26 Aug, 2024 08:55

Blackouts reported across Ukraine amid Russian strikes

Kiev has vowed to exact a price from Moscow with continued infrastructure attacks

A large-scale, long-range Russian air assault has reportedly been launched targeting industrial sites across Ukraine. Kiev has vowed to keep up strikes on Russia in response.

The attack was reportedly launched early on Monday morning and involved drones and missiles of different types, according to the Ukrainian air defense forces. The Russianmilitary confirmed the operation later in the day, reporting that it had hit all intended targets.

Russia is targeting “objects of critical infrastructure all across the country,”Ivan Fedorov, who administers the Kiev-controlled part of the Zaporozhye Region, claimed on Telegram. “Blackouts are possible due to emergency shutdowns.”

In Kiev, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko reported interruptions to power supply in the Ukrainian capital, blaming them on problems with the national grid.

Energy Minister German Galushchenko described the situation as “difficult” and confirmed that the grid operator triggered emergency blackouts to deal with it.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Denis Shmigal said the barrage affected 15 regions of Ukraine and urged Western arms donors to let Kiev use their weapons for strikes deep inside Russia.

Moscow started attacking Ukrainian power plants in the spring, responding to Kiev’s campaign of drone attacks against Russian oil refineries and storage depots. The stated goal was to cripple Ukrainian arms production and capability to deploy new troops on the frontline.

There were confirmations by Ukrainian officials of successful hits on Monday. Igor Polishchuk, the mayor of Lutsk, reported damage to an infrastructure target. So did the head of Poltava Region, Filipp Pronin, who confirmed the emergency interruption of the power supply.

Andrey Yermak, chief-of-staff to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, has threatened retaliation, saying: “The desire to destroy our energy system will cost the Russian infrastructure dearly.”

On Sunday night, Kiev launched long-range attacks on the Russian cities of Saratov and Engels. In the former, drone fragments plunged into a high-rise building, Governor Roman Busargin reported. The incident left five people injured, including a woman said to be in a critical condition. A similar incident in Engels reportedly caused no casualties.

A Ukrainian drone was also intercepted in Yaroslavl Region trying to reach an oil refinery there, Governor Mikhail Yevraev reported. The aircraft caused no damage, he said.

The Russian Defense Ministry twice reported engaging Ukrainian drones on Monday morning, with over 20 intercepted over different parts of the country.

The Polish Air Force said it was scrambling fighter jets in response to the military action in Western Ukraineand said it was “constantly monitoring the situation.”

Earlier this month, Ukraine launched a large-scale cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region.The Defense Ministry in Moscow has reported that the thrust has effectively been halted and, while Kiev’s troops still hold territory in the region, they have been experiencing heavy casualties throughout the fighting. Moscow’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, told journalists last week that President Vladimir Putin had already determined how his nation would “punish” everyone responsible for the incursion.

https://www.rt.com/russia/603072-ukraine-missile-barrage-blackouts/

26 Aug, 2024 10:21

US preparing another ‘color revolution’ – Russian spy agency

Ties between Washington and Georgia frayed after MPs in the ex-Soviet republic passed a controversial ‘foreign agents’ law

The US is setting the stage for a Ukraine-style coup in Georgia by fomenting protests ahead of this autumn’s parliamentary elections, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has warned.

In a statement on Monday, theSVR claimed, citing available intel, that the White House “is extremely unhappy” with the situation in Georgia, given that the “Washington-controlled opposition remains fragmented” despite US efforts to consolidate it ahead of an upcoming election scheduled for October 26.

According to the agency, theUS is concerned a resounding victory will give the ruling Georgian Dream partyample opportunity to continue its sovereign course while resisting Western demands that run counter to the country's national interests.

At the same time,the US “is preparing a color revolution’” in Georgia, the agency stated, claiming that local Western-aligned NGOsare recruiting more observers to monitor the vote, who are then supposed to accuse the Georgian ruling party of rigging the election.

“On the ‘Tbilisi Maidan’ they plan to reveal ‘evidence of election fraud,’ refuse to recognize the election resultsand demand a change of power. Law enforcement agencies will be provoked to use force to suppress the protests. At the same time, the Americans are working out options for a ‘knock-down’ political and economic response to the ‘excessive’ use of force by the authorities against ‘peaceful citizens,’” the SVR said in a statement.

Relations between Georgia and the West, particularly the US, soured after Georgia passed a controversial ‘foreign agents’ law, which requires non-profit organizations, media outlets, and individuals who receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as entities “promoting the interests of a foreign power.”

While its supporters have argued that it will help increase media transparency, its critics have branded it ‘the Russian law’ because of its similarities to legislation passed by its neighbor in 2012, though both laws in many ways take after the US Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA).

US President Joe Biden said earlier this month that he was “disappointed” by the legislation, which he described as “undemocratic.” The US State Department has also announced visa restrictions on individuals “responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Georgia, as well as their family members.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/603082-us-preparing-color-revolution-georgia/