Ukraine is accused by Russia of being behind a drone strike that sparked a huge inferno at an oil depot in western Russia on Friday, the latest in a series of escalating cross-border attacks. Russian officials and news reports said four oil reservoirs with a total capacity of 6,000 cubic metres (1.6m gallons) were set on fire at the oil refinery after the drone reached Klintsy, a city of 70,000 people located about 60km (40 miles) from the Ukrainian border. Air defences electronically jammed the drone but it dropped its explosive payload on the facility, Bryansk regional Governor Alexander Bogomaz said. There were no casualties, he added. The strike is the second on a Russian oil depot in as many days, part of what Kyiv has called “fair” retaliation for Moscow’s strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Separately, a fire tore through Ryazan oil refinery, Russia’s third-largest, on Friday, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper said, quoting emergency services. The fire at the oil refinery, which lids south-east of Moscow and is controlled by Rosneft, has been put out and there were no injuries, RIA news agency reported.
US aid to Ukraine remains deadlocked in Congress despite Joe Biden signing on Friday a measure to keep the US government funded. Hard-right House Republicans, led by the speaker, Mike Johnson, are ensuring the chances of more money and weapons for Kyiv in its fight with Moscow hinge on negotiations for US immigration changes. After a Wednesday White House meeting, Johnson told reporters: “We understand that there’s concern about the safety, security and sovereignty of Ukraine. But the American people have those same concerns about our own domestic sovereignty and our safety and our security.” Many observers suggest Republicans do not want a deal, instead using the issue, and the concept of more aid for Ukraine, as clubs with which to attack Biden in an election year.
A Russian court in Siberia on Friday sentenced a man to 19 years in prison for shooting a military enlistment officer while prosecutors in St Petersburg asked for a 28-year sentence for Darya Trepova, a woman charged in the bombing of a cafe last April that killed a prominent military blogger, reports said. The developments underscore the authorities’ determination to harshly punish anyone who acts against President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, especially those committing acts of violence, in the run-up to the presidential election in March that the Russian president is all but certain to win.
The European Union said on Friday it would drastically increase ammunition production this year in response to Ukraine’s growing pleas for support in its war against Russia, which summoned the French ambassador to protest against the country’s “growing involvement” in the conflict. The EU will be able to churn out at least 1.3m rounds of ammunition by the end of this year, EU internal market commissioner Thierry Breton said on a visit to Estonia. “We are at a crucial moment for our collective security in Europe, and in the war of aggression run by Russia in Ukraine, Europe must and will continue to support Ukraine with all its means,” he told.
Landmines once again surround the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which is in Russian hands, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday. Europe’s largest nuclear facility fell to Russian forces shortly after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Kyiv and Moscow have repeatedly accused each other of planning an incident at the site. “Mines along the perimeter of the ZNPP (Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant) ... are now back in place,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.
Nato will launch its biggest military exercises in decades next week, with about 90,000 personnel set to take part in months of drills aimed at showing the alliance can defend all of its territory up to its border with Russia, top officers said Thursday.
Finland does not see any immediate military threat from Russia, the country’s prime minister, Petteri Orpo, said on Friday at a press conference with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson.
Britain brushed off a Russian plan to ban UK ships from fishing in Moscow’s waters on Friday as an example of Russia’s “self-imposed isolation”, while an industry body said it would have no impact because Britain’s fleet doesn’t fish there anyway.
The EU has started discussions on a new sanctions package for Russia that it aims to approve by 24 February, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
About 160 people who applied for asylum at Finland’s eastern border last year have since disappeared, amid a sudden surge of asylum seekers arriving via Russia, Finland’s immigration authority said.
The Kremlin said on Friday there was no prospect of reviving the Black Sea grain deal and that alternative routes for shipping Ukrainian grain carried huge risks, Reuters reported.
Police in the central Russian republic of Bashkortostan on Friday arrested more protesters incensed over the jailing of local activist Fail Alsynov, who campaigns for the protection of the Bashkir language, as a court sentenced nine demonstrators to short jail terms, reports AFP.
