Ukrainian media reported that naval and military intelligence forces attacked the site where the enemy had gathered personnel and equipment. The occupiers wanted to use the tower to jam satellite navigation signals, which would have endangered civilian shipping.
“We cannot allow something like this to happen,” Dmytro Pletenchuk told the online newspaper “Ukrainska Pravda.” There were no civilians on the gas production platform, which is out of service, it was said. The missile and artillery units of the coastal forces carried out the attack. A published video showed a heavy explosion. The authenticity of the footage could not be independently verified.
It was not the first operation of this kind, said Pletenchuk. The enemy had already used the tower in the past to disrupt the navigation of grain freighters, for example. The naval officer stressed that the decision to attack was made for the safety of civilian shipping.
Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian war of aggression for almost two and a half years. The country’s navy has repeatedly sunk Russian ships in the Black Sea and destroyed other enemy targets.
Three people killed in Russian attack
Meanwhile, according to Ukrainian sources, a total of three people were killed in Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine. According to regional governor Vadym Filashkin, a civilian died in a rocket attack on a critical infrastructure building in Kramatorsk. Two people were killed in an attack on a private house in the Kharkiv region, police said.
Meanwhile, volunteers are helping to evacuate villagers in the border region of Sumy. According to local governor Volodymyr Artiukh on Saturday morning, 28 villages in a ten-kilometer zone along the border with Russia are being evacuated. According to Ukrainian police, 20,000 people have to leave their homes in the northern region.
Moscow announced “anti-terrorist operations”
Moscow, meanwhile, announced “anti-terrorist operations” in three border regions. These are planned in the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions in order to “prevent the threat of terrorist attacks by enemy sabotage groups,” the Russian Anti-Terrorism Committee announced. According to Russian law, security forces and the army are given extensive powers in “anti-terrorist operations.”
In such cases, citizens’ freedom of movement is restricted, vehicles can be confiscated, telephone conversations can be tapped and certain areas can be closed to access. Checkpoints can also be set up and security can be increased at strategically important facilities.
The Anti-Terrorism Committee further stated that Ukraine had launched an “unprecedented attempt to destabilize the situation in a number of regions in our country.” It described the Ukrainian advance, especially in the Kursk region, as a “terrorist attack.” Ukrainian troops had injured civilians and destroyed residential buildings.
The Ukrainian side has so far refrained from commenting on the advance into Russian territory that began on Tuesday. According to analysts, however, the Ukrainian units were able to advance several kilometers into Russian territory. The USA, Kyiv’s closest ally, had stated that it had not been informed of the operation in advance.
Russian tanks fire on positions in the Kursk region
The Russian Defense Ministry on Saturday released images of Russian tanks firing on Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region. Images were also released of a nighttime airstrike after Moscow announced on Friday that more units and equipment had been deployed to the border region. The ministry also announced that 26 Ukrainian drones had been shot down overnight into Saturday.
According to the Russian authorities so far, five people were killed and 55 others injured in the fighting in Kursk. Thousands of people have been evacuated from the region. Russian military bloggers reported that the Ukrainian army captured Russian soldiers during its advance. In his daily address on Friday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked his soldiers for the “exchange reserve”. He was referring to possible future agreements on the exchange of prisoners with Russia.
Fewer fightings since mid-June
According to the Ukrainian army, there were fewer “fights” on the other fronts on Ukrainian territory on Saturday than at any time since June 10. Observers interpreted Ukraine’s unprecedented advance as an attempt to tie down Russian forces and thus relieve pressure on other fronts.
According to the Russian state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom, the Kursk nuclear power plant is operating normally. However, it has been decided to reduce the number of workers building a new plant in the region due to the state of emergency. According to the Russian news agency RIA, Rosatom boss Alexei Likhachev spoke by phone with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, about the situation at the nuclear power plant in the border region with Ukraine.
