Tensions escalate as Kyiv strikes Crimea

TDT | Agencies                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea yesterday blew up an ammunition depot, sparking evacuations on the Moscow-annexed peninsula just five days after drones damaged Russia’s symbolic bridge across the Kerch Strait.

In a statement, the Ukrainian army confirmed it was behind an attack that blew up an ammunition depot in the annexed Crimean Peninsula yesterday.

"The strike on military installations in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea was carried out by Ukrainian forces," an army source said on condition of anonymity.

Late yesterday, Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko arrived in Saint Petersburg, where he is due to meet the Russian president for the first time since he helped end a dramatic mutiny by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group.

Putin and his closest ally plan to discuss the "strategic partnership and alliance" between their two countries today, according to the Kremlin. Moscow, meanwhile, blamed the West and Kyiv for the death of a Russian war correspondent, saying he was killed by cluster munitions.

Russia alleged that Kyiv had used cluster munitions on the Russian border village of Zhuravlevka and that the controversial weapon had killed one of its journalists in a frontline village.

"In the Belgorod region, 21 artillery shells and three cluster munitions from a multiple rocket launcher were fired (by the Ukrainian army) at the village of Zhuravlevka," Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram, referring to attacks the previous day.

The allegations came two weeks after US President Joe Biden faced fierce criticism from his own allies for sending the munitions, which pose a long-term risk to civilians.

The Russian army announced that Rostislav Zhuravlev, a war correspondent working for the state RIA Novosti news agency, died from his wounds after coming under fire from cluster munitions in occupied southern Ukraine.

Moscow blamed the West and Kyiv, vowing to respond after what the foreign ministry called "a heinous, premeditated crime". Three other journalists were said to be stable in hospital after the attack.