Russia Watch

Putin spokesman makes chilling WW3 comments as NATO ‘at war with Russia’– www.mirror.co.uk
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NATO countries are “at war with Russia” over Ukraine, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

“NATO is at war with Russia,” Dmitry Peskov told Russian state media on Monday. “This is obvious, and it does not require any additional evidence. NATO provides direct and indirect support to the Kyiv regime.” Peskov’s comments reiterated a familiar Kremlin narrative that Western backing of Ukraine amounts to active participation in the conflict.

Tensions soared last week between NATO’s Eastern European allies and Russia. A total of 19 Russian drones flew over Poland overnight on Wednesday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, adding that at least three were shot down by Polish and NATO aircraft.

“This situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two,” Tusk warned. The incident marked the first time Russian drones were downed over NATO territory since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

In response to the incursion, Warsaw invoked NATO’s Article 4 on Thursday, which calls for discussions among allies over threats to territorial security. This is a step short of Article 5, which requires collective military defence from allies if a member state is attacked. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski described the drone attacks as a test of the alliance’s resolve by Russia.

Nuclear Sites Dotted Across Ukraine Pose Threat of Radiation Disaster – The New York Times
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DIFFERENT NIGHT, SAME TARGETS: As President Donald Trump considers tightening the economic screws on Moscow sometime in the near but indeterminate future, the air war in Ukraine has settled into almost Groundhog Day-like predictability, with both sides working to gain an advantage as peace prospects fade.

Russia launched another massive attack on Kyiv overnight, hitting familiar civilian targets, a five-story apartment building, a kindergarten, a shopping mall in the center of the city, and an office building housing the European Union delegation to Ukraine. The strikes, which employed almost 600 drones, 20 cruise missiles, nine ballistic missiles, and two Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, hit more than 20 sites and are being described as “the fiercest Russian attack since the Trump-Putin summit.”

“Right now in Kyiv, first responders are clearing the rubble of an ordinary residential building after a Russian strike,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on X this morning. “Tragically, at least 8 people have already been confirmed dead. One of them is a child. People may still be trapped under the rubble. Dozens are wounded.” The death toll has since grown to at least 14 civilians killed, including three children, with 38 injured.

“Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table. It chooses to continue killing instead of ending the war. And this means that Russia still does not fear the consequences. Russia still takes advantage of the fact that at least part of the world turns a blind eye to murdered children and seeks excuses for Putin,” Zelensky said. “All deadlines have already been broken, dozens of opportunities for diplomacy ruined,” he said. “It is definitely time for new, tough sanctions against Russia for everything it is doing.”

UKRAINE’S ‘REFINED’ STRATEGY CRIPPLING RUSSIA’S GAS PRODUCTION: Meanwhile, Ukraine has continued to use its increasingly effective home-grown, long-range drone to chip away at Russia’s oil refineries and pipelines, wreaking havoc on domestic gas supplies and causing average Russians pain at the pump. Overnight posts on X showed two more refineries — the Kuibyshev refinery in the Samara region and the Afipsky refinery in the Krasnodar region — ablaze after Ukraine drone strikes.

Gas stations have run dry in some parts of Russia and Crimea, with social media posts showing desperate motorists waiting in long lines of cars waiting for the next delivery of scarce fuel.

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Kyiv, Ukraine — A massive Russian drone and missile attack hit Ukraine’s capital early Thursday, including a rare strike in the center of the city, killing at least 14 people including three children, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. It was the first major Russian combined attack on Kyiv in weeks, and it comes as U.S.-led peace efforts to end the three-year war struggle to gain traction.

“Already 14 people are known to have been killed as a result of the Russian attack, including 3 children. A horrific and deliberate killing of civilians,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post. “The Russians are not choosing to end the war, only new strikes… It is crucial now that the world responds firmly. Russia must stop this war it started and continues. For the spurning of ceasefire and for the constant Russian attempts to weasel out of negotiations, new strong sanctions are needed. Only this can work. The Russians understand only strength and pressure.”

In addition to the deaths, officials said at least 38 people were wounded in the attack.

Russia launched 598 strike drones and decoys and 31 missiles of different types across the country, according to Ukraine’s Air Force, making it one of the largest attacks since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.  Ukraine’s forces shot down and neutralized all but 41 of the weapons, its Air Force said.

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‘IT’S VERY, VERY SERIOUS WHAT I HAVE IN MIND’: Despite being rebuffed at every turn, President Donald Trump is still holding out hope that Russia will come to the table to negotiate an end to the more than three-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine.

At a marathon broadcast Cabinet meeting that ran more than three hours, Trump indicated that despite his frustration, he’s ready to wage economic warfare against Russia to increase the pressure on Vladimir Putin. “It’s very, very serious what I have in mind, if I have to do it. But I want to see it end,” Trump said. “We have economic sanctions. I’m talking about economic. Because we’re not going to get into a world war.”

“Over the last couple of weeks, over 12,000 people died in, like, in two weeks,” Trump said. “They were Russian, they were Ukrainian, they weren’t American. So, a lot of people would say, ‘What do you care? They’re not American.’ I care. They’re 12,000.”