Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Swipe for next article
‘If he doesn’t do it, we’ll do it,’ Mr Zelensky said as he warned Belarus to dismantle the stations
Removed from bookmarks
I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice
Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Belarus to dismantle relay stations he says are crucial in allowing Russian drone attacks on Ukraine – warning that Kyiv will otherwise do it by force.
Kyiv knows of four relay stations assisting Russian military activity, the Ukrainian president said, as he demanded the Belarusian government take action.
Belarus has been one of Moscow’s closest allies throughout the war, and its president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, is a close ally of Vladimir Putin.
“Belarus still has time to dismantle this equipment. We also know about every factory in Belarus that works for Russia and supports the war,” Mr Zelensky said.
“If he doesn’t do it, we’ll do it,” Mr Zelensky said on Friday, without elaborating.
It comes after Ukraine launched another attack on a Russian oil refinery in Siberia, more than 2,500km (1,550 miles) east of the Ukrainian border.
The Tyumen refinery, one of the country’s most modern and complex, has a nominal capacity of around 8 million metric tons per year.
Meanwhile, Mr Zelensky said on Saturday that Russian forces were preparing an impending massive attack and warned residents to take special care as Russian strikes in different regions killed at least six people.
We’re seeing confirmation of a fresh Russian attack on Sumy on Sunday, with several buildings damaged.
Eight people were injured in the overnight attacks, according to Serhii Kryvosheienko, head of Sumy City Military Administration.
A post office, petrol station, apartment blocks and houses were damaged in the attack, he said.
Russian forces struck the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with glide bombs on Saturday, killing four people and injuring six, Regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram.
Fedorov said there had been nine strikes in the city. He said residents could well be trapped in the rubble of damaged buildings.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki said Friday he will strip Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Poland’s highest state honor over the Ukraine leader’s decision to name a military unit after a Ukrainian paramilitary organization accused of massacring Poles during World War II.
Zelenskyy was awarded the Order of the White Eagle in 2023 by Poland’s then President Andrzej Duda for his services to security, resilience and the defence of human rights.
But it will now be revoked after Zelenskyy issued a decree on May 26 naming a military unit of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces after the UPA — the Ukrainian Insurgent Army — which operated during the 1940s and 1950s and which is accused in Poland of mass killings.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that the Ukrainian military had hit an oil depot in the Russia-occupied Crimean city of Kerch and an oil transport facility in Russia’s Krasnodar region overnight.
The Russian-installed governor earlier said that at least four people were killed and 28 wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on the peninsula.
Separately, local authorities in Russia’s Krasnodar region said a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person on a passenger ferry and set an oil terminal ablaze.
The ferry service across the Kerch Strait, separating Crimea from the Krasnodar region, has been temporarily suspended, the authorities said.
Ukraine hit a major Moscow oil refinery for a second time in a week, sending thick black clouds of smoke into the sky, and disrupted commercial flights at the city’s airports in one of its biggest drone attacks of the war.
Russian air defences shot down at least 194 drones headed for the city, according to Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin. It was part of a major, long-range attack across parts of Russia, with air defences intercepting 555 drones overall, according to the Russian ministry of defence.
“Air defence forces are continuing to repel a large-scale attack. Several drones managed to reach the [Moscow oil refinery],” said Mr Sobyanin. At least seven of Ukraine’s drones appear to have beaten Russia’s air defences to strike targets in the city.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack was in response.
Full report here:
Fuel stations in the Russian-controlled peninsula of Crimea halted all fuel sales to individuals and businesses from 9am local time on Sunday, including cash, non-cash and voucher purchases, the Russian-installed governor said.
Fuel will only be supplied to government agencies that ensure the functioning and security of the peninsula, Sergei Aksyonov, the governor, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
At least four people were killed and 28 wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian-controlled peninsula of Crimea, the Russian-installed governor said.
Separately, local authorities in Russia’s Krasnodar region said a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person on a passenger ferry and set an oil terminal ablaze.
The ferry service across the Kerch Strait, separating Crimea from the Krasnodar region, has been temporarily suspended, the authorities said.
Britain has tested new long-range strike weapons, with the government hoping for delivery to Ukraine within months.
The initiative aims to produce munitions more quickly and affordably than existing systems like Storm Shadow missiles.
New systems, capable of hitting targets at least 500km away and carrying a 225kg warhead, have been fired at a range in the Hebrides, with further UK trials planned.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) challenged firms to develop weapons exceeding 600km per hour, costing around £400,000 per unit, and producing at least 20 a month within months of an order.
Some 27 industry bids were received, with “Dragon’s Den”-style pitches held last February. Six companies were then awarded contracts worth around £5m each to design and test the weapons in just seven months.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky urged authorities in neighbouring Belarus for the second day running to dismantle relay stations he said were playing a role in staging Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian regions.
Belarus, under longtime president Alexander Lukashenko, has been one of Moscow’s closest allies in the more than four-year-old war against Ukraine and allowed the Kremlin to use its territory to launch the February 2022 invasion.
Lukashenko, in power since 1994, has repeatedly said he wants no further involvement in the conflict, but Zelensky has urged Belarus to prove that it will not provide direct support for Moscow’s war effort.
Zelensky did not refer directly to Lukashenko in his nightly video address and alluded to his contested re-election to new terms in office. But he said Ukraine knows of four relay stations in Belarus assisting Russian military activity.
“Belarus still has time to dismantle this equipment. We also know about every factory in Belarus that works for Russia and supports the war,” he said.
“Ukraine does not want this and we have warned the de facto leadership of Belarus which has influence over these developments,” he said.
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in
Leave a Reply