Yesterday, Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the disbandment of 4,700 Ukrainian soldiers within a week, while Ukraine announced that it had shot down 21 of 29 Russian convoys in a night attack, in exchange for Moscow repelling an offensive on the Crimean peninsula and shooting down 10 targets over Belgorod.

Weekly account

The Russian Defense Ministry announced last week that it had carried out 41 mass strikes and one active strike against military command bases and the infrastructure of Ukrainian military airports with high-precision weapons and maneuvers.

In the week ending yesterday, Russian forces killed 4,700 Ukrainian soldiers and destroyed Western weapons and equipment, including artillery, 14 boats and a Buk-M1 air defense system, and shot down 253 missiles on all combat axes, the ministry said. vehicle, and destroyed three Hemmers Walter missiles and an S-200 platform. , an S-300 radar, an American ST-68 radar station, and a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet and a Mi-8 helicopter were downed.

Population exchange

On Friday, authorities in Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, offered to evacuate some residents of its capital to safety after Ukrainian forces began shelling the city heavily. Vyacheslav Kladkov, the governor of Russia's Belgorod region, said in a video message: “We will definitely help them (residents). “We started moving some families.” He explained that the affected residents would be transferred to the towns of Stari Oskol and Gupkin, far from the border, and housed in “comfortable conditions”. “I will appeal to my colleagues and governors of other regions to help us,” he added.

Earlier on Friday, Belgorod authorities called on residents to secure their windows to protect themselves from any damage caused by repeated Ukrainian shelling.

Prevent attacks

Russia announced early Friday that it had repelled a new airstrike by Ukraine with dozens of drones on the Crimean peninsula. “Air defense systems destroyed and intercepted 36 Ukrainian drones on the border of the Republic of Crimea,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on the Telegram app. He said Russian ground defenses also responded to “a drone on the border of the Krasnodar Territory” (West).

For its part, Kiev announced the interception of several Russian drones. The Ukrainian Air Force said that “a total of 29 drones were launched and 21 of these drones were shot down in different parts of the country.”

Ukrainian officials said a Russian missile attack on the city of Grobyvnytskyi in central Ukraine killed one person, damaged two energy facilities and cut off power to civilians and railways. One of the two targets hit was the repair and power generation facility.

It is not yet clear what kind of other facility was hit, but it is connected to another electric power company.

In a statement, regional governor Andrei Rajkovich said Russia may have used an X-59 missile.

For security reasons

Russia confirmed on Friday that it had recently blocked the International Atomic Energy Agency's access to the reactor chambers at the Zaporizhia plant in southern Ukraine for security reasons.

UN The company said in a statement on Wednesday that its experts were “unable to access all sections of the site”. He explained, “For the past two weeks, they have not been allowed to enter the reactor rooms in Units 1, 2 and 6 at Europe's largest nuclear power plant”.

In response to the agency's report, Rinat Karsha, an official at Russia's Rosatom, which operates the Zaporizhia station, said experts had tried to reach “safety domes,” steel or lead-reinforced concrete domes surrounding the reactor. “Protective domes, especially closed ones.” “It's not a museum or a tourist park.” He explained, “When it is closed, access to the security card is prohibited and is only permitted with clear justification and in emergency situations.”

The agency's director general, Raffaele Grassi, said on Wednesday that experts had not been allowed access to the reactor rooms in three units at the plant for two weeks. Karsha said, “We have reason to believe that the latest report (by the agency) did not convey complete information to Rafael Croci or that the information was provided by people without professional training, which is hard to believe.” (agencies)