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From the editor
Ukraine carried out the daring and hugely successful Operation Spiderweb to strike Russian warplanes at their bases with drones hidden in lorries on Sunday. An estimated 41 aircraft were damaged at four bases across the country in a feat that had been planned for 18 months and involved renting a warehouse in Chelyabinsk Oblast and building secret compartments in the roofs of modular homes. The unsuspecting lorry drivers were instructed to park their vehicles near the bases, and the drones suddenly flew out of them, after which the trailers exploded.
A Ukrainian drone strikes a Russian warplane at an airfield during Operation Spiderweb
The Olenya base in Murmansk Oblast, the Belaya base in Irkutsk Oblast, the Dyagilevo base in Ryazan Oblast and the Ivanovo base in Ivanovo Oblast were hit. The strike on Belaya was the first time Ukrainian drones have attacked in Siberia. Another lorry carrying drones came to a halt on a road in Amur Oblast in Russia’s far east, and the trailer exploded after a passer-by had climbed into it, killing him. Aircraft that were damaged or destroyed included A-50 transport planes and Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 strategic bombers. The attack took place on Russia’s Military Transport Aviation Day.
“Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Maliuk delivered a report regarding today’s operation. An absolutely brilliant result. A result achieved solely by Ukraine,” Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X after the attacks. “Our most long-range operation. Our people involved in preparing the operation were withdrawn from Russian territory in time… Of course, not everything can be revealed at this moment, but these are Ukrainian actions that will undoubtedly be in history books. Ukraine is defending itself, and rightly so - we are doing everything to make Russia feel the need to end this war. Russia started this war, Russia must end it. Glory to Ukraine!”
The Kremlin was clearly taken completely by surprise (as was Donald Trump), and Russia said it would give awards to the people near the Belaya base who threw stones at the drones as they were taking off. Vladimir Soloviev raged that a soldier at one of the bases who filmed himself saying “It’s all fucked up!” should be executed. “Couldn’t they have just taken that conscript and shot him?” he asked. “Just dragged that scum out and executed him in front of the formation like a traitor to the motherland.”
Russia is seeking 37-year-old Ukrainian Artem Timofeyev, who is believed to have established a haulage company in October last year and purchased the lorries that were used in the attacks in December. The four lorry drivers who were involved have been arrested, as have the people who rented the warehouse. Vladimir Putin remained silent as he often does in crisis situations. Meanwhile Ukraine also detonated explosives on the underwater supports of the Crimea bridge on Tuesday, although the bridge appears to have been reinforced enough to withstand this.
Russia continues to target civilians in Ukraine, killing five people and injuring 18 others in a missile strike in Sumy on Tuesday. “Right now in Sumy region, doctors are providing all necessary assistance to those wounded by a Russian strike. The Russians struck right on the street, hitting ordinary residential buildings. Sleazebags,” Zelensky said on X. Also this week a nine-year-old girl was killed by a Russian guided aerial bomb that destroyed a house in a village in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and a 16-year-old was injured in the attack. In Kherson a 66-year-old man was killed by Russian night-time shelling.
After a phone call with Putin on Wednesday Trump posted on Truth Social: “President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields.” Trump elaborated on this yesterday during a meeting with Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office, comparing Russia and Ukraine to children who hate each other and saying, “sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.” He also threatened to sanction both countries.
Early yesterday morning at least five people, including a one-year-old boy and his mother and grandmother were killed in a Russian drone strike on Pryluky, Chernihiv Oblast. The boy’s grandfather was the local fire chief, who was out responding to the Russian strikes. Last night Russia attacked a residential district of Kyiv, killing four people – including three emergency responders - and injuring 20 others. Russia has not been stopped by any means, but Ukraine’s precision strikes on military targets may at least slow it down, as well as demonstrating that the “superpower” is far from invulnerable.
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Russia hands ultimatum to Ukraine in Istanbul
Russia finally revealed its list of conditions for a ceasefire in Ukraine at a meeting between delegations of the two countries in Istanbul on Monday, which amount to capitulating to everything Vladimir Putin has demanded since he launched the invasion in 2022. The Kremlin wants Ukraine to withdraw from four partially occupied regions (Donetsk Oblast, Luhansk Oblast, Kherson Oblast and Zaporizhzhia Oblast) and let Russia have them, with international recognition; Ukraine to pledge never to join any military alliances or coalitions; Russia to become an official language in Ukraine; nationalist parties and groups to be disbanded; all Western sanctions to be lifted; Ukraine to remove its restrictions on the Russian Orthodox Church; and several other things.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha responded to the demands with a statement rejecting them: “Russia has not responded to our document outlining Ukraine's vision for ending the war. We sent it ahead of the meeting. During the meeting, our delegation asked the Russians what were their considerations. They didn’t provide any. Neither during the meeting nor after. We demand Russia’s reply. Each day of silence from them proves their wish to continue the war. Instead of responding to our constructive proposals in Istanbul, the Russian side passed a set of old ultimatums that do not move the situation any closer to true peace. This contradicts Russia’s previous promises, including to the United States, that it would put forward something realistic and doable this week in Istanbul.
“Because of Russia’s lack of a constructive approach, the Istanbul format turned into meetings about POW exchanges. We welcome the progress in this area, but there could be much more tangible results in all areas if the Russians reciprocated Ukraine’s constructiveness. Russia has so far rejected any meaningful formats for a ceasefire. This is sufficient reason for our partners to impose new sanctions on Russia, already now. We must put an end to the killing. And if current meetings fail to produce such a result and advance peace, it becomes increasingly clear that a meeting of leaders is required.”
Seven killed in Bryansk bridge collapse
Two bridges collapsed in Russia in 24 hours this week, damaging trains, with seven people killed and 122 others injured in the incident in Bryansk Oblast on Saturday night. The other incident happened in Kursk Oblast. Russia’s Investigations Committee reacted immediately with an announcement that the bridges had been blown up in “terrorist attacks,” but later deleted its statement and only referred to “collapses”. But on Wednesday Vladimir Putin told a government meeting that the incidents were “certainly a terrorist attack and the decision about committing these kinds of crimes is of course made in Ukraine at a political level”. Meanwhile an explosion on a railway line in Akimovka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, derailed a Russian train carrying fuel that was heading for occupied Crimea.
More people sentenced for pro-Ukraine “sabotage”.
A military court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced a Ukrainian woman, Anna Murdid, to 22 years in prison and her son Artem Murdid and daughter-in-law Anna Voshkoder to 20 years for “organising sabotage”. The three family members from occupied Melitopol smiled after they were sentenced. They were accused of working for Ukraine’s SBU to plan explosions, only one of which was successful – a car bombing that killed Ivan Tkach, a local collaborator with the Russians who headed a municipal transport authority. Anna and Artem Murdid said they were tortured after their arrest.
A court in Samara has sentenced Ukrainian refugee Valentina Tagirova, a hairdresser from Donetsk, to eight years in prison for “planning a terrorist attack”. Tagirova was allegedly contacted by someone from Ukraine’s security services who threatened to harm her relatives unless she worked for them. She followed instructions to take photographs of buildings in Samara and purchase components of an explosive device, after which she was arrested. It is believed she may have been entrapped by the FSB.
War returnee rapes and kills librarian
A 22-year-old unnamed soldier who returned from the war in Ukraine is suspected of raping and killing 54-year-old librarian Lyudmila Fomina in his home village of Krasny Kust, Vladimir Oblast. The man attacked Fomina when she was on her way home from visiting a friend in the evening, and the following morning he returned to check on her condition. Finding her dead, he took her body to the woods to bury her. The suspect reportedly had a previous conviction for the sexual abuse of a minor.
Jehovah’s Witness sentenced to six years in prison
A court in Tambov has sentenced 60-year-old Jehovah’s Witness Oleg Sirotkin to six years in prison for belonging to the banned group. He was found guilty of “organising the activity of an extremist group”, allegedly holding religious meetings and collecting donations. Sirotkin’s home was searched in September 2021 and he was under investigation on bail from then on. “If a person is afraid then he is virtually already in prison,” he said. “He has no happiness, only fear. The main thing is to be prepared for any tests and to remember that we are innocent. To participate in these events is an honour. You have to go to court not to justify yourself but to defend the name of God.”
Man abducted in Moscow station after anti-Chechen comments
A man was abducted at Moscow’s Yaroslavsky station in front of onlookers on Tuesday evening, apparently by people associated with Ramzan Kadyrov, after he posted videos on Instagram calling on people to attack Chechens and Dagestanis, as well as Jews. 39-year-old Areg Shchepikhin, of Armenian heritage, is a failed businessman who believes he is a descendant of the Russian imperial family. A video shows him begging people to call the police as he is carried out of the train station followed by two indifferent security guards. Another video shows a man being shoved into the boot of a black Mercedes.
The men who are thought to have driven Shchepikhin away were later seen leaving a police station after saying they were members of the Russian Guard. Their vehicle was registered to an employee of Kadyrov’s administration. Shchepikhin was seen in a video after reportedly being set free around midnight, and in a subsequent video with bruises on his face, in which he says he was taken outside the city and questioned about the address of his wife and other relatives and whether he has any ties to Ukraine or the opposition.
Other people have been taken to Chechnya from different parts of Russia before for punishment, for example Nikita Zhuravel from Volgograd Oblast, who burned a Koran, and Zarema Musaeva, the mother of a prominent Chechen human rights lawyer and activist, who was taken from Nizhny Novgorod. Chechnya’s information minister Akhmed Dudayev commented that Shchepikhin faces charges of rape, espionage, inciting hatred, insulting the feelings of believers and public calls for terrorism. He claimed that Shchepikhin was arrested, not abducted.