Russia ‘foiled’ Ukrainian plots to kill top military officers
Russia has claimed that it had stopped plans by Ukrainian intelligence services to kill top Russian military officers, using bombs disguised as battery packs or document folders. Follow updates.
Russia’s Federal Security Service has revealed it foiled several plots by Ukrainian intelligence services to kill high-ranking Russian officers and their families in Moscow using bombs disguised as power banks or document folders.
Last week, Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service killed Lieutenant General Kirillov, chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, in Moscow outside his apartment building by detonating a bomb attached to an electric scooter.
An SBU source confirmed to reporters that the Ukrainian intelligence agency had been behind the hit.
Russia said the killing was a terrorist attack by Ukraine, with which it has been at war since February 2022, and vowed revenge.
“The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation has prevented a series of assassination attempts on high-ranking military personnel of the Defence Ministry,” the FSB said.
“Four Russian citizens involved in the preparation of these attacks have been detained,” it said in a statement.
Ukraine’s SBU has not commented on the allegations.
The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said that the Russian citizens had been recruited by the Ukrainian intelligence services.
One of the men retrieved a bomb disguised as a portable charger in Moscow that was to be attached with magnets to the car of one of the Defence Ministry’s top officials, the FSB said.
Another Russian man was tasked with reconnaissance of senior Russian defence officials, it said, with one plot involving the delivery of a bomb disguised as a document folder.
“An explosive device disguised as a portable charger (power bank), with magnets attached, had to be placed under the official car of one of the senior leaders of the Russian Defence Ministry,” it said.
The exact date of the planned attacks was unclear though one of the suspects said he had retrieved a bomb on December 23, according to the FSB.
Russian state TV showed what it said was footage of some of the suspects who admitted to being recruited by Ukrainian intelligence for bombings against Russian defence ministry officials.
Moscow holds Ukraine responsible for a string of high-profile assassinations on its soil designed to weaken morale – and says the West is supporting a “terrorist regime” in Kyiv.
Ukraine, which says Russia’s war against it poses an existential threat to the Ukrainian state, has made clear it regards such targeted killings as a legitimate tool.
Darya Dugina, the 29-year-old daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, was killed in August 2022 near Moscow.
The New York Times reported that US intelligence agencies believe parts of the Ukrainian government authorised the killing.
US officials later admonished Ukrainian officials over the assassination, the Times said. Ukraine denied it killed Dugina.
ZELENSKYY SLAMS RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS BLITZ
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has denounced an “inhumane” attack from Russia, which launched over 170 missiles and drones on his war-torn country’s power grid on Christmas Day, killing an energy worker.
The country woke at dawn to an air raid alarm, shortly followed by air force reports that Russia had launched Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea.
“Putin deliberately chose Christmas to attack. What could be more inhumane? More than 70 missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than a hundred attack drones. The target is our energy system,” Zelensky said.
This was the 13th large-scale strike on Ukraine’s energy system this year, the latest in Russia’s campaign targeting the power grid during winter.
Russia meanwhile said five people had died in Ukrainian strikes and a falling drone in the border region of Kursk and in North Ossetia in the Caucasus.
Ukraine said its air force downed 58 out of 79 Russian-launched missiles. It did not, however, down the two Korean KN-23 ballistic missiles launched by Russia.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the strikes.
“I pay tribute to the resilience of the Ukrainian people, and the leadership of President Zelenskyy, in the face of further drone and missile attacks from Putin’s bloody and brutal war machine with no respite even at Christmas,” Starmer said.
Kyiv also said a Russian missile went through Moldovan and Romanian airspace, but Romania said it detected no such violation while Moldova said it launched investigations.
“Unfortunately, there are some hits. As of now, there are blackouts in several regions,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine’s DTEK energy company said the attack severely damaged equipment of thermal power plants.
“Denying light and warmth to millions of peace-loving people as they celebrate Christmas is a depraved and evil act that must be answered,” DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko said, urging allies to send more air defence.
The employee of a Ukrainian thermal power plant was killed in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, over which 42 missiles were shot down, governor Sergiy Lysak said.
Lysak also said rescue operations had been completed on the site of a strike on Kryvyi Rig, which killed one person and wounded 17 others the day before.
Engineers have restored power to consumers in the Ivano-Frankisvk region. “Christmas morning has once again shown that nothing is sacred for the aggressor country,” Svitlana Onyshchuk, the head of the Ivano-Frankivsk region, said earlier.
Ukraine is officially celebrating Christmas on December 25 for the second time. The government last year changed the date from January 7, when most Orthodox believers celebrate, as a snub to Russia.
The Christmas Day attack also targeted Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, located near the Russian border.
The missiles had targeted the city’s boiler houses, thermal power plants and electricity facilities, mayor Igor Terekhov said, temporarily cutting power to 500,000 people.
One unexploded missile was found in a private yard in Kharkiv, Synegubov said. Kharkiv’s governor Oleg Synegubov also said authorities had evacuated 46 people from the area of Borivske and Kupiansk.
“I am grateful to everyone who is working for the country, who is on combat duty, who is protecting our sky,” Zelenskyy said.
“Russian evil will not break Ukraine and will not ruin Christmas,” Zelenskyy said.
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RUSSIA STRIKES ZELENSKYY’S HOMETOWN ON CHRISTMAS
At least one person was killed and 14 injured on Tuesday by a Russian strike on the Ukrainian central city of Kryvyi Rih, which is President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown, authorities said.
Military administrator Oleksandre Vilkul said the missile strike hit a residential building in the city with a population of 600,000 before the war.
“While the rest of the world is celebrating Christmas, Ukrainians continue to suffer incessant Russian attacks,” said Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets.
“The number of wounded has exceeded 14, including a child. One person was killed,” national police said.
Kryvyi Rih, located about 80 kilometres from the front line, has been frequently targeted by Russian strikes since the February 2022 invasion.
It comes as Ukraine celebrated Christmas Eve with traditional decorations and performances, those in Kharkiv to raise money for the Ukrainian armed forces, as well as church services in Kyiv.
RUSSIAN SHIP MYSTERIOUSLY EXPLODES AT SEA
Two crew members are missing after a Russian defence ministry-owned cargo ship sank in international waters in the Mediterranean following an explosion on board, Moscow said Tuesday, giving few details on the ship’s mission or what caused the deadly incident.
The Ursa Major sank “after an explosion in the engine room”, the Russian foreign ministry’s crisis unit said on Telegram.
It added that out of the 16 Russian crew members, 14 had been rescued and taken to the Spanish port of Cartagena and two were missing.
The explosion came the day after the ship, which has been under sanction by the US since 2022 due to its alleged activities, broke down off the coast of Portugal.
That day, Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence service said: “Russia has begun transporting some of its weapons and equipment from the port of Tartus to Libya by sea.”
GUR has previously stated the Ursa Major was used to supply Russian troops in Syria at Moscow’s naval base at Tartus.
However, it does not appear the Ursa Major was on a weapons recovery mission at the time of the explosion.
According to MarineTraffic.com the 124.7 metre long general cargo ship was sailing from the Russian city of Saint Petersburg to Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East.
Russian transport investigators announced they had opened a probe into the “incident” over possible maritime safety violations, without giving details.
The ship sent a distress call Monday morning from off the coast of southeastern Spain in bad weather, reporting it was listing and sailors had launched a lifeboat, Spain’s sea rescue service said in a statement.
Spain sent out a helicopter and rescue boats and took the survivors to port, the service said.
A Russian warship then arrived and took charge of the rescue operation since the ship was between Spanish and Algerian waters, after which the Ursa Major sunk overnight.
“According to the survivors’ account, the cargo ship was carrying empty containers in the hold and two cranes on deck,” the Spanish rescue service said.
The ship is owned by a subsidiary of Russia’s Oboronlogistika, which belongs to the defence ministry and also provides civilian transport and logistics, the Russian foreign ministry said.
The United States in 2022 imposed sanctions on Oboronlogistika and ships including the Ursa Major for providing “transportation services … for the delivery of cargo to Russian-occupied Crimea”.
This means any US organisation dealing with the company or its ships would risk sanctions.
A map on Oboronlogistika’s website shows the company among other things covers a route to Tartus from Novorossiisk, in southern Russia.
The incident came amid uncertainty over the future of Russia’s bases in Syria – the naval base in Tartus and Hmeimim air base – after the removal of Moscow ally Bashar al-Assad.
These are Russia’s only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union and have been key to the Kremlin’s activities in Africa and the Middle East.
Last week Oboronlogistika issued a press release with photos of the ship in port, saying it was to transport a particularly large and heavy load: cranes each weighing 380 tonnes and hatch covers for icebreakers each weighing 45 tonnes to Vladivostok.
This was part of “state” efforts to develop ports and the northern sea route via the Arctic, Oborono said.
RUSSIA CAPTURES EASTERN UKRAINE VILLAGE
Russia on Monday said it had captured the village of Storozheve in eastern Ukraine, near the town of Velyka Novosilka which its troops is apparently trying to encircle.
“As a result of decisive action by troop units … the settlement of Storozhevoye has been liberated,” the defence ministry said in a statement, using the Russian name of the village.
Russia has been advancing steadily in the Donetsk region where Storozheve is located, against outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian forces.
Storozheve and Velyka Novosilka are close to the southern front line, which has remained largely static but where Ukraine says Russia is planning a fresh offensive.
Russia has looking to secure as much territory as possible before US President-elect Donald Trump comes to power in January.
The Republican has promised to bring a swift end to the nearly three-year conflict, without proposing any concrete terms for a ceasefire or peace deal.
Moscow’s army claims to have seized more than 190 Ukrainian settlements this year, with Kyiv struggling to hold the line in the face of manpower and ammunition shortages.
It comes as more than 1,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded in Russia’s war with Ukraine, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
The new figure follows a report by Seoul’s spy agency to MPs last week, which said at least 100 North Korean soldiers had been killed since entering combat in December.
Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to reinforce the Russian military, including to the Kursk border region where Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this year.
“Through various sources of information and intelligence, we assess that North Korean troops who have recently engaged in combat with Ukrainian forces have suffered around 1,100 casualties,” the JCS said in a statement.
“We are particularly interested in the possibility of additional deployments” of North Korean soldiers to aid Russia’s war effort, it said.
Pyongyang is reportedly “preparing for the rotation or additional deployment of soldiers”, the JCS said.
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Originally published as Russia ‘foiled’ Ukrainian plots to kill top military officers
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