Ukraine reportedly destroys Russian bomber
Ukraine has destroyed a supersonic Russian bomber in a drone strike, according to reports from the BBC and Ukrainian media.
The reports were based on images posted on social media which appear to show the long-range aircraft, the Tupolev Tu-22, on fire. The images were analysed by the BBC, but have not been independently verified by the Guardian.
The burning plane appeared to be located south of St Petersburg, the BBC reported, using visual clues and historical satellite images of the airbase.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday that a Ukrainian drone had targeted a military airfield in Russia’s Novgorod region, causing a fire and damaging one warplane. Ukraine has not acknowledged the strike and rarely comments on attacks on Russian territory:
Key events
Russia launched a missile attack on Kryvyi Rih, a city in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, on Tuesday morning, the Kyiv Post reports.
At least one person was injured and 20 residential buildings were damaged, according to the regional military administration. These claims could not immediately be independently verified.
My colleague Jason Burke provides some important context on the significance of the Brics summit in Johannesburg (see earlier post at 06:48).
The group, whose economies account for a quarter of global GDP, may take a clearly anti-western turn at the event, he writes.
This raises the prospect of a new and re-energised economic and political actor against the US and its allies in world affairs.
The Brics nations are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Anil Sooklal, South Africa’s ambassador at large for Asia and the Brics, said one of the reasons countries were lining up to join the group was a “very polarised world” that had been further split by the Ukraine war, and that countries were being forced to take sides.
“Countries in the [global] south don’t want to be told who to support, how to behave and how to conduct their sovereign affairs. They are strong enough now to assert their respective positions,” said Sooklal.
Among potential new members are Iran and Venezuela, both hit by sanctions and diplomatically isolated.
You can read the full story here:
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has posted a picture of himself alongside Nikolai Denkov, the prime minister of Bulgaria, with whom he said he had “fruitful talks” at the Ukraine-Balkans summit on Monday.
Zelenskiy said the two leaders had discussed further cooperation, Black Sea security and alternative grain corridors, adding that he expected to meet more “Balkan colleagues” on Tuesday.
I thanked for Bulgaria’s military and political support.
Fruitful talks with PM Nikolai Denkov yesterday at the Ukraine-Balkans summit.
We discussed further cooperation, Black Sea security, and securing alternative grain corridors.
Meeting with more Balkan colleagues today. pic.twitter.com/iblbDPD4Nm
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 22, 2023
More information has come in about reported drone damage in Russia (see post at 06:21).
A Reuters reporter in the town of Krasnogorsk, in the Moscow region, saw minor damage to tiling on a high-rise residential building and shattered window panes in a few of its apartments.
Falling debris also broken car windscreens.
Police sealed off the scene and investigators from Russia’s FSB security service collected what looked like drone fragments, Reuters reports.
Russia shot down two Ukrainian drones over the Moscow region – with no casualties – and two others over the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, the country’s defence ministry said on Tuesday.
These claims have not yet been independently verified.
In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) makes reference to reports that a Russian bomber was destroyed in a Ukrainian drone strike.
The MoD tweeted that a Russian Tu-22M3 backfire medium bomber was highly likely to have been destroyed at Soltsky-2 airbase in the Novgorod region, 400 miles (650km) from Ukraine’s border, on Saturday.
The Russian defence ministry said that an uncrewed aerial vehicle was responsible for the attack.
“If true, this adds weight to the assessment that some UAV attacks against Russian military targets are being launched from inside Russian territory. Copter UAVs are unlikely to have the range to reach Soltsky-2 from outside Russia,” the MoD wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“This is at least the third successful attack on Long Range Aviation airfields, again raising questions about Russia’s ability to protect strategic locations deep inside the country.”
Hello everyone, this is Yohannes Lowe. I’ll be running the blog until 3pm (UK time). Please do feel free to get in touch on Twitter if you have any story tips.
The theme of the 15th Brics summit is “Brics and Africa”, Agence France-Presse reports. It comes as the continent emerges as a renewed diplomatic battleground with the US, Russia and China jostling for economic and diplomatic influence.
On the eve of the summit, Ramaphosa said his country would “not be drawn into a contest between global powers” and strongly reaffirmed South Africa’s longstanding policy of non-alignment.
“We will urge the international community to refocus on development issues, promote a greater role by the Brics cooperation mechanism in global governance, and make the voice of Brics stronger,” China’s Xi said in an editorial published in South African media on Monday.
Brics summit to begin in South Africa
Brics leaders will meet in South Africa today for a three-day summit in Johannesburg.
The Brics nations are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. They represent a quarter of the global economy.
South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, will host China’s president, Xi Jinping; India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi; Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and 50 other leaders.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, is the subject of an international arrest warrant over alleged war crimes in Ukraine and will not attend in person. The country’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will attend on his behalf.
More now on the reported destruction of a Russian bomber:
The Russian ministry said no one was hurt in the attack and the fire was quickly extinguished. The Novgorod region lies north-west of Moscow, hundreds of kilometres from Russia’s border with Ukraine.
“As a result of the terrorist attack on the territory of the airfield, a fire broke out in the parking lot of aircraft, which was quickly eliminated by fire fighters. One aircraft was damaged,” the ministry said in a statement.
According to the BBC, the bomber was situated at the location of the attack, and had been used extensively to launch missiles on Ukraine during the war.
“Images posted on the social media platform Telegram showed a large fire engulfing a jet with the distinctive nose cone of the Tu-22,” the BBC reported.
Drones damage apartments near Moscow
Reuters: Russian officials said early on Tuesday that the military had brought down four Ukrainian drones near Moscow and over the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine.
A Reuters reporter was in the Odintsovo district near Chastsy settlement to the west of Moscow where one drone was shot down and heard four blasts shortly after 3.00 local time (00.00 GMT).
“Windows were shaking,” she said.
Russia’s defence ministry said there were no injuries in the latest attack.
One of the drones was shot down over Krasnogorsk, a town outside Moscow, that hosts the Moscow regional government.
Videos and pictures from the scene published by Russian media outlet Baza showed broken windows in a high rise apartment building, debris on a pavement and a car with a hole in its glass roof hatch.
Air space over the Russian capital was briefly closed and three major Moscow airports suspended flights, TASS news agency reported.
On Monday spokesperson of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) Andriy Yusov, asked about the previous drone attack, told RBC-Ukraine news agency: “GUR is working”.
Ukraine reportedly destroys Russian bomber
Ukraine has destroyed a supersonic Russian bomber in a drone strike, according to reports from the BBC and Ukrainian media.
The reports were based on images posted on social media which appear to show the long-range aircraft, the Tupolev Tu-22, on fire. The images were analysed by the BBC, but have not been independently verified by the Guardian.
The burning plane appeared to be located south of St Petersburg, the BBC reported, using visual clues and historical satellite images of the airbase.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday that a Ukrainian drone had targeted a military airfield in Russia’s Novgorod region, causing a fire and damaging one warplane. Ukraine has not acknowledged the strike and rarely comments on attacks on Russian territory:
Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.
Our top story this morning: Ukraine has destroyed a supersonic Russian jet in a drone strike, according to reports from the BBC and Ukrainian media.
The reports were based on images posted on social media which appear to show the long-range bomber, the Tupolev Tu-22, on fire. The images were analysed by the BBC, but have not been independently verified by the Guardian.
And Russian officials said early on Tuesday that the military had brought down four Ukrainian drones near Moscow and over the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine.
Elsewhere:
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Posts on Russian social media channels indicate that Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has published his first recruitment video for the Wagner group since organising a short-lived mutiny against defence officials in Russia. A video posted Monday on Telegram messaging app channels that are believed to be affiliated with Prigozhin shows a person who appears to be the 62-year-old mercenary leader saying the Wagner group is “hiring real strongmen” and “making Russia even greater on all continents, and Africa even more free”. Prigozhin’s comments and some posts in the pro-Wagner channels suggested it was filmed in Africa.
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The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said Russian war crimes that have taken place in Ukraine “must be punished under international law”. During a press conference with Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday, Mitsotakis added that he “unreservedly condemned” Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
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Greece will take part in training of Ukrainian air force pilots for F-16 jets, Zelenskiy said on Monday. Denmark and the Netherlands on Sunday announced they would supply the first F-16s to Ukraine. “Today, we have the important result for aviation coalition. Greece will participate in training of our pilots for F-16. I am grateful for this proposal,” Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, said during his joint press conference with the Greek PM in Athens.
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Denmark’s decision to supply Ukraine with American F-16 fighter jets to fend off Russia’s invasion represents an “escalation” of the conflict, Russia’s ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, reportedly said.
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The Ukrainian president said during a visit to Sweden that Kyiv was “getting closer” to obtaining Swedish Gripen fighter jets. “Our soldiers are already starting to test them,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly address on Sunday, adding that he had discussed the matter with Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson. Sweden, though, has not made any commitment to supply Gripens to Ukraine.
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On Monday in Copenhagen, Zelenskiy thanked Danish politicians on Monday for helping his country resist Russia’s invasion. Ukraine’s president said that if Russia succeeded, other parts of Europe would be at risk from the Kremlin’s military aggression. “All of Russia’s neighbours are under threat if Ukraine does not prevail.”
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Ukraine’s forces are repelling Russian attacks and have retaken several square kilometres on the eastern front over the past week, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Monday. Ukrainian forces were advancing south of Bakhmut, the city occupied by Russian forces in May after a bloody months-long struggle, and had liberated another three square kilometres over the past week, she said.