HEATING UP: Russia Blames US, NATO for Moscow Drone Attack

Moscow claimed that Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian territory would be impossible without assistance from the US and NATO, escalating its rhetoric after reporting the downing of five drones near the capital on Tuesday.

In response, Ukraine stated that 43 individuals, including 12 children, sustained injuries in a Russian strike on the town of Pervomaisky in the eastern Kharkiv region.

Accusing the West of facilitating Ukraine’s drone attacks, Moscow previously condemned the incidents as a “terrorist act.”

According to the Russian foreign ministry, “These attacks would not be possible without the help provided to the Kyiv regime by the U.S. and its NATO allies.” The ministry further asserted that the West was involved in “training drone operators and providing the necessary intelligence to commit such crimes.”

These recent drone attacks, attributed by Moscow to Kyiv, including strikes on the Kremlin and Russian towns near the Ukrainian border, constitute the latest incidents in an ongoing series.

The Russian military confirmed the downing of all five drones and stated that there were no casualties or damages resulting from the attacks.

Emergency services, as reported by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency, revealed that one of the drones was “neutralised” in Kubinka, approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Vnukovo international airport, where there was a brief disruption in air traffic.

In early May, two drones were shot down above the Kremlin, followed by drone strikes on high-rises in Moscow later that same month.

On Tuesday, Kyiv announced that Russia had launched 22 Iranian “Shahed” attack drones and three missiles at the Sumy, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions. Ukrainian forces claimed to have “destroyed” 16 of the drones.

The strike in the eastern Kharkiv region, adjacent to Russia, targeted a parking lot near a residential building in the town of Pervomaisky, which is home to approximately 28,000 people.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Kyiv’s presidential office, shared images of burnt and destroyed cars.

Oleg Synegubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, posted a video showing smoke rising from burned cars near a housing block from the Soviet era. He reported that 43 people, including 12 children, were injured.

Additionally, authorities announced that two people were killed in a Russian shelling of a residential area in the southern frontline city of Kherson.

Later on Tuesday, Ukraine accused Russia of planning a “provocation” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under Moscow’s control, while Russia claimed that Kyiv was preparing an attack on the facility.

Both sides have regularly accused each other of endangering the plant’s safety since the conflict began.

Kyiv alleged that “objects similar to explosive devices were placed on the outer roof of the third and fourth reactors,” noting that the detonation would not damage the power units but might create an impression of shelling from the Ukrainian side. They claimed that Moscow would spread misinformation regarding the incident.

Renat Karchaa, an advisor to Russia’s Rosatom nuclear agency, stated on state television in Moscow, “On July 5, literally at night, in the dark, the Ukrainian army will try to attack the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.” He asserted that Ukraine planned to utilize “high-precision, long-range weapons,” as well as drones.

In Chechnya, a renowned Russian investigative journalist was assaulted by armed attackers and subsequently hospitalized, according to her newspaper and a human rights group.

The attack occurred on Tuesday morning as Elena Milashina, the well-known journalist, and Alexander Nemov, a lawyer, were traveling from the airport.

Milashina’s newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, published a video of her in the hospital, with her head shaved and covered in green-colored dye, often used to target critics of the Kremlin, and her hands bandaged.

She claimed that the attack, which involved having a gun held to her head, was linked to her “professional activity in Chechnya.”

For years, Milashina has reported on human rights abuses in the Caucasus republic governed by former warlord Ramzan Kadyrov.

She had traveled to Grozny to attend the sentencing of Zarema Musayeva, whose husband and sons have faced repercussions from the Kadyrov regime, but she did not reach her destination.

Describing it as a “sensitive case,” Milashina referred to Musayeva as a “hostage.”

Later, Musayeva was sentenced to 5 1/2 years on fraud charges widely perceived as political retaliation against her family.

In Kyiv, approximately 200 individuals gathered at St. Michael’s Cathedral on Tuesday for a ceremony honoring Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, who succumbed to her injuries following a Russian strike on a restaurant in eastern Ukraine.