The war in Ukraine now extends to Russian territory. Veniamin Kondratyev, governor of Krasnodar, reported on a fire at the Afipsky refinery in Seversk district allegedly caused by a drone strike. “A fire broke out at the Afipsky refinery in the Seversk district. A fuel oil refinery is on fire. The cause is a drone attack,” says Kondratyev on Telegram. Four people were also injured in a “massive attack” on the town of Shebekino in Russia’s southwestern Belgorod region. The news is reported by the governor Vyacheslav Gladkov via telegram. “Two people were taken to the Belgorod hospital,” Gladkov said.
Russia reports the destruction of the last large warship of the Ukrainian naval forces. “On May 29, a high-precision attack by the Russian Air Force on a ship berth in the port of Odessa destroyed the last Ukrainian Navy warship, the Yuri Olefirenko,” reports the Russian military in its daily briefing. AFP could not independently confirm the claim. A spokesman for the Ukrainian Naval Forces declined to comment.
Meanwhile, Russia is particularly angry with Britain today. London is among Western partners that have provided Ukraine with the bulk of military aid, including long-range Storm Shadow missiles. “Ukraine has a legitimate right to defend itself. It has of course the legitimate right to do so within its own borders, but it also has the right to use force beyond its borders in order to undermine Russia’s ability to project force into Ukraine itself,” said the British Foreign Secretary yesterday James Cleverley. Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, then warned that senior British officials could be seen as a “legitimate military target” given Britain’s “undeclared war” against Russia. “It is a direct incitement to what the terrorists are doing in Kiev,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Mozambique. Given the determined support from London, Washington was more cautious. White House spokeswoman Karine-Jean Pierre said yesterday that the United States generally “does not support attacks inside Russia.”