16 May, 2023 22:25

KEKUkraine says it shoots down more missiles than Russia fires – Shoigu

Ukraine claims to intercept three times as many projectiles as Russia actually launches, the Russian defense minister has said

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has refuted claims made by Ukrainian military officials about shooting down six Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missiles during overnight strikes on targets near the country’s capital city of Kiev.

Ukraine routinely exaggerates the effectiveness of its anti-aircraft defenses, primarily ‘intercepting’ incoming Russian munitions only with public statements, Shoigu told RIA Novosti.

“I have already said that, and I will repeat it again. We have not launched as many ‘Kinzhals’ as they allegedly shoot down every time with their statements. Moreover, the number of these ‘Ukrainian interceptions’ – and who really mans the American [anti-aircraft] complexes there, is still a big question –is three times as high as what we actually launch,” Shoigu stated.

The minister also said thatUkraine “always”misidentifies munitionsused by Russia in its media statements. “That’s why they miss them,” he added, without providing any further information on the number of missiles used in the latest barrage.

Ukraine was subjected to a new massive missile and suicide drone barrage overnight, with the country’s capital city of Kiev seeing particularly intense activity by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses, footage circulating online suggests.

Moscow and Kiev haveprovided drastically different accountsof what happened overnight. Kiev claimed that it had shot down six state-of-the-art hypersonic missiles over the capital, as well as other incoming projectiles, using a battery of the US-made Patriot air defense system. The Russian military, however, said the batterywas successfully hit by a Kinzhal missile. Footage available online shows multiple anti-aircraft missiles going towards an unseen target, with at least two explosions seen at the site from which they appeared to be launched.

Western media reports suggested the Patriot battery in question was likely damaged in the strike. According to CNN, citing an unidentified US official, Washington is currently assessing the extent of the damage in order to determine whether the Patriots need to be pulled back or whether on-site repairs by Ukrainian forces would be enough.

https://www.rt.com/russia/576409-ukraine-kinzhal-missile-shoigu/

16 May, 2023 18:49

Ukraine’s top spy admits agents murdered Russian public figures

Military intel boss Kirill Budanov has claimed that his service “got” multiple high-profile individuals

Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR) chief General Kirill Budanov has claimedresponsibility for assassinating “many “Russian public figures. The spy boss made the bombshell admission in an interview with Ukrainian blogger Sergey Ivanov on Tuesday.

Asked whether high-profile Russian media figures such as prominent journalist Vladimir Solovyov or RT’s Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan, are prime targets for his organization, Budanov responded that the GURhad already “gotten” multiple high profile targets.

“We have already gotten many, including public and media personalities,” Budanov said, without providing any names.

Pressed further by the blogger on the potential involvement of the GUR in the assassination of journalist Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, or the recent car bombing of author and political activist Zakhar Prilepin, the spy boss said he could “neither confirm nor deny” the involvement of his service.

Budanov’s remarks were condemned by Moscow, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stating that they were a clear admission of wrongdoing.

“Terrorists. Those who provide excuses for the Kiev regime and sponsor it are accomplices of terrorists,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram.“Will the UN not notice that again?”

The remarks are the latest in a string of incendiary statements made by the GUR boss amid the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev. Earlier this month, Budanov declared, “We’ve been killing Russians, and we will keep killing Russians anywhere on the face of this world until the complete victory of Ukraine.”

The pledge received an equally poor reception in Russia, with multiple top officials branding it an admission of engaging instate-level terrorism by Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, for instance, said Budanov’s statement was “unprecedented in its essence,”and itwas “strange” to not hear any condemnation“from European capitals and from Washington.”

“It’s evident that the Kiev regime is behind the killings, not only sponsoring them but organizing, inciting, and carrying them out. De facto, we’re talking about a state sponsor of terrorism,” Peskov concluded, warning thatRussia’s “special services know what to do after such statements.”

(If Ukraine thinks they are experts at secret assassination, they are overestimating their abilities)

https://www.rt.com/russia/576395-ukraine-spy-killing-russians/

16 May, 2023 20:32

Biden clashes with US mayor over immigration crisis

The president has reportedly booted New York’s Eric Adams from his re-election campaign team amid criticism over migrant surge

President Joe Biden has apparently had a falling out with the mayor of America’s largest city, New York City’s Eric Adams, because the fellow Democrat has been criticizing his administration’s handling of an illegal immigration crisis.

The conflict bubbled up on Tuesday, when Adams was asked in a ‘Good Day NY’ television interview about the city’s struggles to cope with a massive migrant influx, “Where the heck is the president of the United States?” The mayor replied, “That is a good question, and I think we all should be asking why this is happening to a city that was turning itself around and will continue to do so.”

A surge in illegal crossings of the US-Mexico border to all-time highs began to hit home for New York last year, when the governors of Texas and Florida began bussing migrants to Democrat-controlled cities. “This should not be happening to New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and the other big northern cities,”Adams said. “And really, it should not be happening to El Paso or Brownsville, Texas. No city should be carrying this burden. This is a national problem, and it needs a national solution.”

Feeling pressure from his own constituents, Adams has escalated his criticism of the Biden administration in recent weeks amid increasing struggles to accommodate the illegal aliens streaming into his city. Parents were up in arms on Tuesday over the city’s plan to house hundreds of migrants in school gymnasiums after running out of space elsewhere. Homeless veterans were reportedly kicked out of hotels in upstate New York, where they had been given temporary shelter, to make room for illegal immigrants being bused from New York City.

Adams was reportedly excluded from Biden’s re-election campaign team topunish him for alleged disloyalty. The mayor had announced earlier this year that he would be serving on the campaign’s national leadership advisory team, but when the group’s official membership list was released last week, Adams was left off.

“This is a shot to the chops from the Biden team,” political consultant Hank Sheinkopf told the New York Post. “The message is: Don’t criticize an incumbent Democratic president and don’t criticize the first black female vice president. Any criticism from a Democrat heading into re-election is seen as a betrayal.”

Adams hasn’t been alone in sounding the alarm over the immigration crisis. New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, has asked Biden’s administration for funding help and access to federal installations, such as military bases, to house illegal aliens. “You’re going to start seeing people living in tents not just on the border, but in the streets of New York and across New York state because we’ve reached a breaking point,” she said on Monday in an MSNBC interview.

https://www.rt.com/news/576408-biden-nyc-mayor-clash-on-border-crisis/

16 May, 2023 08:47

Chair of Ukrainian Supreme Court arrested over $3 million bribe

Anti-corruption authorities have suggested that other judges may be implicated in the scheme

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) has detained the chair of the country’s Supreme Court, Vsevolod Knyazev, local media have reported. He is allegedly suspected of receiving a $2.7 million bribe as part of a scheme that may involve other officials.

In a Facebook post late on Monday, NABU said it had “uncovered large-scale corruption in the Supreme Court, namely ascheme that allowed the leadership and judges to receive illicit profit.” The bureau added that an “urgent” investigation was under way, and that details would be provided in due course.

In a separate message on Tuesday, NABU announced a press conference on the case at midday local time in Kiev.

While officials have stopped short of revealing any names, several Ukrainian media outlets have cited anonymous sources as claiming that Knyazev was taken into custody.

Ukraine’s highest judicial body indirectly confirmed the news by posting a message on Facebook, stating that “in light of what is happening around Supreme Court chair Knyazev, an extraordinary meeting of the Supreme Court’s plenum will take place on May 16, 2023.”

According to ZN.UA, citing unnamed sources in NABU, authorities have conducted searches atproperties belonging to 18 other Supreme Court judges.

Sergey Leshenko, an adviser to the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, cited a bribe totaling $3 million when discussing Knyazev with the media. Vitaly Kim, governor of Nikolaev Oblast, gave a figure of $2.7 million.

The Strana media outlet claimed that Knyazev had received the money from Ukrainianoligarch Konstantin Zhevago, who is currently in France but is wanted in his homeland for his role in thecollapse of a bank.

Earlier this month, Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ordered the arrest of Odessa Mayor Gennady Trukhanov over allegations of misusing city funds dating back to 2017.

NABU conducted raids in the Zhitomirsky and Kharkov regional military administrations in April.

https://www.rt.com/russia/576363-ukraine-supreme-court-chair-corruption/