Chris Lange, FISM News
Officials in both Moscow and Kiev reported attacks early Tuesday. Russia said drones launched by Ukraine targeted its capital in what one politician called the worst attack since World War II.
Meanwhile, officials in Kiev reported what they said was the third Russian airstrike in a 24-hour period.
Reuters cited unverified reports that an airstrike targeted some of the wealthiest sections of Moscow, including an area where President Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin elites have homes. The reports came weeks after Russia claimed to have shot down two drones launched by Ukraine over the Kremlin, although Kiev denied involvement.
A video on Tuesday was circulated on social media showing the moment a drone struck the village of Ilinskoye, near Putin’s residence in Novo-Ogarevo, as well as one intended show an unmanned aerial vehicle exploding in midair, presumably shot down by Russian air defenses.
Kremlin deputy Maxim Ivanov warned citizens they could no longer avoid “the new reality” after what he called the worst assault on Russia since the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
“Either you defeat the enemy single-handedly with our Motherland, or the indelible shame of cowardice, collaboration and betrayal will surround your family,” he said.
Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak denied that Kiev was directly involved in Moscow’s targeting, although he said “we are pleased to see it”.
Ukrainian defense forces in Kiev said on Tuesday they shot down more than 20 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia. One person was killed and four were injured when debris from a destroyed projectile crashed into an apartment building in Kiev, engulfing the top two floors in flames, they said.
In total, Kiev said four people were killed in the attacks across Ukraine on Tuesday, with 34 injured, including two children.
Tuesday’s attack in the Ukrainian capital marked the 17th so far this month in what a Ukrainian official said was part of a Russian campaign to degrade Ukrainians’ will to fight after more than 15 months of war.
“These missile attacks of a fairly dense frequency are specifically aimed at depleting both our air defense forces and our physical and moral strength,” said Natalya Gumenyuk, spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern military command.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday credited US-supplied Patriot missile defense systems with a 100 percent interception rate.
“When the patriots in the hands of the Ukrainians ensure a 100% interception rate of any Russian missile, terror will be defeated,” Zelenskiy said in his late-night video.
UKRAINE MAKES RARE ADMISSION OF TARGET DAMAGE AFTER AIR BASE STRIKE
A senior official in Ukraine’s Khmelnitskiy region in the west said on Monday that repairs were being made to restore a runway and confirmed that five planes were knocked out of service after a Russian attack overnight.
“At the moment, work continues to contain the fires at fuel and lubricant and ammunition storage facilities,” the Khmelnitskiy regional governor’s office said in a rare acknowledgment of damage to a military “target” that comes out of Ukraine.
Russia’s defense ministry said more than one airbase had been hit in the attack, according to Russian state news agency RIA. Kiev made no reference to possible damage to other air bases.
GRAHAM Calls Russian Arrest Warrant ‘BADGE OF HONOR’
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.-SC) appeared to take the news that Russia issued an arrest warrant in stride. The Republican senator said in a statement Monday that he would “wear the arrest warrant issued by Putin’s corrupt and immoral government as a badge of honor.”
The Kremlin issued the order after a video clip of Friday’s meeting between President Zelenskyy and the South Carolina senator in Kiev appeared on social media that appeared to show Grahm cheering for the death of Russian soldiers.
“The Russians are dying… Best money we’ve ever spent,” read a caption on the edited video.
“Here’s an offer to my Russian ‘friends’ who want to arrest and try me for calling the Putin regime a war criminal: I will submit to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court if you do. Come and do your best case. See you in The Hague!” Graham said in the statement. He joked in a tweet that while he didn’t expect to appear in a Russian court anytime soon, he already had a legal representative.
🇺🇸💰 Speaking of US support for Ukraine, US Senator Lindsay Graham tells Zelensky: “The Russians are dying… Best money we’ve ever spent” pic.twitter.com/kJL95ISbAE
— Frontline Politics (@FrontlinePol) May 28, 2023
“Good news: Although I don’t expect to be sued by Russia anytime soon, I found the services of a great lawyer who works cheaply. Senator Blumenthal, my good friend from Connecticut who has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine, has offered to be my attorney,” Graham wrote in the tweet. Bad news: Like any other dissenting voice, I [don’t] like my chances of getting a fair trial. Stay tuned.
Some Russians are calling for Graham’s assassination. Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russia’s state broadcaster RT, said on Sunday that Russia may have to seek help from the “children or grandchildren” of Pavel Sudoplatov, a Soviet spy who took part in the revolutionary’s murder Russian Leon Trotsky. .
Graham has been an outspoken supporter of US military aid to Ukraine throughout the conflict.
