⚡️Russian Defence Ministry denies statements made by Kiev regime about an alleged missile attack on the railway station in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Region

▫️All statements by representatives of the Kiev nationalist regime about an alleged missile attack by Russia on the railway station in Kramatorsk city on April 8 are a provocation and are absolutely untrue.

▫️The Russian Armed Forces did not have or plan to carry out any firing missions in Kramatorsk city on April 8.

▫️We emphasize in particular that Tochka-U tactical missiles, the wreckage of which was found near the Kramatorsk railway station and published by eyewitnesses, are used by Ukrainian Armed Forces only.

▫️On March 14, 2022, a similar Tochka-U missile of Division of 19th Separate Missile Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces struck the centre of Donetsk, killing 17 people on the spot and injuring another 36 civilians.

#MoD #Russia #Ukraine
@mod_russia_en

⚡️Over the past day, a number of publications have been recorded in the Ukrainian media, in which official representatives of Kiev claim that a large number of civilians are allegedly on Azovstal. We are sure that this is just another information scam created solely to save the nationalists.

❗️We appeal to the representatives of the Kiev authorities: "if someone from the civilian population is on Azovstal, we demand to take all measures for their release and exit through the created humanitarian corridors." At the same time, the Russian leadership guarantees the safe evacuation of all, without exception, civilians and their movement as part of humanitarian convoys in any direction they choose.

❗️At the same time, we declare that the forcible detention of civilians as a "human shield" in accordance with the norms of international humanitarian law is terrorism, and the officials of the Kiev authorities and the direct perpetrators of this inhumane action on Azovstal are war criminals and terrorists.

Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, Head of the Russian Federation Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response - Head of the National Centre for State Defence Control of the Russian Federation

#MoD #Russia #Ukraine
@mod_russia_en

▪️ Russia has opened a humanitarian corridor (80 miles long, 3 miles wide) in the Black Sea to enable exit of ships from Ukrainian ports.

▪️ Ukraine is consistently showing signs that it will not make any effective steps to ensure safe passage through its waters.

▪️ On 12 April, Ukraine confirmed intentional mining of its own ports to IMO*, as well as obstruction of free passage by sinking barges, cranes and other large objects.

#Russia #Ukraine #UK #FCDO #GlobalFoodCrisis

*International Maritime Organisation
(headquartered in London)

⚡️ Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine (June 28, 2022)

◽️ The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation in Ukraine.

◽️ Successful joint action of Russian troops, units of people's militia of the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics cause critical losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).

◽️ Attacks launched by Russian Aerospace Forces at a base of Azov Nazi group located in Kharkov and of one of the battalions of 92nd Mechanised Infantry Brigade deployed near Pokotilovka (Kharkov region) have resulted in the elimination of over 100 Ukrainian servicemen, foreign mercenaries and up to 15 armoured and motor vehicles.

◽️ The low training level of the Ukrainian citizens mobilised for being involved in operations and foreign mercenaries increasingly causes friendly fire.

◽️ Recruits who had come for replenishing the personnel of 97th Battalion from 60th Infantry Brigade suffered a mortar attack from their units.

◽️ A similar situation occured in 28th Mechanised Brigade of the AFU where foreign mercenaries launched a fire attack at a reconnaissance group of the abovementioned unit. This attack has resulted in losing 4 servicemen dead and 3 wounded.

◽️ Russian Federation Armed Forces continue launching attacks at military facilities located in Ukraine.

💥 On June 27, in Kremenchug (Poltava region), Russian Aerospace Forces launched a high-precision air attack at hangars with armament and munitions delivered by USA and European countries at Kremenchug road machinery plant.

💥 High-precision attack has resulted in the neutralisation of west-manufactured armament and munitions concentrated at the storage area for being delivered to Ukrainian group of troops in Donbass.

▫️ Detonation of the storaged munitions caused a fire in a non-functioning shopping centre next to the facilities of the plant.

💥 In addition, Russian Aerospace forces have destroyed 2 command posts near Spornoye (Donetsk People's Republic), AFU manpower and military equipment in 28 areas towards Lugansk and Donetsk.

💥 Within the counter-battery warfare, high-precision attacks launched by Russian Aerospace Forces have resulted in neutralising 4 Ukrainian plattoons armed with Grad multiple rocket-launching systems (MRLS) near Leninskoye, Selidovo and Dzerzhinsk that had been shelling the settlements of the Donetsk People's Republic, as well as 2 artillery plattoons near Kirovo (Donetsk People's Republic) and Zaychevskoye (Nikolayev region).

💥 Operational-tactical and army aviation, missile troops and artillery have neutralised: 24 command posts, artillery and mortar units in 58 areas, as well as manpower and military equipment in 304 areas.

💥 Russian air defence means have shot down 3 Su-25 airplanes and 1 Mi-8 helicopter of Ukrainian Air Force near Pervomayskoye (Nikolayev region).
9 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles have been destroyed near Dibrovnoye, Shevchenkovo, Dementiyevka, Dmitrovka (Kharkov region), Yelenovka, Luganskoye, Troitskoye (Donetsk People's Republic), Loskutovka (Lugansk People's Republic).

◽️ 7 Ukrainian Tochka-U ballistic missiles have been intercepted near Stakhanov, Alchevsk, Lozovsky (Lugansk People's Republic) and 10 MRLS near Sukhaya Kamenka, Ternovaya (Kharkov region), Donetsk, Yasinovataya, Troitskoye and western suburbs of Avdeyevka (Donetsk People's Republic).

📊 In total, 218 airplanes and 133 helicopters, 1,382 unmanned aerial vehicles, 350 anti-aircraft missile systems, 3,837 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 690 combat vehicles equipped with multiple rocket-launching systems, 3,037 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 3,889 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.

#MoD #Russia #Ukraine
@mod_russia_en

🎙Embassy comment on the current situation around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant

▪️The #ZaporozhyeNPP was secured by Russian military servicemen at an early stage of the ongoing Special Military Operation with a clear objective – to prevent Ukrainian nationalist formations and foreign mercenaries from carrying out deliberately staged provocations and “false flag” attacks with predictably catastrophic consequences. The plant is run by the Ukrainian energy operator, but Russian military servicemen ensure the safety and security of the power plant.

▪️The prudence of these measures became evident with time, as Kiev-backed forces began to systematically target the NPP. In March power supply lines were damaged in a premeditated act of sabotage. In April and July Ukrainian UAV strikes were attempted against the facilities. On August 5, 2022, Ukrainian forces carried out three large-caliber artillery strikes against the Zaporozhye NPP and #Energodar city, rendering an electricity distribution facility inoperative. Most recently, on 7 August, 2022, the NPP came under direct fire from the 44th artillery brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces. The resulting fire and voltage leap could have provoked a large-scale nuclear disaster, had it not been for the swift and selfless efforts of the facility personnel assisted by the Russian military.

▪️Armed provocations by the #Kiev regime against Europe’s largest nuclear power plant are reprehensible and unjustifiable. They should be considered what they are - acts of nuclear terrorism that gravely imperil the lives of millions of people in Ukraine and across the European continent. Instead of continuing to play the blame game Kiev’s Western sponsors need to unequivocally condemn the reckless actions of their Ukrainian clients and send clear public signals that commit Kiev to ensure the physical security and uninterrupted operations of the Zaporozhye NPP.

▪️The Russian Federation categorically rejects repeated and unfounded accusations that have found their way into UK media regarding Russia’s alleged culpability for the tensions around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. The speculations that Russia bears responsibility for the NPP shelling are even more absurd in light of the presence of Russian servicemen at the power plant.

#Ukraine

A sober view of the events in #Ukraine.

🎙 Russia's President Vladimir Putin answered media questions following his state visit to Uzbekistan (May 28, 2024)

Key talking points:

#RussiaUzbekistan

💬 The composition of [Russia's] delegation was impressive; it included nearly half of the Russian Government members, all the key ministers. Naturally, a meeting that involved heads of regions & Cabinet ministers from both sides featured a wide-ranging & fulfilling discussion.

• Our economies are aligning & developing, & numerous joint projects are emerging. We will gradually chart our mutual interests in the sphere of subsequent cooperation and involvement in integration associations.

• We know that pressure [from the US] was exerted on Central Asia as well. So far I haven’t seen people kneeling ready to blindly obey any edicts from across the ocean. They – the Americans and the Europeans – certainly take certain steps that deal damage to our partners but eventually this is also a sovereign choice of any country

#Ukraine

• As for the fact that there may be mercenaries in Ukraine, we are well aware of that, there is nothing new about it. The fact that the military in Ukraine are now saying that they [the French] may come is because they have been there for a long time. We hear English, French, or Polish on the radio. We know that these mercenaries are there. But there are specialists there under the guise of mercenaries.

• It wasn’t us who stopped the talks [with Ukrainian side]. We were told: that’s it, we will no longer have talks with you. <...> They were ordered to throw it into a rubbish can and try to beat Russia on the battlefield, to inflict strategic defeat on it.

• We have never refused to talk on this basis and we are ready to continue the negotiating process. But we do not know what and who will offer us at some other stages, in view of the legitimacy of Ukrainian representatives.

Read in full

🎙️Ambassador Andrei Kelin's interview to Enda Brady for TRT World, 3 June, 2024

Main topics:

▪Advances of the Russian army in the Kharkov Region
▪Prospects of the settlement in Ukraine
▪Cooperation between Russia and China
▪Concerns of the Baltic countries about Russia going forward
▪Elections in the UK and the US

Excerpts from the interview:

▪︎We did serious advances, not only in the region from north in direction of Kharkov, but mostly from east to west in the Donbass Region. The whole front line is moving from east to west, and this is just the beginning of the summer campaign.

▪︎We do not see any desire of Ukraine, or Washington, or London, who are behind the Ukrainian government, to negotiate.

▪︎We are prepared for negotiations, but I didn't say that it will be the same lines. Once we have already been in this track, when we had stopped movements and Ukraine suddenly said: “No, we're going to fight”. It would be silly to repeat the same situation.

▪︎Russian economy has been reoriented to supply the army, and we have enough of production capabilities to do it ourselves.

▪︎Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia - each of them has a large number of the Russian population, high percentage, I would say, especially in Latvia. And I hope that they're not going to repeat the story of Ukraine, which mistreated Russian population, discriminated it, and finally decided to push it out of the country totally.

▪︎We have no single reason to interfere in the UK elections, because the foreign policy of the Conservative Party and the Labour Party, is alike - they have no difference. It depends now on faces. So you either vote for this face or you vote for that face.

➡️Learn more

#Kelin #Brady #TRTWorld #Russia #UK #Ukraine

❗️The use of Western high-precision long-range weapons against Russia would mean direct participation of NATO countries in Ukraine conflict – Putin

#NATO #Ukraine #Putin

🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview to Tucker Carlson (Moscow, December 6, 2024)

Read in full
Watch on Youtube

Key talking points

#RussiaUS

• We would like to have normal relations with all countries especially with the United States. We don't see any reason why Russia and the United States cannot cooperate for the sake of the universe.

• The Ukrainians would not be able to do what they're doing with long-range modern weapons without direct participation of the American servicemen. We don't want to aggravate the situation, but since ATACMS and other long-range weapons are being used against mainland Russia as it were, we are sending signals. <...>

[The US and its allies] must understand that we would be ready to use any means not to allow them to succeed in what they call strategic defeat of Russia. They fight for keeping the hegemony over the world on any country, any region, any continent. We fight for our legitimate security interests.

• We don't want to aggravate the situation, but since ATACMS and other long-range weapons are being used against mainland Russia, we are sending signals. We hope that the last one, a couple of weeks ago, the signal with the new weapon system called #Oreshnik was taken seriously.

• When the United States and other Western countries recognized unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo, they said this is the self-determination being implemented. There was no referendum in Kosovo — unilateral declaration of independence. <...> And when a few years later, Crimeans were holding referendum with invitation of many international observers, not from international organizations, but from parliamentarians in Europe, in Asia, in post-Soviet space, they said that they cannot accept this because this is violation of territorial integrity 🤷‍♂️

The UN Charter is not a menu. You have to respect it in all its entirety 👉 #UNCharterIsOurRules

• I think [Donald Trump] is a very strong person. A person who wants results. Who doesn't like procrastination on anything. But this does not mean that he's pro-Russian as some people try to present him. The amount of sanctions we received under the Trump administration was very big.

#Ukraine

• We strongly prefer peaceful solution through negotiations on the basis of respecting legitimate security interest of Russia, and on the basis of respecting the people who live in Ukraine, who still live in Ukraine being Russians. <...>

No military bases, no military exercises on the Ukrainian soil with participation of foreign troops. <...> We cannot tolerate a deal which would keep the legislation which are prohibiting Russian language, Russian media, Russian culture, Ukrainian Orthodox Church, because it is a violation of the obligations of Ukraine under the UN Charter.

• We are not talking about exterminating anybody's population. We don't have any intention to exterminate Ukrainian people. They are brothers and sisters to the Russian people.

• It is becoming clear that there is a fatigue in some capitals, and there are talks every now and then that the Americans would like to leave [Ukraine] with the Europeans and to concentrate on something more important.

#Syria

• The Americans in the east of Syria groom some Kurdish separatists using the profits from oil and grain sold, the resources which they occupy. <...> The information [on who's backing Islamist groups] which is being floated and it's in the public domain mentions among others the Americans, the Brits. Some people say that Israel is interested in making this situation aggravate. So that Gaza is not under very close scrutiny.