War in Ukraine: 121 drones sent, attack on a Russian refinery, Trump and Putin in talks… update on the situation

121 drones

The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday it had shot down 120 Ukrainian drones overnight over twelve of its regions, including Moscow, one of the largest attacks of this type against its territory since the start of the conflict.

The ministry said in a statement that the air defense forces “intercepted and destroyed” 120 drones, most over Russian regions close to the borders of Ukraine but also as far as the capital Moscow, as well as a 121st in Crimea, a peninsula annexed in 2014. Russian media reported damage in several regions .

Russian refinery affected

Ukraine announced Friday that it had targeted a Russian refinery and a microprocessor manufacturing plant in a large drone attack that targeted several regions of Russia. Russia had earlier announced that it had repelled a Ukrainian drone attack overnight but according to four industry sources, the Kyiv attack damaged one of Russia’s oldest refineries, in Ryazan, southeast of Moscow. The attack caused a fire at the refinery’s oil storage site and damaged equipment including a rail loading platform and a hydroprocessing unit used to remove impurities from refined products, the sources said.

A video posted on social media shows smoke and flames surrounding the Ryazan refinery and people appearing to flee the scene. Reuters was able to confirm the location of the video but not its date. This Ukrainian drone attack on Russia appears to be one of the largest carried out by Kyiv since the start of the conflict, almost three years ago. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 121 Ukrainian drones were launched against 13 regions, including the capital Moscow – 20 drones targeted the Ryazan region alone. The Ukrainian army, for its part, said its drones had struck oil installations in Ryazan and a microelectronics production plant in the Bryansk region in western Russia, specifying that the targeted sites were involved in the supply of the Russian army. According to the Tass agency, which cites a press release from the Kremniy El microprocessor factory, the attack damaged production facilities and a warehouse. The power supply was interrupted and production suspended. No casualties have been reported.

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The Russian Defense Ministry said six other drones were destroyed over the Moscow region and one over the capital itself. Other drones targeted the border regions of Bryansk and Belgorod as well as the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia. The oblasts of Saratov, Rostov, Voronezh, Tula, Orel and Lipetsk and Kursk were also targeted. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defenses had intercepted Ukrainian drone attacks at four sites around the capital, without causing casualties or major damage.

“Ready” to talk to negotiate

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday “ready” to negotiations on the conflict in Ukraine with his American counterpart Donald Trump, even if neither Moscow nor Washington has put forward a timetable or agenda for this long-awaited discussion. kyiv, for its part, rejected any discussion on Ukraine “without Ukraine”.

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War in Ukraine: Putin assures that the “Ukraine crisis” of 2022 could have been avoided if Trump had been president of the United States

The American President “said he was willing to work together”Vladimir Putin said Friday during an interview on state television. “We have always said, and I want to emphasize it again, that we are ready for these negotiations on Ukrainian issues”he added. Vladimir Putin assured him that the “crisis in Ukraine” of 2022, the year the conflict began, could have been avoided if Donald Trump “had been president, if they had not stolen his victory in 2020”. He thus took up the American president’s unfounded assertions about alleged electoral fraud in 2020. Ukraine also fears being pushed to the negotiating table in an unfavorable position, because it is struggling on the front, and to be forced to cede its territories occupied by Russia.

Thursday, during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Donald Trump called for hitting Russia in the wallet by lowering oil prices. If these were lower “the war in Ukraine would be over immediately”he had estimated. Vladimir Putin, praising the character “pragmatic” et “intelligent” of Donald Trump, estimated that the latter would not take such a decision which would also harm “to the American economy”. Dmitry Peskov replied on Friday that the conflict in Ukraine “does not depend on oil prices”more “arises from a threat to Russian national security.”