Ukrainian drones target three Russian oil refineries. U.S. could send longer-range ATACMS to Ukraine. Anti-Putin Russian fighters will continue incursion into Russia, Ukraine’s defense intelligence says.
Ukrainian drones target three Russian oil refineries
Ukrainian forces launched drones overnight on Wednesday against six Russian regions, including the Voronezh, Kursk, Belgorod, Bryansk, Leningrad, and Lipetsk regions, according to local authorities and Russian Telegram channels. Some of the drones also struck oil refineries in Ryazan, Kstovo, in the Nizhny Novgorod region, and Kirishi in the Leningrad region. An oil refinery in Ryazan was set ablaze after a drone attack.
A fourth facility, the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in the Rostov region was also halted by a drone attack, Rostov governor Vasily Golubev said. Electronic jamming equipment forced the drones to land on the territory of the refinery without causing any casualties, but “technological facilities of the enterprise have been stopped,” Golubev said, adding that “the consequences are being clarified.”
Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda, citing unnamed sources, said that Ukraine’s Security Service and other defense forces launched drones that targeted a Russian Aerospace Forces base in Buturlinovka and a military airfield in Voronezh.
Russia’s Defense Ministry maintained that it had shot down all 65 of the drones launched at six Russian regions overnight. According to Russian Telegram channels, numerous drones have hit targets.
U.S. could send longer-range ATACMS to Ukraine
If Congress approves more funding for Ukraine, the U.S. could include the long-range ATACMS in one of the first packages of military aid, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Pentagon officials had previously insisted the U.S. military needed to retain all of its longer-range ATACMS to meet its own military requirements. But the Pentagon is now open to providing the longer-range ATACMS because of progress in acquiring a follow-on system dubbed the Precision Strike Missile, U.S. officials say.
That removes a major impediment to providing the long-range variant of the missile, though officials declined to say whether President Biden will send the system.
The Biden administration said Tuesday it is sending USD 300 million more in ammunition and other weapons to Kyiv in a stopgap move to boost Ukraine’s forces while Congress debates a new aid package.
Anti-Putin Russian fighters to continue incursion into Russia, Ukraine’s defense intelligence says
Three units of Russian volunteers fighting for Ukraine — the Freedom for Russia Legion, the Russian Volunteer Corps, and the Siberian Battalion remain on the territory of Russia. They operate independently and autonomously there, Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Main Intelligence Department of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry told The New Voice of Ukraine (NV).
“Recent events in the Kursk and Belgorod regions are an extension of internal conflicts in the so-called Russian Federation that are actively unfolding after Putin and Russia began a full-scale invasion, a criminal war against Ukraine. These are not the first such cases, but probably the largest ones in terms of scale and consequences,” Yusov said.
He added that the raids could continue and “possibly extend to other regions.”
On March 12, fighters of the Freedom for Russia Legion, the Russian Volunteer Corps, and the Siberian Battalion entered the Belgorod and Kursk regions in Russia. Later in the day, they claimed partial control of the village of Tyotkino in Kursk region.
How Russian Propaganda Is Influencing Opinion in India and Indonesia. Ukraine in Flames #584
In 2022, according to official data, 15.3 million Russians lived below the poverty line, however, this did not stop the Kremlin from spending the equivalent of 1.9 billion dollars on propaganda. As it turned out, it was not in vain, because this money became a kind of investment in the public opinion of the residents of other countries. And when Russian tanks invaded the land of sovereign Ukraine, the investment worked – the countries of the Global South, unlike Europe, either supported putin’s rhetoric or took a neutral position. Watch Ukraine in flames #584 to find out about ways to diminish Russia’s informational influence on South Asian countries and explore the narratives Russia is promoting in India and Indonesia to advance its own interests.
Guests:
- Olena Churanova, Fact-checker, Media expert at the StopFake.org project
- Iryna Subota, Analyst of the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security
- Olha Vorozhbyt, Deputy editor-in-chief at “Ukrainian Week”, Affiliated expert of analytical center “Ukrainian Prism”