Ukraine intelligence announces details of Crimean explosion and Russia warns Canada of “regime change” statements

Ukraine intelligence announces details of Crimea explosion, and Russia warns Canada after ‘regime change’ declarations Caliber missiles designed to be launched from warships (Russian Defense Ministry) When the ruler of Russia-backed Crimea announced that air defenses had responded to a Ukrainian drone attack last night

Crimean Governor Sergei Aksenov said air defenses responded to the attack, which resulted in the injury of a civilian as a result of the debris of a Ukrainian drone falling on his home in Jankoy.
Cankoy Governor Igor Evin was also quoted as saying the town came under drone attack and a 33-year-old man was taken to hospital after being hit by shrapnel from a downed drone.

And the TASS news agency quoted Evin as saying on Crimean-24 television channel that a house, a school and a grocery store caught fire, and the power grid was damaged.

For its part, the intelligence of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a post on its website that an explosion occurred in the city of Jankoy (northern Crimea), which destroyed Russian “Kalibr-NK” cruise missiles while they were being transported by railway.

It added that the missiles, which are designed to be launched from surface ships of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, have an operational range of more than 2,500 km on land and 375 km at sea.

Ukrainian military intelligence did not state Kiev’s responsibility for the destruction of the missiles, but hinted that what happened was a continuation of the process of “disarming Russia and preparing Ukrainian Crimea to end the occupation.”

Russia annexed Crimea to its territory in 2014, in a move rejected by kyiv and Western powers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to restore all Ukrainian lands that Russia had seized, including Crimea.

Russian accusations against the West For his part, the Secretary General of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, accused the Western powers of helping Kiev in the planning of military operations and providing intelligence information.

Patrushev said that the United States and other Western countries continue to pump weapons into Ukraine, and this “practically amounts to participating in the conflict.”

The Russian official accused the West of not seeing the losses among the Ukrainians as their problem. At the same time, he stressed that “the special military operation in Ukraine is aimed at protecting Russia.”

In kyiv, senior officials welcomed the announcement of new military aid from the European Union and the United States.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov confirmed that the European Union will provide the Ukrainian army with one million 155-millimeter artillery shells.

For his part, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said: “The immediate and continued support of the European Union in dealing with Russian aggression will be a game changer.”

In the same context, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said – in his daily message through a video clip from yesterday Monday night – “Aid is expected to be delivered quickly, as well as the production of ammunition”, indicating that “This is a strategic step.”

Zelensky said the European Union will spend 2 billion euros ($2.14 billion) to supply Ukraine with 1 million new artillery shells over the next 12 months to fight Russia.

He added that the United States, in turn, will deliver a new defense aid package worth $350 million for the purchase of new weapons and ammunition.

Zelensky believed that this support “would confirm our conviction that we are united and that the movement towards the achievement of victory () cannot be stopped.”

Summoning Canadian Chargé d’Affaires Amid escalating tensions between Russia and the West, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday that it had summoned Canada’s Chargé d’Affaires in Moscow and informed him of an official protest against what he said were the Canadian Foreign Minister’s remarks about “regime change” in Russia.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that “Canada’s anti-Russian statements will have the most serious consequences for bilateral relations.”

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie commented on the Chinese president’s visit to Russia, saying Beijing’s attempts to broker peace in Ukraine will likely help Moscow rearm and prolong the conflict.

She added that the only way to end the war is for Russian President Vladimir Putin to lay down his arms and leave Ukraine, as she said.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the United States, Britain, France and Germany cannot play the role of mediators for peace in Ukraine, because they are countries involved in the conflict with Russia over Ukrainian territory.

The position of the Russian Foreign Ministry came in response to the call by the former chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, to establish a contact group on Ukrainian affairs in order to start the peace process, which includes to the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow does not know anything about this initiative officially, and that it found out about it from the newspapers.

He added that the aforementioned countries imposed illegal sanctions on Russia and demanded the establishment of a court to punish Russian leaders, as well as blackmailing Russia’s friends to prevent them from cooperating with Russia, he said.

The ministry claimed that those countries support Zelensky’s “phony” peace initiatives, which are “demands for Russia’s surrender divorced from reality.”

On the other hand, Tokyo announced that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will arrive in Kiev on Tuesday and will convey to President Zelensky “his respect for the courage and perseverance of the Ukrainian people (), and will also express his solidarity and continued support for Ukraine by Japan and the countries of the Group of Seven,” according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Kishida is the only one among the G7 leaders who has not visited Ukraine since the start of the Russian war there in February 2022. Japan will host the G7 meetings this year.