Zelensky has a devil of a time after the Kharkiv massacre, where in the afternoon Russian guided bombs landed on a building causing the death of at least 4 people and wounding 43 others. «It’s nothing new that the Russians are murderers – he comments – now more than ever we need strong decisions from partners to destroy terrorists and their fighter planes, wherever they are.” Between the lines we can read the Ukrainian president’s opposition to the ban imposed by the White House on attacking airports on Russian territory, from which however aircraft carrying bombs such as those from the Kharkiv massacre take off. The US is stalling, especially after an investigation by Intercept, which brings evidence of the on-site involvement of American instructors in Mariupol alongside the Azov battalion in the autumn of 2022.
Moscow also chooses the tactic of attrition to wear out Ukraine: Kalibr missiles on energy plants, in response to the blitz of Kiev drones that had crashed into Russian infrastructure. The Russian armed forces have in fact struck energy infrastructures in Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, after having bombed the power plants in the Zaporizhzhia region. As Ukrenergo, the country’s electricity company, explains, the plants were damaged, two engineers were injured, while a technician died in Lviv. “It is the response to the Kiev regime’s attempts to harm us,” confirms Moscow Defense Minister Belousov. Russia launched the missiles from the waters of the Sea of Azov (close to the Ukrainian coast). This is a turning point, because since the beginning of the conflict every carrier that exploded towards Ukraine departed from ships deployed in the most distant Black Sea. «Evidently they feel safer – explains Navy Colonel Pletenchuk – but compared to the past they do not have more than many missiles.”
On the diplomatic front, yesterday morning the Pope received Ivan Soltanovsky, ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Holy See, in audience. At the center of the meeting was the proposal put forward by Putin for a solution to the crisis in Ukraine which provides for the international recognition of the occupied territories of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, and the abolition of anti-Moscow sanctions. “I expressed gratitude to the Pontiff for his balanced position”, said the diplomat, who praised Cardinal Zuppi’s work in resolving humanitarian issues, and defined a peace process that excludes Russia’s participation as unthinkable.
And there is controversy in the United Kingdom over the phrases of Nigel Farage, leader of the far-right Reform UK party, who stated on the BBC that the West provoked the war in Ukraine with «the expansion of Germany and the EU towards the East ».
He added that he doesn’t like Putin as a person but that he admires him as a political leader. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s reaction was not long in coming: “Dangerous phrases for the security of Great Britain and its allies strengthen Putin.”
