“Ukraine will be destroyed”. Prison riot –

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a leader who has never taken a position since the beginning of the war, nor turned his back on Vladimir Putin, arrived in Ukraine for the first time. Meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev, Modi did not condemn Moscow’s invasion but denied any accusation of ambiguity: “With full conviction, we have stayed away from the war, but this has never meant that we were just indifferent observers,” he assured, “we have never been neutral. And from day one, we have been on one side, that of peace.” Modi then proposed his country as a possible mediator in the negotiations between Moscow and Kiev: “India is ready to give its proactive contribution and I personally, as a friend, if there is a role that I can play, I would very much like to play that role to achieve peace.” And on his relationship with the Russian leader, the Indian prime minister specified: “Two years ago in Samarkand, when I met President Putin, I told him, looking him in the eyes in front of the press, that this is not an era of war. And last month, when I visited Russia again, I told him clearly that problems cannot be solved on the battlefield but that the only way to solve them is through dialogue and diplomacy”. Zelensky described Modi’s visit as “historic” and stressed with satisfaction: “India supports the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. And this is crucial because everyone in the world must respect the United Nations Charter equally”.

Zelensky can also be satisfied with the land his army says it has regained in the Kharkiv region, amounting to about 2 square kilometers. Moscow countered by estimating Ukrainian losses in the Russian region of Kursk, where Kiev’s troops launched their most recent offensive. At least 5,137 servicemen were reportedly killed and 69 tanks destroyed. Also in Kursk, however, the Ukrainian Air Force said it had launched an air strike with US GBU-39 high-precision bombs to hit military targets. The strike and his claim of responsibility infuriated Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, who threatened in a Telegram message: “Ukraine will be destroyed, like Sodom and Gomorrah, and the demons will inevitably fall. The punishment will be earthly, cruel, painful and will happen soon.”

In the meantime, Moscow has had to deal with a riot in penitentiary colony no. 19 in the Russian region of Volgograd, where 4 inmates took 8 prison guards and 4 prisoners hostage. The maximum security colony is located on the outskirts of the city of Surovikino, 860 km from Moscow, and houses around 1,000 inmates. After around 3 hours, Russian special forces, with the help of snipers, stormed the prison, freeing the hostages in just over half an hour and “neutralizing” the rioters, who had communicated their loyalty to ISIS in a video. One of them, 23-year-old Tajik Rustamchon Navruzi, attempted to blow himself up with a vest loaded with explosives at the time of the raid, but it did not go off. In total, 3 guards died inside the colony, while a fourth died in hospital from his injuries.