LIVE UKRAINE. Two killed in rocket attack on Kiev – Airport in western Russia under fire – No investigation into Prigozhin crash for the time being | Abroad

Two people were killed in a rocket attack on Kiev on Wednesday morning. That reports the head of the military administration of the capital, Sergei Popko, on Telegram.

“In the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kiev, according to initial information, two people were killed by falling debris. Another person was injured,” Popko told Telegram.

Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the same medium that “in a non-residential building” in the district “two men were found dead”. Two others were injured and hospitalized.

Military authorities had previously reported that debris had fallen in the Shevchenkivskyi and Darnytskyi neighborhoods of Kiev, causing fires, and that emergency services had been sent to the scene.

A journalist from the ‘AFP’ news agency reported that at least three explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital around 5 a.m. local time (4 a.m. Belgian time).

Ukrainian military authorities report a rocket attack on Kiev on Wednesday morning. Several explosions were heard.

“In Kiev’s Darnytskyi district, debris fell on the roof of a commercial establishment. Emergency services have gone to the scene,” the head of the capital’s military administration, Sergei Popko, told Telegram. Information about possible destruction and casualties is still being verified.

Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko had previously reported “explosions in the city”.

Gazprom announced on Tuesday that its half-yearly net profit fell sharply to 2.84 billion euros. The Russian state giant is still suffering from the fall in its gas exports to Europe in the aftermath of the conflict in Ukraine.

In the first six months of the year, net profit divided by eight and fell to 296 billion rubles (2.84 billion euros), compared to 2,500 billion rubles (24.04 billion euros) in the same period of 2022.

“The fall in exports to Europe was partially offset by an increase in deliveries to China, which will continue to grow in line with contractual obligations,” said Famil Sadigov, deputy director of Gazprom, who attributed the fall in half-year profits to the weakness of the ruble.

Gazprom, a pillar of the Russian economy and led by several people close to President Vladimir Putin, had announced in May that its annual net profit for 2022 would fall by more than 41 percent to 1,226 billion rubles.

For Gazprom, 2022 was marked by the closure of most of the European market, with the exception of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which EU countries continue to buy in the absence of a real alternative.

Europe wants to reduce revenues from Russian gas exports, so that the Kremlin has fewer resources to finance its military offensive in Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry says it destroyed four crewed Ukrainian army vessels during an operation in the Black Sea. According to the message on Telegram, a maximum of fifty people were present on the boats at that time.

The attack was carried out from a Russian aircraft. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the fast craft were manned by soldiers who were part of a Ukrainian army unit for special operations. The Ukrainian army has not yet responded to the message.

Russia has told Brazil’s aviation authority it has no plans “at this time” to investigate the plane crash that killed Yevgeny Prigozhin last week. The Brazilian institution reports this to the news agency ‘Reuters’.

Mercenary leader Prigozhin and two other senior Wagner Group officers were among the ten killed after the crash of a Brazilian-built Embraer business jet. Two months earlier, Prigozhin led an uprising against the Russian military top.

Earlier Tuesday, the White House suggested that the Kremlin is responsible for Prigozhin’s death. “We all know that the Kremlin has a long history of killing opponents,” White House spokesman Karine Jean-Pierre said at a news conference. President Joe Biden said after reporting on Prigozhin’s death that he was “not surprised” and that little is happening in Russia that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is not behind.

The Russian army is trying to repel a drone strike at the airport of the western Russian city of Pskov. Despite this, four transport aircraft were damaged. That’s what officials say in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. No injuries are reported.

The Russian state news agency ‘Tass’ says, based on information from the emergency services, that four II-76 transport aircraft, long the workhorse of the Russian army, have been damaged at the military airfield. “Four Il-76 aircraft were damaged as a result of the drone strike. A fire broke out and two planes caught fire,” said Tass.

Videos posted by Russian media showed thick black smoke rising over the airport. Local media also cited reports from local residents who heard explosions and gunfire.

According to reports on Telegram channels, the anti-aircraft systems went into action around the city, which is close to the borders with Latvia and Estonia. Pskov is about 650 kilometers from Ukraine.

Ukrainian drones were also intercepted by the Russian army in the regions of Bryansk (south) and Orlov (center). Following the attack on Pskov, the airspace around Vnukovo airport in Moscow was also closed early Wednesday, the news agency said on the authority of aviation officials.