This Tuesday, February 17, Russia’s armed forces launched a new attack against several regions of Ukraine, using more missiles and drones than usual, Kiev said, hours before a new round of talks.
The Ukrainian air force said on messaging platform Telegram that Russia used cruise missiles and targeted regions in northern, central, southern and western Ukraine.
At the same time, the Russians also launched several groups of unmanned aircraft (‘drones’), in an attack that lasted through the early hours.
Russia also attacked the city of Odessa, in southern Ukrainecausing damage to unspecified infrastructure and a civil building, in addition to injuring two people.
Ukrainian authorities have not yet released information about the damage caused by Tuesday’s missile and drone attack.
Also today, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram that it had destroyed more than 150 Ukrainian drones, including 38 over Crimea, 50 over the Black Sea and 29 over the Sea of Azov.
“This was one of the longest attacks in recent times,” said Mikhail Razvozhayev, governor of Sevastopola major port city in Crimea, annexed in 2014.
“In total, more than 24 drones were shot down” on the outskirts of Sevastopol, he added, reporting several injuries, including a child.
In the Krasnodar region (southern Ukraine), where 18 drones were neutralized, according to the Ministry of Defense, the attack targeted an oil refinery and damaged an oil storage tank, local emergency services said in a statement.
A fire broke out at the refinery, covering an area of approximately 700 square meters, after a drone attack, and 72 firefighters were sent to the scene to fight the flames, according to the same source.
The exchange of attacks took place hours before the start of a new round of talks, in the city of Geneva, Switzerland, between Russian, Ukrainian and North American negotiators.
The plane carrying the Russian delegation, headed by presidential advisor Vladimir Medinsky, arrived in the Swiss city at 7am (6am in Lisbon), the official Russian news agency TASS said.
On Monday, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated that “Ukraine would do well to come to the negotiating table, and quickly.”
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned on Monday that “the issues” that still need to be resolved are “vast” and that “no one will risk predicting” the outcome of the discussions.
Ryabkov reiterated Moscow’s desire to achieve not just a pause in hostilities, but a lasting agreement that includes “the resolution of the issues that lie behind this conflict.”
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, alleging, among other reasons, that Ukraine’s ambition to join NATO threatened Russian national security.
On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured that he would not repeat “the same mistakes” by ceding territory to Russia and warned that the Russian president’s ambitions can only be stopped with “total sanctions” on the Kremlin.
Leave a Reply