Shooting during the joint drills of the Northern and Black sea fleets in the Black Sea. File Photo by Alexei Druzhinin/EPA-EFE/Sputnik/Kremlin
April 30 (UPI) -- Russia's Defense Ministry has confirmed earlier Ukrainian military claims that it used a submarine in the Black Sea to launch cruise missile attacks on Ukraine.
The ministry confirmed the attacks by releasing video Friday appearing to show a diesel submarine in the Black Sea launch Kalibr cruise missiles on Ukrainian targets, CNN reported.
"The crew of a diesel-electric submarine of the Black Sea Fleet has launched a salvo of Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea against the military infrastructure of the Ukrainian armed forces," the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, according to CNN.
The Ukrainian military said a week ago that the Russian fleet was still operating "submarines with missile weapons," among two dozen units in the Black Sea.
Russian troops were "launching missile and bomb strikes on military and civilian infrastructure, including from strategic bombers, ships and submarines," the Ukrainian armed forces added on Monday.
Meanwhile, a witness told CNN she heard on Saturday at least two explosions in the southern city of Odessa, and she was still experiencing hearing difficulties due to the noise from them.
Also, on Saturday, shelling in the Russian border region continued.
The shelling hit an oil terminal in the village of Zhecha in the Russian region of Bryansk, which borders Ukraine, causing damage, but there were no casualties, Regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said in a statement Saturday.
On Friday, Bogomaz said in a Telegram post the border department of the Federal Security Service reported another incident of shelling in a nearby village, Belaya Berezka, alleging that the mortar fire came from territory of Ukraine. In that incident, Bogomaz said that water and electricity networks were damaged, but there were no casualties.
Russian forces have moved troops normally stationed in far-eastern Russia to the battle lines in eastern Ukraine, adding that it was an attempt to gain momentum in a "plodding" offensive there, the Ukrainian military said Saturday, The New York Times reported.
The Russian troops are being deployed to the Russian city Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border, then to an area around the northeastern Ukrainian city of Izium, the Ukrainian military said.
The British Defense Ministry added in an intelligence update on Saturday that since the Russian military was defeated in their push to take Kyiv in the eastern front, it has had "to merge and redeploy depleted and disparate units from the failed advances in northeast Ukraine."
"Many of these units are likely suffering from weakened morale," the British Defense Ministry added.
"Russia hopes to rectify issues that have previously constrained its invasion by geographically concentrating combat power, shortening supply lines and simplifying command and control," the British Defense Ministry also said.
Still, continued attacks on Ukraine's infrastructure have taken a toll, including Russian forces striking the Kremenchuk oil refinery this week, Ukraine's main producer of fuel products, along with several other large refineries, leading to fuel shortages.
"The occupiers are deliberately destroying the infrastructure for the production, supply and storage of fuel," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the nation in his nightly address. "Russia has also blocked our ports, so there are no immediate solutions to replenish the deficit."
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, 2,899 civilians have been killed and 3,235 have been injured, according to a United Nations human rights office's latest update.
Ukrainian service members stand beside a damaged building in a residential area after shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 18. Photo by Vladyslav Musiienko/UPI |
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