KYIV: Ukraine said Sunday that the southern port city of Odessa was attacked by Iranian-made drones overnight, two days after a Russian attack with such a weapon killed two civilians.
“Odessa was attacked again by enemy kamikaze drones,” said the Ukrainian army’s Operational Command South.
“The enemy hit the administrative building in the city center three times,” it said in a Facebook message.
“One drone was shot down by (Ukrainian) air defense forces. No casualties (were) recorded,” it said.
“These were Iranian drones,” a Ukrainian South Command spokeswoman, Natalya Gumenyuk, later told AFP.
The strikes come two days after two civilians were killed in Odessa Friday in a Russian attack with an Iranian-made drone.
Four Iranian-made drones were shot down in the south of the country Friday, according to Ukraine’s armed forces.
Kyiv said later it decided to reduce Iran’s diplomatic presence in Ukraine over its supply of drones to Russia.
“In response to such an unfriendly act, the Ukrainian side decided to deprive the ambassador of Iran in Ukraine of accreditation, as well as to significantly reduce the number of diplomatic personnel of the Iranian embassy in Kyiv,” said Ukraine’s foreign ministry.
A foreign ministry official told AFP that the move amounted to expulsion as the ambassador was not in Ukraine and therefore could not be expelled.
“The use of Iranian-made weapons by Russian troops... are steps taken by Iran against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state, as well as against the life and health of Ukrainian citizens,” a spokesman for Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, Sergii Nykyforov, said on Friday.
Ukraine’s Odessa again attacked by Iranian drones
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Ukraine’s Odessa again attacked by Iranian drones
- The strikes come two days after two civilians were killed in Odessa in a Russian attack with an Iranian-made drone
UK supported French operation to board sanctioned Russian tanker, minister says
- Healey said this support included a vessel, HMS Dagger, monitoring the tanker as it passed through the Straits of Gibraltar
- “Deterring, disrupting and degrading the Russian shadow fleet is a priority for this government“
LONDON: Britain provided tracking and monitoring support for a French operation to board a sanctioned Russian oil tanker in a bid to choke off the funds that fuel Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, UK defense minister John Healey said on Thursday.
Healey said this support included a vessel, HMS Dagger, monitoring the tanker as it passed through the Straits of Gibraltar. The tanker, named the GRINCH, is subject to UK and European sanctions for facilitating trade in sanctioned oil and forms part of a growing web of the so-called “shadow-fleet.”
“Deterring, disrupting and degrading the Russian shadow fleet is a priority for this government,” Healey said in a statement.
“I can confirm that the UK has provided tracking and monitoring in support of the French operation to board the tanker Grinch.”
He said Britain and its allies were stepping up their response to so-called shadow-fleet vessels, which he described as helping finance Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
President Emmanuel Macron said earlier on Thursday that the French Navy had boarded an oil tanker coming from Russia that was subject to international sanctions and suspected of flying a false flag.
He said the operation was conducted on the high seas in the Mediterranean with support from several allies and in strict compliance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
A judicial investigation had been opened and the vessel diverted, the French president said, adding that France was determined to enforce sanctions.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said it routinely tracks suspected Russian shadow-fleet activity and shares information with allies, adding that the country has sanctioned 544 such vessels to date.
