Russia targets Ukraine’s gas production facilities in Poltava region in a combined attack. Ukraine hits an oil refinery in Russia’s Saratov region. Seoul says North Korea has given Russia 200 long-range artillery pieces, is to send out more troops.
Russia targets Ukraine’s gas production facilities in Poltava region in combined attack
Russia targeted natural gas production facilities in Ukraine’s Poltava region overnight on Tuesday, in a combined attack that used various types of missiles.
Russia had earlier carried out attacks against Ukraine’s gas extraction facilities in western Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, head of the Communications Directorate for Ukraine’s Air Force Command, Colonel Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainska Pravda news site.
The use of missiles of various types as well as drones makes it difficult to repel a combined aerial attack, he added.
Some of the missiles were shot down or jammed by electronic warfare systems, others hit targets, Ihnat said.
“Russia carried out a combined strike with various types of air, ground and sea-launched missiles against gas production facilities in Poltava region, using a total of up to 19 cruise, ballistic and guided missiles,” the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement.
It also launched a total of 124 attack drones and other unidentified types of drones at Ukraine from the area of Russia’s Millerovo, Oryol, Bryansk, Kursk, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk.
Ukraine’s military said it shot down 57 drones, and 64 more disappeared off radar after likely being disabled by electronic warfare systems. The Air Force and other branches of the Ukrainian military deployed aircraft, surface-to-air missile troops, electronic warfare units and mobile groups to repel the attack.
The intercepts took place over the regions of Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kropyvnytskyi, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy and Zhytomyr, Ukraine’s Air Force said.
The attack caused damaged in the regions of Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Poltava, it added.
Ukraine hits oil refinery in Russia’s Saratov region
Ukraine hit an oil refinery in Russia’s Saratov region overnight on Tuesday. Units of the Unmanned Systems Forces, Main Intelligence Department of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, Special Operations Forces and other branches of the military were behind the operation, the Ukrainian General Staff said.
It said the refinery processes crude oil into more than 20 types of petroleum products, including gasoline, fuel oil and diesel fuel. The facility is involved in supplying the Russian army, it added.
Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed that the refinery was hit, without specifying the type of weapons used in the strike. A fire broke out at the facility.
The results of the attack are being clarified, it added.
Russian authorities said drones had damaged an industrial facility in the Saratov region overnight. Posts to local social media reported explosions and fires around the refinery.
Seoul says North Korea has given Russia 200 long-range artillery pieces, is to send out more troops
North Korea has provided 200 pieces of long-range artillery to Russia and is likely to send more troops and weapons in support of Moscow’s war against Ukraine, South Korea’s defense ministry said Tuesday as quoted by Yonhap news agency.
South Korea’s spy agency earlier said that North Korea had sent around 11,000 troops to support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, of which 300 are believed to have been killed and around 2,700 others wounded.
Pyongyang has given Moscow “some 11,000 troops, missiles, 200 pieces of long-range artillery, and a substantial amount of ammunition,” the ministry said. North Korea could “additionally supply troops, weapons, and ammunition going forward,” it added.
The ministry said the North is expected to double down on its weapon developments this year.