Russia-Ukraine war latest news: Vladimir Putin ally requires Zelensky to be ‘eliminated’ after Kremlin ‘drone attack’

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has actually implicated Ukraine of lagging a drone attack on the Kremlin castle in Moscow on Wednesday.

Mr Medvedev, who is deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said the attack “leaves us no option but to physically eliminate Zelensky and his clique”.

It comes as the Kremlin published a declaration in which they called the strike a “planned terrorist act and an attempt on the president’s life”.

“The Russian side reserves the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit,” the Kremlin included.

All rockets and drones, consisting of a ballistic weapon, targeting the Ukrainian capital for the 3rd time in 4 days have actually been destroyed, the Kyiv city administration said.

“The Russians have attacked Kyiv using Shahed loitering munitions and missiles, likely the ballistic type,” the administration said.

An overall of 12 Shahed kamikaze drones out of 15 fired at the Black Sea seaside city of Odesa were destroyed, the Ukrainian southern military command said. The other 3 struck a university substance, it included.

The latest blasts were reported less than 24 hr after Kyiv said 21 individuals passed away in a Russian strike on the city of Kherson.

The chief of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenary force has actually said he thinks an assured counteroffensive by Ukrainian soldiers had actually already started which his forces were experiencing increased activity along the front.

The “active phase” of the counteroffensive would begin in the coming days, Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an audio message released by his press service on social networks.

“I believe the advance of the Ukrainian army has already begun… We are seeing the greatest possible activity both on the perimeter and within the frontlines,” he said.

“I therefore believe that it has all already started. And I believe it will all enter an active phase in the very near future. It could be a matter of days.”

He said said Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut were now restricted to a location in the town comprising just 2.64sq km.

Ukrainian Air Forces said they have actually effectively downed 18 out of 24 Shahed-136/131 attack drones introduced from Bryansk area and the eastern coast of the Azov Sea in the early hours today.

The 18 drones were downed by Ukraine’s air defence in the northern, main, and southern parts of Ukraine.

No major damage to facilities or injuries have actually been reported up until now, authorities said.

Debris from an Iranian-made Shahed fell under a domestic building in main Shevchenko district in Kyiv.

Part of an oil refinery in southern Russia has actually been set on fire after coming under a drone attack, regional emergency situation services said today.

The refinery is near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. A fuel tank is supposedly on fire, Russian news company TASS said.

This is the 2nd attack within 24 hr on a Russian fuel station. In the early hours of Wednesday, a huge blaze broke out at an oil depot behind Russian lines in Krasnodar and showed up from Kerch Bridge in Crimea.

That fire has actually now been snuffed out, authorities said.

Russia might have staged an obvious drone strike on the Kremlin to bring the war home to domestic audiences, a US-based think-tank has actually said.

Several indications recommend that a drone strike versus the Kremlin on 3 May was internally carried out and actively staged by Russia, the Institute for the Study of War said.

“It is extremely unlikely that two drones could have penetrated multiple layers of air defence and detonated or been shot down just over the heart of the Kremlin in a way that provided spectacular imagery caught nicely on camera,” the think-tank keeping track of the war said.

Explosions have actually been reported in Kyiv and other cities in the early hours today, authorities and media outlets said, with some regional authorities reporting that anti-aircraft defences were at work.

“Air defences are working in the Kyiv region,” the local military administration said on Telegram. Reuters eyewitnesses in the city said there had actually been at least one loud blast.

Explosions have actually likewise been reported in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia. Yuri Malashko, the head of the Zaporizhzhia local military administration, said on Telegram that anti-aircraft defences were at work.

Blasts have actually likewise been reported in the Black Sea port of Odesa. Air informs have actually been sounded in the majority of the eastern half of the nation, according to a main federal government map.

Footage published to social networks appears to reveal a drone flying over the Kremlin prior to taking off.

Russia declared Kyiv introduced a stopped working assassination effort on Vladimir Putin with a drone which was shot down over the Kremlin.

The video footage has actually been shared by Ukrainian federal government consultant Anton Geraschenko, along with Russian military blog writers and state news firms.

The United States said Wednesday it would send out a brand-new military help package for Ukraine worth $300m (£240m), consisting of for the very first time Hydra-70 short-range air-launched rockets, drawn from United States excess stocks.

The security help package would be the 37th authorized by the United States for Ukraine given that Russian attacked its next-door neighbor in February 2022, for an overall of $35.7bn.

“The United States and our allies and partners will stand united with Ukraine, for as long as it takes,” United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a declaration revealing the help package.

The rockets, munitions and 155mm howitzer cannons consisted of in the package would help Ukraine deteriorate Russian ground positions for advancing Ukrainian ground forces as Kyiv prepares a spring offensive.

The White House said on Wednesday it understood reports that Russia implicated Ukraine of assaulting the Kremlin with drones to attempt to eliminate President Vladimir Putin however might not validate or validate the accusations.

“We are aware of the reports but are unable to confirm the … authenticity of them at this time,” White House representative Karine Jean-Pierre informed press reporters.