UKRAINE LIVE. Heavy missile attack on port city of Sevastopol – Kiev recaptures ‘strategic’ oil and gas platforms | Home

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met on Wednesday morning at the Vostotchni Space Center. Russian news agencies report this. According to the US, Putin and Kim Jong-un will discuss arms deliveries. The North Korean and Russian leaders will “talk about all issues,” Putin said. Read more here.

A Russian drone attack damaged the port of Izmajil on Wednesday morning, reports the governor of the southern Ukrainian region of Odesa. At least that affected six people injuredthe governor said on Telegram.

Izmajil is one of the largest river ports in Ukraine and is located on the Danube, on the border with Romania. It is one of Ukraine’s most important ports for grain exports.

Ukraine had one in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday rocket attack on the city of Sevastopol in Crimea. The Russian-appointed governor of the peninsula reported this on Telegram. There is also an attack on the city’s shipyard. The rocket attack injured 24 people.

The rocket attack caused a fire in a “non-civilian facility”, said Governor Mikhail Razvoshev, who was quoted by the Russian news agency TASS. Sevastopol is a port city on the Black Sea. It is also the main port of the Russian war fleet in the Black Sea. Later, the governor spoke of a fire at the “southern site of Sevmorzavod”, referring to the city’s shipyard.

“According to initial information, 24 people were injured in the attack,” the governor said. He got one “Kiev’s rocket attack on Sevastopol” to, home of the Black Sea Fleet.

According to an earlier report there were about ten explosions are heard in the city. The governor’s statements could not be independently verified. The Crimean peninsula in the Black Sea was annexed by Russia in 2014, in violation of international law. The area is regularly under fire. On August 25, according to Moscow, there was another attack with 42 Ukrainian drones.

The Ukrainian army says to have recaptured several ‘strategic’ oil and gas platforms in the Black Sea from Russia. This is what the American news agency Associated Press (AP) writes. The announcement was said to have been made by the Ministry of Defense on Monday.

According to Kiev, this concerns the so-called Boyko Towers, which were seized by Russia in 2015 following that country’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. The platforms would not only for energy extraction have been used by Russia, but also as take-off and landing site for military helicopters.

Russian military bloggers contradict Kiev’s claims, according to AP. According to them, the platforms were abandoned more than a year ago and would leave Ukraine only briefly a small military detachment landed on the platforms, but there would be no permanent military occupation of the Boyko Towers.

During his speech in Vladivostok, where an annual regional conference for Asian countries is held, Russian President Vladimir Putin was particularly complimentary about Elon Musk. The American newspaper The New York Times reported this on Tuesday.

According to Putin, the billionaire is one “talented businessman” and that “when it comes to private affairs, Elon Musk hands down a wonderful person is, one must admit.”

Musk recently came in controversybecause according to a new biography, the CEO of electric car manufacturer Tesla, the social network X (formerly Twitter) and space company SpaceX last year would have single-handedly prevented a Ukrainian drone attack by temporarily disabling the Starlink network over Ukraine. Starlink provides internet via satellite.

“He is an active, talented businessman,” Putin continued. “A lot works for him, also with the support of the American government.”

Musk is a self-proclaimed ‘absolutist’ regarding freedom of expression. Since his takeover of Twitter, which he renamed X and now wil into a multifunctional commercial online platformaccording to The New York Times, the activity of so-called ‘bots‘, automated profiles, and misinformation strongly increased. The paper further states that misinformation and bots are being widely used by the Putin government for propaganda purposes.

Russia is currently working on a visa-free arrangement with several African countries. Oleg Ozerov, Russia’s special envoy to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and head of the Russia-Africa Cooperation Forum, confirmed this to the TASS news agency on Tuesday.

“We have agreements on a visa-free regime with six countries (on the African continent, ed.) and we are working on it with others. We are not excluding any country,” Ozerov said. According to the Russian, it is only a “negotiation issue” because of the pace at which the agreements are being forged.

In addition, Ozerov pointed out that Russia has agreements on visa waivers with 32 countries on the continent for holders of diplomatic passports. “It is a gradual process. Each case is negotiated separately with the African countries,” it said.

Sweden is considering Gripen fighter planes to Ukraine. This was reported by the Swedish Public Radio (SR) on Tuesday, on the authority of anonymous sources quoted by international news agencies such as Bloomberg and Reuters.

According to the radio, the government will soon instruct the army to study the conditions for such a transfer. The government wants to determine what impact this would have on Sweden’s defense capabilities and how quickly the country can replace the devices.

Ukraine has already received Danish and Dutch F-16 fighter jets. Norway also wants to supply such devices. Kiev wants to protect its own airspace and provide air support to ground troops with modern Western-made fighter planes.

Russia wants genocidal politics the new normal to make. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this during a speech via video link to students in two lecture halls in The Hague in the Netherlands.

“They want genocide to become something that plays in the background,” the Ukrainian president said of Russia. “They want to freeze the war and turn shocking scenes into something everyday.” He stated that the world is not yet acting unanimously enough against this. That is why, according to Zelensky, Ukraine is trying to establish new partnerships.

The Ukrainian leader praised the role the Netherlands plays as an ally of his country. “Your participation helps us bring the world together for shared values,” said Zelensky, who made a quick visit to the Netherlands at the end of August. “That makes our defense stronger.”

The Netherlands belongs to the group of Western countries that provide military support to Ukraine. The Dutch government is playing a role, among other things pioneering role at the planned delivery of F-16s to Kiev.