Chris Lange, FISM News
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Five people were killed and 19 wounded in the Ukrainian shelling of a village in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, according to Kremlin-installed coordination center officials.
The center said on the Telegram messaging app that Ukrainian forces attacked a poultry farm in the village of Karpaty using U.S.-made HIMARS rocket launchers, according to a Reuters report.
Ukraine did not immediately respond to the report.
Russian officials also reported that four people were injured in the third Ukrainian artillery attack on a border town in a week.
Elsewhere in Russia, drones attacked two oil refineries located roughly 45 miles east of Russia’s largest export terminals in the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk on Wednesday. One drone slammed into the Afipsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, causing a fire that was later extinguished, according to Regional Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev.
Drone attacks deep inside Russia have escalated dramatically in recent weeks, including strikes on Moscow and the Kremlin itself, exposing major vulnerabilities in Russia’s air defense capabilities. The Associated Press reported that Russian hawks have openly criticized President Vladimir Putin and his military for failing to protect the center of Kremlin power more than 300 miles from the front line.
ONE DEATH REPORTED IN 17TH BOMBARDMENT OF KYIV THIS MONTH
Meanwhile, Ukraine said that one person was killed Wednesday in Russia’s 17th aerial assault on Kyiv this month. Ukraine’s military said its air defenses shot down 29 Iranian-made Shahed drones over the capital city, CNN reported.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy touted the effectiveness of Ukraine’s air defenses on Tuesday, crediting donations of advanced systems from the West.
“We continue to consolidate our partners to make [Ukrainian] air defense as effective as possible. [Russian] terror must be defeated every day and every night … in the skies of every Ukrainian city and village,” Zelenskyy wrote in a tweet.
The Ukrainian leader said that every Russian defeat “will become a source of our long-term security” and that the outcome of the 15-plus month war will determine “whether freedom and civilization will retain global leadership in this century.”
Zelenskyy also announced that a date had been set for Ukraine’s long-expected counteroffensive, though he did not provide further details. Earlier this month, he said that the counterattack had been delayed due to the slow arrival of promised weapons from Western allies.
UKRAINE ARMED FORCES ATTACK RETREATING WAGNER FIGHTERS IN BAKHMUT, KILLING 80
Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut fired on retreating Wagner Group fighters, killing 80 and wounding close to 120, according to armed forces spokesman Serhii Cerevatyi.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said last week that his forces would complete a full withdrawal from the embattled city by June 1 to make way for regular Russian units after declaring Bakhmut’s capture.
The brutal battle for the eastern city in Ukraine’s Donetsk province was more symbolic than strategic. With a prewar population of 70,000, Bakhmut had been transformed into a barren wasteland over 10 months of fighting that inflicted heavy casualties on both sides.