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Ukraine says it hit Russian oil facilities, military airfield

Ukraine says it hit Russian oil facilities, military airfield

Japan Todaya day ago
Ukraine's military said on Saturday that it had struck oil facilities inside Russia, including a major refinery as well as a military airfield for drones and an electronics factory.
In a statement on Telegram, Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces said they had hit the oil refinery in Ryazan, about 180 km southeast of Moscow, causing a fire on its premises.
Also hit, the USF said, was the Annanefteprodukt oil storage facility in the Voronezh region that borders on northeastern Ukraine.
The statement did not specify how the facilities were hit, but the USF specializes in drone warfare, including long-range strikes.
There was no immediate comment from Russia on the reported attacks on its infrastructure sites.
Separately, Ukraine's SBU intelligence agency said its drones had hit Russia's Primorsko-Akhtarsk military airfield, which has been used to launch waves of long-range drones at targets in Ukraine.
The SBU said it also hit a factory in Penza that it said supplies Russia's military-industrial complex with electronics.
At the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine had no response to Moscow's vast long-range strike capacity but it has since built up a fleet of long-range kamikaze drones able to carry explosive warheads for many hundreds of kilometers.
Russia's defense ministry said in its daily report that its defense units had downed a total of 338 Ukrainian drones overnight. Its reports do not say how many Ukrainian drones were launched at any given time.
For its part, Ukraine's air force said it had downed 45 of 53 Russian drones launched towards its territory overnight.
On Ukraine's eastern battlefront, Russia's defense ministry said, Russian forces had captured the village of Oleksandro-Kalynove in the Donetsk region on Saturday.
Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield report.
Russian forces now control almost 20% of Ukraine in its east and south after three-and-a-half years of grinding war.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
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China pushes back at U.S. demands to stop buying Russian and Iranian oil
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China pushes back at U.S. demands to stop buying Russian and Iranian oil

FILE - A Russian and Chinese national flag flutter near Tiananmen Gate for the visiting Russia's President Vladimir Putin, in Beijing, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File) By DIDI TANG U.S. and Chinese officials may be able to settle many of their differences to reach a trade deal and avert punishing tariffs, but they remain far apart on one issue: the U.S. demand that China stop purchasing oil from Iran and Russia. 'China will always ensure its energy supply in ways that serve our national interests,' China's Foreign Ministry posted on X last week following two days of trade negotiations in Stockholm, responding to the U.S. threat of a 100% tariff. 'Coercion and pressuring will not achieve anything. China will firmly defend its sovereignty, security and development interests," the ministry said. 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A Volcano in Russia's Far East Erupts for the First Time in Centuries
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By the time of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, that resilience had matured into a hardened national defense network. Civilian readiness was an integral part of daily life. Ukrainian identity came to mean democracy, sovereignty, and resistance to imperial domination. In Taiwan, by contrast, civil-military integration remains weak. Public interest in geopolitical threats is very often comparatively low. Many young people are disengaged from debates on national security. Defense policy is frequently left to the state and military establishment. Taiwanese authorities have begun addressing this gap. But the scale is still insufficient. Taiwan's 'baby steps' toward resilience remain tentative and lack clear direction. Even recent conscription reforms – extending mandatory service from four months to one year – appear to be reactive rather than transformative. Civilian participation in the Han Kuang drills is only now being introduced, and the delay speaks volumes. 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Moreover, to receive American aid, Taiwan must demonstrate its readiness to resist, as the U.S. will not come to save those who don't want to fight for themselves. Even in the event of a robust U.S. response, it would take time – something Taipei might not have. China's likely strategy for taking Taiwan would be a swift and overwhelming assault, aimed at preventing foreign intervention and minimizing civilian resistance. It may not be framed as a war, but rather as a 'quarantine,' 'peacekeeping operation,' or a 'domestic stabilization campaign.' Taipei may have only hours to respond. Without a mobilized population, no volume of imported hardware will be enough. Even Taiwan's recent drills, despite their expanded scope, underscore the problem. Civilian-facing exercises may look impressive, but they remain isolated and symbolic. Watching blank rounds fired in a train station doesn't prepare civilians to act. Unless these gestures evolve into a national civic mobilization strategy, the island remains vulnerable. Despite dramatic headlines and regular military provocations, Taiwan must fully absorb the lessons of Ukraine. The comparison may be imperfect, but the warning is unmistakable: war may not come tomorrow – or ever – but in Xi Jinping's era, national rejuvenation and 'reunification' remain core objectives of the Chinese Communist Party.

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