Ukraine claims to have shot down Russian drones launched on kyiv

Published on : 03/28/2023 – 07:06

• 6:20 a.m .: Russian drones launched on kyiv “shot down” by Ukrainian security forces

According to the head of the military administration of the city of Kiev, Serhi Popko, the Russian drones used in the evening, Monday, to attack Kiev were all destroyed by the Ukrainian air defense. According to him, the remains of a downed drone were found in the Svyatochynsky district, where a store caught fire during the attack.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine also said in its daily morning update that Russia had launched a total of 15 Iranian-made drones over Ukraine overnight, and that Ukrainian forces had destroyed 14 of them.

• 4:21 a.m.: kyiv received its first Western heavy tanks

The first British and German heavy tanks have arrived in Ukraine, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced on Monday evening, to help the Kiev army repel the Russian invasion of the country. These Challenger and Leopard battle tanks had been promised at the beginning of the year.

• 1:03 a.m .: Amnesty denounces “a double weight, two measures” of the West

Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine “exposed the hypocrisy of Western states, which reacted forcefully to Russian aggression but turned a blind eye to serious violations elsewhere, been accomplices”, deplores the NGO Amnesty International in its annual report, denouncing this “double weight, two measures”.

“The response to Russian aggression against the Ukrainian people is a formidable response. It is a response that should be a model for other present and future crises”, reacted Agnès Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty. , interviewed by AFP.

But “by neglecting other crises, we diminish the value of what has been done in Ukraine”, she continued, her organization lamenting that the West has “tolerated” “similar acts of aggression in other countries”. ‘other countries’, ‘solely because its interests are at stake’.

• 12:44 a.m.: Volodymyr Zelensky and Rafael Grossi in the Zaporizhia region

Volodymyr Zelensky and Rafael Grossi met on Monday at a hydroelectric station in the Zaporizhia region (Ukraine), while the second, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is expected in the coming days. at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Moscow.

“Without the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and personnel from (the plant) and adjacent territories, any initiative to restore nuclear safety and security is doomed,” President Zelensky warned, according to reports. by the Ukrainian Presidency.

The two leaders went on Monday to the site of a hydroelectric power station in Dnieper responsible for supplying the Zaporijjia nuclear power station, occupied by the Russian army and regularly victim of power cuts.

• 12:36 a.m.: Explosions in kyiv

The mayor of kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, reported in a Telegram message, explosions, Monday evening, in the Ukrainian capital, “in the districts of Obolonsky and Svyatochynsky”. According to him, a store in the latter district is on fire, but according to an initial report, there are no victims.

Shortly before the blasts, the city’s air raid sirens were activated, the Kyiv region’s military administration said on Telegram. Authorities reported a drone attack at 10:12 p.m. local time (9:12 p.m. Paris time).

With AFP and Reuters