Large fires were reported around the Russian-controlled Belbek airbase on occupied Crimea on Wednesday morning after the governor of nearby Sevastopol said the city had come under “massive” Ukrainian missile attack. Nasa’s satellite fire monitoring system, Firms, showed several large hotspots on the Belbek airbase. Mikhail Razvozhaev, the governor, confirmed a missile attack on the airbase, as well as over the Black Sea, and said “fragments of a downed missile” fell on the city itself. The Russian defence ministry later said 10 Atacms long-range missiles had been launched at Crimea.
The US is considering sending an extra Patriot air defence battery to Ukraine, according to Bloomberg. It comes after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday on his first visit to Ukraine since a major US aid package was passed last month. Blinken, who arrived by train from Poland in an unannounced visit, met with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “Some of it has already arrived and more of it will be arriving,” said Blinken of the US aid. “And that’s going to make a real difference against the ongoing Russian aggression on the battlefield.”
Zelenskiy described the US aid as crucial, and thanked Blinken, but also said Ukraine desperately needed two more air defence systems to protect the city of Kharkiv, which has been hit repeatedly by Russian strikes in recent weeks.
Blinken joined band 19.99 on stage at Barman Dictat, picking up a red guitar to play Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World. “Your soldiers, your citizens – particularly in the north-east, in Kharkiv – are suffering tremendously. But they need to know, you need to know, the United States is with you, so much of the world is with you and they’re fighting not just for a free Ukraine, but for the free world. And the free world is with you, too,” Blinken said before playing the song.
Blinken in Kyiv https://t.co/sjyC2GSKT8
— Luke Harding (@lukeharding1968) May 14, 2024
