31 Mar, 2024 11:05

Russia destroys three Ukrainian warplanes – MoD

The armed forces say they targeted the trio of Su-25s in Nikolaev Region

The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Sunday that it has destroyed three Ukrainian Su-25 close air support warplanes. The military jets were stationed at the Voznesensk airfield in Nikolaev Region, a strategically important area in the south of the country.

The operation was conducted using tactical aircraft, missile forces and troops’ artillery, the ministry said without providing details. It also reported thedestruction of a guidance radar array, a combat control vehicle, three S-300 anti-aircraft missile system launchers and two ammunition warehouses. In addition, it damaged a storage facility for unmanned aerial vehicles. TheUkrainianArmed Forces and its military equipment weretargeted in 126 areas, according to the briefing.

In total,Russiahas shot down ==580 Ukrainian warplanes, 270 helicopters, and 17,951 drones•= since the start of the conflict in February 2022, the Defense Ministry claimed.

In October, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said Moscow’s forces had received new military systems, which at the time allowed them to shoot down 24 Ukrainian planes in just five days. He did not provide further details.

TASS news agency later reported, citing sources, thatRussia had used an S-400 Triumph air defense system, which has a 400km range.

Ukraine’s dwindling jet fleetis believed to consist mainly of Soviet-era Su-27 and MiG-29 fighters, Su-24 frontline bombers, as well as a handful of Su-25 close air support planes.

Several NATO member states have promised to donate their F-16 fighter jets to Kiev and have trained Ukrainian pilots to fly them, but no deliveries have been made yet. Russia has warned the West that fielding the nuclear-capable jets will represent an unacceptable escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

https://www.rt.com/russia/595181-su-25-jets-nikolaev/

31 Mar, 2024 16:29

Moscow demands that Kiev surrender terrorism suspects

Russia has insisted that Ukraine hand over those it believes were involved in last week’s deadly attack near Moscow, including its spy chief

Moscow has demanded that Ukraine surrender everyone in the country it suspects of terrorism, as well as immediately stop supporting any related activities, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday.

The ministry said it had officially contacted Kiev with the demands under the UN-adopted International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. The demands include the “immediate arrest and extradition” of all the suspects which Moscow has identified and linked to the recent terrorist attack against Russia.

The deadly attack on the Crocus City Hall, which “shocked the whole world is, by far, not the first terrorist attack endured by our country recently,” the ministry noted.

”The investigations carried out by the competent Russian bodies indicate that the traces of all these crimes lead to Ukraine,” it stressed.

Apart from the concert hall attack, which left at least 144 people dead and more than 500 injured, the ministry cited such incidents as the assassination of the military blogger Maksim Fomin (best known by his pen name Vladlen Tatarsky), the deadly bombing of the Crimean Bridge, as well as recent cross-border raids into Belgorod Region and elsewhere which have been attributed by Kiev to the so-called Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK). The paramilitary unit, advertised as composed of Russians collaborating with Ukraine, has been designated as a terrorist entity by Moscow.

The ministry did not reveal any of the names of those it has demanded due to their suspected involvement, aside from the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Vasily Malyuk.The spy boss “cynically admitted on March 25 that Ukraine organized the bombing of the Crimean Bridgein October 2022 and revealed details on the organization of other terrorist attacks in Russia,” it noted.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

https://www.rt.com/russia/595190-ukraine-terrorism-suspects-demand/

>>20657638

31 Mar, 2024 16:07

We know who’s behind border incursion attempts – Russia’s FSB chief

Everything will be done to make sure that those “rascals” are punished, Aleksandr Bortnikov has vowed

The identities of those who are organizing terrorist attacks against Russia are knownto the country’s security agencies, the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Aleksandr Bortnikov has said.

During his interview with Russia 1, a local television network, which was broadcast on Sunday, Bortnikov was asked to comment on the order given by President Vladimir Putin to the FSB last week to establish the names of “traitors” responsible for the attempted incisions into Russian territory from Ukraine in the run up to the presidential election held on March 15-17 and following its conclusion.“We will punish them without statute of limitations, wherever they are,” the head of state said.

The failed cross-border attacks had been claimed by the self-proclaimed Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) and Russian Freedom Legion, paramilitary units said to be composed of Russian defectors who are collaborating with Kiev. Both groups have been designated as terrorist organizations by Moscow.

”We see the problems that exist, given the events taking place in Ukraine. This cannot but worry us,” the FSB chief said regarding the attempted incursions from Ukraine into Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk Regions.

All the security agencies in Russia, not only the FSB, are “actively working” on this issue, he assured.

”There are those who left [the country] and organized combat units. There are those who intended to do this…We know who the organizers of the preparation and implementation of [terrorist] actions on our territory are,” Bortnikov said.

“We will do everything possible to track down and punish those rascals,” he promised.

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said last week that the Ukrainian forces had incurred 3,500 casualties during their unsuccessful eight-day attempt to breach the Russian border. These included at least 790 “irretrievable losses,” he said, presumably alluding to those killed in action.

During this period, Russian troops eliminated 23 tanks, 34 armored vehicles (including 11 US-made Bradleys), as well as five Czech-supplied Vampire multiple rocket launchers and a Mi-8 helicopter, according to Shoigu.

https://www.rt.com/russia/595185-fsb-chief-terrorist-get-their-punishment/