terrorism aimed at destroying Russia’s civilian and critical infrastructure” at a Russian Security Council meeting on Monday, promising a “massive strike” on Ukraine in response.

A building hosting the visa office of the German consulate in Kyiv (Kiev) has been struck amid a wave of Russian strikes across Ukraine, reports claim.

Russian authorities claim the rail and road bridge linking Russia to the annexed Crimean peninsula is already partly open and the damage to it “insignificant” after a blast that killed three.

Ukrainians are posing in front of a giant mocked-up commemorative stamp showing Russia’s bridge to Crimea on fire after it was damaged on Saturday morning.  

The rail and road bridge from mainland Russia to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, has been pictured in flames the morning after President Vladimir Putin’s 70th birthday.

The Secretary General of Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has issued Italy’s “strongest condemnation” of an attempt by the Russian Federation to annex Ukrainian territories.

The Russian government under strongman Vladimir Putin is planning a concert in Moscow’s Red Square on Friday evening to welcome the annexation of four regions of Ukraine – Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk “People’s Republics” – that represent about 15 percent of Ukrainian territory.

Sergei Aksyonov, Russia’s top official in the illegally-annexed Crimean peninsula, claimed on Wednesday that Russian FSB security forces have “neutralized” an Islamist terrorist cell.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine said Wednesday that nine Russian warplanes were destroyed in a deadly string of explosions at an air base in Crimea that appeared to be the result of a Ukrainian attack, which would represent a significant escalation in the war.

MOSCOW (AP) – A drone-borne explosive device detonated Sunday at the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, injuring six people, officials said.

Ukraine’s gay, lesbian, and transgender military volunteers are adding a unicorn patch to their uniforms, right under the national flag.