UKRAINE-RUSSIA WAR LATEST
Ukraine 'planning Storm Shadow attack on Crimea'
Ukraine is reportedly planning to attack occupied Crimea with Himars and British Storm Shadow missile, Russia has claimed in a warning to Kyiv and the West.
Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, said that Russia would retaliate if Ukraine started hitting the territory that Vladimir Putin annexed in 2014
“The use of these missiles outside the zone of our special military operation would mean that the United States and Britain would be fully dragged into the conflict and would entail immediate strikes on decision-making centres in Ukraine,” warned Mr Shoigu.
Crimea may become within target of Ukraine’s arsenal of missiles and artillery as its counter offensive pushes further south. Ukraine says it has recaptured 113 square km (44 square miles) of land from Russian forces.
Last week, Russian sources said that more than a hundred Russian soldiers may have been killed by a Ukrainian Himars strike after they were ordered to wait in large numbers to listen to a general’s speech.
A “significant” ammunition dump in Russian-occupied Rykove has been destroyed, new satellite imagery shows.
Pictures show widespread destruction of an alleged supply depot in Rykove, 125 miles southeast of the city of Kherson, near the port town of Henichesk.
“This was a very significant ammunition depot. It has been destroyed,” said Odesa’s military administration.
Rykove, located on the railroad between Crimea and Melitopol, is an important logistical hub for Russians in the occupied part of Kherson region.
In the southern Kherson region on Tuesday, Ukrainian forces reportedly struck the Russian-controlled town of Nova Kakhovka with drones,local Russian-appointed authorities said.
On Monday, Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, said that the Ukrainian counter offensive was making “good progress”.
A Russian soldier who destroyed a German-made Leopard tank in a battle in Ukraine has been given a 1 million rouble ($11,842) reward by a private foundation, Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday.
It published a video showing the soldier, Andrei Kravtsov, sitting on a hospital bed and receiving a reward certificate from Alexander Karelin, a three-time Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling.
The ministry did not say when and where Kravtsov had destroyed the tank or what he was being treated for in hospital. In the video, he appeared to be missing his right hand.
Russia says its forces have destroyed a number of German-made Leopards and U.S.-supplied Bradley fighting vehicles since Ukraine launched a counteroffensive earlier this month. Reuters could not independently verify the numbers involved.
The defence ministry last week said it had paid individual bonuses.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he had called on China to use its influence over Russia more in regards to the war in Ukraine.
Speaking alongside China’s Premier Li Qiang after bilateral talks in the German capital, Mr Scholz also said China should not supply weapons to Russia and that the war in Ukraine should not become a frozen conflict.
This is the Chinese Premier’s first foreign trip since taking office in March.
The meeting in Berlin is the seventh time Germany and China have held high-level government consultations and comes a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, indicating an effort by Beijing to reach out to the West and improve frosty relations.
Germany is keen to maintain good ties with China, its biggest trading partner, despite wariness over Beijing’s growing assertiveness and refusal to criticize the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Germany’s recently published national security strategy describes China as “a partner, competitor and systemic rival.”


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