Ukraine goes after Russia’s oil facilities, which Biden isn’t happy about, because gas prices in America have risen….
And?
Could keep going up even if Russian tanks run out of diesel fuel….
Ukraine President Zelensky replaces another senior militarty staff offical ….
Zelensky continues to complain about how slow US weapons are arriving …
In response to Russia attacks?
Ukraine will import more electricity.
Ukrainian drones struck two oil depots and a refinery across Russia in a 24-hour period, including one deep in Russian territory, officials on both sides said Thursday, as Kyiv presses a campaignaimed at hampering the country’s military operations and putting strain on its most important industry….
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The strikes follow some 20 similar attacks since the beginning of the year. Military analysts say they are an attempt by Ukraine to disrupt the Russian military’s logistical routes and combat operations by targeting the facilities that supply fuel for its tanks, ships and planes…
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Ukrainian officials also hope the strikes can undermine the Russian energy complex, which is at the core of the country’s economy and war effort — accounting for about a third of Russia’s federal budget revenue — although it is too early to say whether they can have any serious impact.
The United States government has publicly urged Kyiv to stop its attacks on Russian oil refineries out of concern that they could affect global oil markets….
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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy replaced the commander of his special forces on Thursday, the second time in half a year that he has changed the head of the unit which operates in Moscow-occupied territories. The dismissal of colonel Serhiy Lupanchuk and appointment of brigadier general Oleksandr Trepak in his place was announced in two decrees on the president’s website that provided no explanation for the move, Reuters reported.
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The West needs to undermine and expose “the malign networks that Russia uses to spread its lies,” according to Britain’s foreign secretary, David Cameron. In his first major speech since taking up the role, he said over the last five years Britain had invested in that project by backing free media and supporting independent journalism in places like Georgia and Moldova, “where Russia seeks to bully and manipulate politics.”
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A Ukrainian attack drone struck a Russian oil processing plant in the Bashkiria region on Thursday after flying a “record” distance of 1,500 km (932.06 miles) in an operation conducted by the SBU security service, a Kyiv intelligence source told Reuters. The drone hit a catalytic cracking unit at the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat oil processing, petrochemical and fertiliser complex, the source said. Russia confirmed the fact of damage at the plant earlier, but said the facility was functioning as usual.
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President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine could stop Russian forces advancing in the east if allied countries increased the supply of arms. The Ukrainian leader made the comments at a joint news conference in Kyiv with the European Parliament’s visiting president Roberta Metsola, more than two years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
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Russian president Vladimir Putin said Russian and Belarus’ forces had started joint preparations for tactical nuclear weapons drills, Interfax news agency reported on Thursday.
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President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday appointed former army chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, who led Ukraine’s defence in the first two years of Moscow’s full-scale invasion, as Kyiv’s ambassador to the United Kingdom. The decree was published on the presidential website. Zaluzhnyi was earlier named a “Hero of Ukraine”, Reuters reported. Ukraine has not had an ambassador in London since Zelenskiy dismissed former envoy Vadym Prystaiko in July 2023 after he publicly criticised the president.
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Russia president Vladimir Putin has accused the West of risking a global conflict and said no one would be allowed to threaten the world’s biggest nuclear power as Russia marked the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two. As Russian troops advance against Ukraine’s Western-backed forces, Putin accused “arrogant” Western elites of forgetting the decisive role played by the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany, and of stoking conflicts across the world, Reuters reported.
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A Ukrainian air attack on Russia’s Belgorod region injured eight people and damaged scores of residential buildings and cars, the governor of the region bordering with Ukraine said on Thursday. Among the wounded is an 11-year-old girl who was taken to a hospital, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor said on the Telegram messaging app, Reuters reported. About 34 flats in 19 apartment buildings were damaged, as well as three dozen cars in the city of Belgorod, the region’s administrative centre, Gladkov added.
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Drones launched by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) struck two oil depots near the town of Anapa in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region causing large-scale fires, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters on Thursday. The source said the oil depots were used as transshipment points to supply fuel to Russian troops in the nearby occupied peninsula of Crimea.
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Meanwhile, Ukraine’s parliament has voted to dismiss deputy prime minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, a key government figure who has overseen the wartime reconstruction effort and championed efforts to set up a vital Black Sea shipping lane, Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on Telegram. The 41-year-old’s dismissal comes amid plans to break up his powerful ministry into two separate government portfolios.
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Ukraine’s parliament has dismissed agriculture minister Mykola Solsky who tendered his resignation in late April as he faces an investigation into alleged involvement in illegal acquisition of state-owned land, Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on Telegram. Solsky, 44, has denied the allegations, Reuters reported.
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Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed 17 out of 20 attack drones that Russia launched targeting Ukraine’s territory, Ukraine’s air force said. The drones were destroyed over the Odesa region in Ukraine’s south, the air force said on the Telegram messaging app.
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Lithuania’s foreign minister has raised the prospect of an ad hoc coalition of western countries sending military training personnel into Ukrainebacked by ground-based air defence, days after Russia took an increasingly strident tone against what it sees as the threat of deeper western involvement in the war. Speaking to the Guardian after meeting his British counterpart, David Cameron, in London, Gabrielius Landsbergis also backed the British foreign secretary for saying that Ukraine could use British-made weapons against Russia; remarks that alongside Emmanuel Macron refusing to rule out western troops in Ukraine prompted the Kremlin to threaten UK assets and order a tactical nuclear training exercise.
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Ukraine plans to double electricity imports on Thursday after a powerful Russian attack on Ukraine’s energy system, the energy ministry said. The imports are expected to rise to 16,699 megawatt hours (Mwh) versus 7,600 Mwh on Wednesday, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, Reuters reported. “Today, at Ukraine’s request, emergency electricity supplies have already been made from Poland, Romania and Slovakia,” the ministry said.
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South Korea’s position remains it will not supply lethal weapons to any country, president Yoon Suk Yeol said on Thursday, when asked if Seoul was prepared to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia. Yoon also said his government intended to continue managing relations with Moscow to “pursue economic cooperation and mutual benefits” even though the two countries’ ties have become “uncomfortable” since the start of the war in Ukraine….
Update…
May 9, 2024 – ISW Press
Russian President Vladimir Putin used his May 9 Victory Day speech to relitigate his belief that the West is attempting to erase the Soviet Union’s contributions to defeating Nazi Germany during the Great Patriotic War (Second World War), a grievance that is at the core of Russia’s adversarial perceptions of the West. Putin claimed during the Victory Day parade, which is held to commemorate the Soviet Union’s victory and sacrifices during the Second World War, that “they,” referring to the West, are attempting to “distort” the truth about the Second World War and “demolish” the memory of Soviet heroism and sacrifice.