Ukraine Update…438 days into the Russian move on Ukraine…Bringing the War TO Russia…..

Russia said it “has a right to respond” after claiming to thwart what it called “a terrorist act” and intercepting two drones that it said targeted Putin’s Kremlin residence. Russia’s claims could not be independently verified. Putin was not in the building at the time of the alleged attack, and no changes have been made to his work schedule, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.

Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.

Ukraine denies Kremlin’s claim of drone assassination attempt on Putin

• Zelensky said Ukraine fights “on our territory” and does “not have enough weapons” to spend attacking Putin in Moscow. “We didn’t attack Putin. We leave it to the tribunal,” Zelensky said, referring to war crimes charges levied by the International Criminal Court against the Russian leader. Zelensky spoke while on his first trip to Finland since it joined the NATO military alliance last month.
• Videos circulating on social media and verified by The Washington Post show two drones streaking toward the Kremlin at around 2:30 a.m. local time. The first drone appears to hit the dome of the Kremlin Senate, a building within the fortress that houses Putin’s office, causing an eruption of flames; the second drone appears to explode over the Senate dome. Two people are visible on the roof during the second explosion.
• Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelensky, wrote on Twitter that the Kremlin’s accusations were “predictable” and give Russia “grounds to justify its attacks on civilians.” He warned that “Russia is clearly preparing a large-scale terrorist attack.”
• White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the “United States is certainly not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders” at a news conference Wednesday. She said she would not “speculate” about the authenticity of Russia’s claims.
• Russia’s security services said earlier Wednesday that they had dismantled a Ukrainian military intelligence network preparing “assassination attempts on the leaders in Crimea,” the peninsula Russia invaded and illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Moscow is on high alert ahead of its annual World War II victory commemorations on Tuesday, when former Soviet states celebrate Nazi Germany’s defeat, and Ukraine’s expected spring offensive.

• At least 21 people were killed and 48 injured in a Russian artillery strike on a supermarket in Kherson, Zelensky said in a tweet Wednesday. The president shared graphic photos of rescuers and bloodied civilians sprawled between supermarket aisles. In response to the attack, Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson region’s military administration, announced a 58-hour curfew in the city beginning Friday. He advised residents to stockpile food and medicine as movement would be highly restricted.
• The Biden administration on Wednesday announced its 37th security assistance package for Ukraine, valued at $300 million. The package includes ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS launchers), howitzers, tanks and small arms, as well as trucks and trailers and other essential field equipment, Blinken said in a statement.
• Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said his country’s air defenses downed 17 of 18 Iranian-made drones launched by Russia overnight Tuesday. He spoke with The Washington Post on Wednesday.
• Revelations about Russian combat deaths have spurred fears of even worse carnage in the coming months, during Ukraine’s anticipated spring offensive. The United States said this week that about 20,000 Russians have been killed in action since December and that 80,000 have been wounded in this period. The rate at which Russian forces are being killed or wounded has spiked in recent months, according to the latest White House estimates.

• Talks to extend a deal to export Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea will take place in Istanbul on Friday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar saidWednesday. The meeting will involve Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish officials, Akar said — although Russia’s Foreign Ministry separately told state-owned news agency Tass on Wednesday that it had not agreed to a meeting. Turkey and the United Nations brokered the fragile deal to allow grain shipments from Ukraine’s blockaded Black Sea ports despite the war. It will expire May 18 unless renewed.
• The company behind dating apps Tinder and Hinge is pulling out of Russia. Match Group said in its 2023 Impact Report that it was “committed to protecting human rights” and would complete its exit from the Russian market by the end of June.
• U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink met with Ukrainian journalists on World Press Freedom Day on Wednesday, she tweeted, saying that “the work of free and independent media is critical to Ukraine’s success and progress on its European path.” The group of journalists who met at the ambassador’s Kyiv residence including editors of Ukrainska Pravda and the Kyiv Independent, among others, the latter reported.
• In the this year’s World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday, Ukraine rose over the year from 106th place to 79th, out of 180 countries ranked on their environment for journalism. Russia, meanwhile, dropped from 155th place to 164th. Russia’s war in Ukraine “threatens the survival of the Ukrainian media,” the organization wrote in its index. “In this ‘information war’, Ukraine stands at the front line of resistance against the expansion of the Kremlin’s propaganda system.”….

More…