MOSCOW: Russian forces carried out an overnight strike on the Kremenchuk oil refinery that supplies fuel to Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region, Russia’s defense ministry said on Sunday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the attack on the central Poltava region as a vile strike against Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
“Unfortunately, there was damage to the energy infrastructure,” Zelensky said in his evening address to the nation.
“This is Russia’s (effort to) spit on everything that the international community is trying to do to stop this war.” He said it occurred “after the Americans asked us not to strike at Russian energy facilities.”
The Russian defense ministry’s statement said that missiles had been fired at the refinery in Ukraine’s Poltava region from both sea and air and that strike drones were also used in what it said had been a successful attack.
Russia has claimed Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region as its own and controls most of its two regions, Donetsk and Luhansk. Ukraine is fighting to stop Russia from taking control of the rest of Donbas and has said it plans to retake territory it has lost, through a combination of force and diplomacy.
The Russian Defense Ministry said separately that its forces had taken control of the village of Malynivka in the Donetsk region, known in Russia as Ulyanovka.
It also said its forces had advanced deep into enemy defenses in Ukraine’s Sumy region and inflicted heavy losses on Ukrainian units there. Sumy is not one of the regions Russia has formally claimed as its own, but it has spoken of creating a buffer zone there. Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had recaptured Andriivka village in northeastern Sumy as part of a drive to expel Russian forces from the area.
He said Russia has amassed 53,000 troops in the vicinity.
Russia says it struck oil refinery that supplies Ukrainian army with fuel
https://arab.news/c8kzb
Russia says it struck oil refinery that supplies Ukrainian army with fuel
- President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the attack on the central Poltava region as a vile strike against Ukrainian energy infrastructure
Egypt’s El-Sisi accepts invite to join Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’
- Kosovo has been a close ally with the US which supported its independence from Serbia in 2008
- Italy will not take part in Board of Peace initiative, daily Corriere della Sera reports
CAIRO: Egypt’s foreign ministry said Wednesday that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has accepted an invitation from US President Donald Trump to join his “Board of Peace.”
Egypt “announces its acceptance of the invitation and its commitment to fulfilling the relevant legal and constitutional procedures,” the statement said, praising Trump for his Middle East policies.
“Egypt expresses its support for the Board of Peace’s mission for the second phase of the comprehensive plan to end the conflict in Gaza,” it added.
Kosovo said on Wednesday it had accepted an invitation from US President Donald Trump to join his “Board of Peace.”
“I am deeply honored by the President’s personal invitation to represent the Republic of Kosovo as a founding member of the Board of Peace, standing shoulder to shoulder with the United States in the pursuit of a safer world,” Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani wrote on X.
“America helped bring peace to Kosovo. Today, Kosovo stands firmly as America’s ally, ready to help carry that peace forward,” Osmani said.
Kosovo, a Balkan country of 1.6 million people, has been a close ally with the United States which supported its independence from Serbia in 2008.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said Wednesday that he has agreed to join the Board of Peace in a departure from an earlier stance when his office criticized the makeup of the board’s committee tasked with overseeing Gaza.
Italy won’t take part in US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” initiative, daily Corriere della Sera reported on Wednesday, citing concern that joining such a group led by a single country’s leader would violate Italy’s constitution.
Trump’s plan has so far drawn cautious reactions from Western allies, as diplomats say it could undermine the work of the United Nations.
Norway and Sweden, meanwhile, said they would not be joining the board at this stage, following in the footsteps of France, which has expressed concern the board could seek to replace the United Nations as the mediator in global conflicts.
