Russian President Vladimir Putin flew to the Black Sea peninsula to celebrate the anniversary of the annexation of Crimea. The casually dressed Putin was seen on state television with a group of officials. Russia declared the Ukrainian peninsula its own territory in 2014. The war objective of the Kiev government is the liberation of Crimea and all other territories occupied by Russia. Meanwhile, renewed drone strikes were reported.
Celebrations began across Russia on the ninth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea. “Today we say thanks to our president for his decision, to Crimea for their unity and their will, and to all Russians for their support at the time,” Moscow-appointed Crimean governor Sergei Aksyonov wrote on his Saturday Telegram channel. Activities on the peninsula itself are particularly lively: a patriotically charged car and motorcycle rally started there with the Kremlin-based “Night Wolves” motorcycle club.
Big concert canceled for no reason
A number of patriotic concerts are also planned on the peninsula. In the Russian capital Moscow, two trade fairs were organized in the center of the city with the theme ‘reunification’. The annual big concert at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, where Putin was also present, was canceled this year. There is no official justification. There was increasing speculation in the media about fears of a terrorist attack.
The pro-Kremlin daily Izvestia published a survey on the anniversary, according to which 86 percent of Russians continue to support the annexation of Crimea. Russia captured the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. The annexation is internationally condemned as a violation of international law.
Iranian drone strikes
On Friday evening, the Russian army attacked Ukraine with Iranian-made drones, the Ukrainian army said in a statement on the Telegram online service. Eleven of the 16 drones were “destroyed”. The attacks were launched from the Sea of Azov and from the Russian region of Briansk.
According to the information, the region around Lviv in the far west of Ukraine was mainly targeted by the drones. “At around 1 a.m., our region was attacked by Shahed-136 kamikaze drones,” said regional governor Maksim Kositski. Three drones were shot down and three others hit non-residential buildings, he added. There was damage, but no one was injured.
According to Ukrainian authorities, three drones were also shot down in the Dnipro region in the south-east. There were no injuries there either, but “critical infrastructure” was hit in Novomoskovsk, a fire broke out and four houses were destroyed and six others were damaged. However, drones aimed at the capital Kyiv were all shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, the city government said.
Source: Krone
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