MOSCOW: Russia on Tuesday claimed a new military success in Ukraine ahead of the second anniversary of its offensive, while President Vladimir Putin mocked what he called Kyiv’s “flight” from the frontline town of Avdiivka.
The eastern Ukraine front has been frozen for months, but Moscow has been bolstered by its capture of Avdiivka last week, as well as a wrangled US Congress blocking military aid to Kyiv.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russian forces have reclaimed Krynky, a Ukrainian bridgehead on the Moscow-occupied side of the Dnipro river.
“I confirm that Krynky has been cleared,” Shoigu told Putin in a televised meeting.
Ukraine said last year that it had established positions around the tiny east bank village, crossing into the Russian-occupied side of the river.
Shoigu told state media earlier that Russian forces were “on the banks of the river in Krynky.”
During the meeting, Putin said the Ukrainian army had chaotically fled Avdiivka. Kyiv said it withdrew from the eastern stronghold to save soldiers’ lives.
“The Ukrainian armed forces issued an order to withdraw their armed forces when they were already on the move,” Putin said, calling the retreat a “chaotic flight.”
Moscow has tried to capture Avdiivka, a symbol of Ukrainian resistance since 2014, for months.
Russia says reclaimed Ukraine bridgehead on Dnipro’s left bank
https://arab.news/2ke33
Russia says reclaimed Ukraine bridgehead on Dnipro’s left bank
- Moscow has been bolstered by its capture of Avdiivka last week
- “I confirm that Krynky has been cleared,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin
Tajikistan denounces ‘ethnic hatred’ stabbing of schoolboy in Russia
- Authorities in Dushanbe confirmed the victim was Tajik and summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the attack
- The foreign ministry said the attack was “motivated by ethnic hatred“
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan: Tajikistan on Wednesday denounced an “ethnic hatred” attack in Russia, in a rare criticism of its ally a day after a 10-year-old Tajik schoolboy was killed by an older pupil near Moscow.
Russia’s main investigative body, the Investigative Committee, said the 15-year-old suspect was detained and in custody after the attack in Gorki-2, a village west of Moscow in the Odintsovo district.
Authorities in Dushanbe confirmed the victim was Tajik and summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the attack.
The foreign ministry said the attack was “motivated by ethnic hatred.”
The ambassador was handed a note “demanding that Russia conduct an immediate, objective, and impartial investigation into this tragic incident,” the ministry said in a statement.
In a separate statement, the Tajik interior ministry also said it feared the incident would “serve as a pretext for incitement and provocation by certain radical nationalist groups to commit similar crimes.”
The Russian foreign ministry expressed “its deepest condolences to the Tajik side, the families of the deceased, and the victims of the attack,” its spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was quoted as saying on the ministry’s website.
“The Russian side will do everything necessary to ensure an impartial and objective investigation of the incident,” she added.
According to Russian media, including newspapers Komsomolskaya Pravda and Kommersant, the alleged attacker subscribed to neo-Nazi channels and had sent his classmates a racist manifesto a few days before the incident.
Hundreds of thousands of Tajiks work in Russia, many of them holding Russian citizenship.
According to the World Bank, remittances to their relatives back in Tajikistan account for nearly half the GDP of the Central Asian country.
Since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, some Central Asian migrants have looked for work in other countries instead of Russia.
Moscow has tried to recruit Central Asian migrants into the Russian army to fight in Ukraine.
Russia has also hardened its migration policies since a 2024 attack on a concert hall that killed 149 people, with Moscow arresting Tajik citizens over the attack.
