The Russian army attacked Ukrainian special forces soldiers who were lowering themselves from a helicopter in the Krasnoarmeisk area of occupied Donetsk. “All 11 people who got off the helicopter were killed,” the Russian Defense Ministry announced, as reported by RIA Novosti.
The assault attempted by Ukrainian special forces in Krasnoarmeisk, the Russian name for Pokrovsk, would be part of the large counteroffensive launched by Kiev in the area. Yesterday the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, denied that Ukrainian soldiers are surrounded in Pokrovsk.
IAEA: damage to critical site for nuclear safety
Russian bombardments have caused damage to an electrical substation in Ukraine critical to the country’s nuclear safety. This was reported by the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, in a note.
Following the reports received, he explained, the IAEA promptly sent a team to one of the affected substations. Technicians confirmed the damage to substation equipment and determined that there was a negative impact on the reliability of power supply to Ukrainian nuclear facilities, impacting nuclear safety.
“Attacks on Ukraine’s electricity grid pose a constant danger to the nuclear safety of all nuclear facilities in Ukraine,” Grossi underlined.
While restoration activities on the electricity grid are ongoing, one power station is missing one of its power lines and further repair work will be required.
The IAEA did not specify which plant was affected. For weeks the Ukrainian authorities have been reporting difficulties in powering the Zaporizhzhia plant.
Kiev forces hit a Russian military oil pipeline
Ukrainian forces hit and knocked out the Ring pipeline that supplied the Russian army with fuel for military operations. This was reported by Ukrinform, citing sources from the intelligence directorate.
Critical military infrastructure is located in Ramensky District, Moscow Region. The anti-drone measures adopted by Russia were of no avail: all three pipelines used to transport petrol, diesel and aviation fuel exploded successfully and simultaneously.
The main pipeline is 400 kilometers long and transports, or used to transport, from oil refineries in Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow up to 3 million tons of aviation fuel, about 2.8 million tons of diesel fuel and up to 1.6 million tons of gasoline.