Latest news with #Irkutsk
Russia Today
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Russia closes EU state's consulate in border region
Russia has ordered the closure of Poland's consulate in the exclave of Kaliningrad, citing 'hostile actions' by Warsaw, as relations between the two countries continue to unravel over the Ukraine conflict. The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday it had summoned Poland's chargé d'affaires and handed over a note formally withdrawing consent for the Polish consulate in Kaliningrad to operate. The mission is due to be shut down on August 29. The ministry explained that the move comes in response to the 'unfounded and hostile actions' of Poland, which closed Russia's consulate in Krakow in late June 'under a contrived pretext.' 'No unfriendly attack against our country will remain without an appropriate response and consequences,' officials added. Apart from the Kaliningrad mission, Poland continues to maintain an embassy in Moscow as well as a consulate in Irkutsk, in central Russia. Russia, in turn, operates an embassy in Warsaw and a consulate in Gdansk. Tensions between Moscow and Warsaw have been running high for years, particularly since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, with Poland emerging as one of Kiev's staunchest supporters and as one of the fiercest critics of Russia. In May, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski announced that the Russian consulate in Krakow would be closed in response to what he claimed was Moscow's alleged involvement in a fire at a Warsaw shopping mall in 2024. Russia has denied the accusation. That same month, Warsaw imposed new restrictions confining Russian diplomats in Poland to the provinces where they are posted. Before that, in April 2023, all funds in the accounts of the Russian embassy and trade office in Warsaw were seized by the Polish prosecutor's office. At the time, Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreyev warned that diplomatic relations between Moscow and Warsaw, already deeply strained, could deteriorate even further, or be severed entirely.
Russia Today
01-07-2025
- General
- Russia Today
Russian warplane crashes during training
A Russian SU-34 medium-range fighter-bomber crashed during a training flight in the country's Nizhny Novgorod Region on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has reported. Both the pilot and the navigator who operated the twin-seat aircraft are understood to have ejected and are reportedly alive. According to the ministry's statement quoted by Russian media, 'during landing, the release system of one of the landing gear legs failed.' The pilot made several attempts at fixing the issue while in flight, before deciding to abandon the aircraft. The crew proceeded to divert the warplane away from populated areas and ejected, Russian military officials said, noting that the SU-34 was not carrying any ordnance. The incident reportedly resulted in no casualties or damage on the ground. 'A rescue team has been flown to the crash site to evacuate the crew to their home air base. According to the information from the site, both members are alive,' the ministry stated. In early April, a Russian Tu-22M long-range strategic bomber crashed in Irkutsk Region. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the four crew managed to eject, but the pilot did not survive the landing. Military officials named a technical failure as the suspected cause of the crash. Several weeks before, a Russian SU-25 fighter jet was lost during a training flight in far-eastern Primorsky Region. The pilot ejected and was evacuated to safety.
Russia Today
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Ukraine failed to destroy Russian planes in drone raid
None of the Russian aircraft targeted in Ukraine's recent drone attacks were destroyed, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has said. The aircraft sustained damage but will be repaired, he told TASS In an interview published on Wednesday. Ukrainian drones struck several Russian airbases on Sunday, in a coordinated assault across five regions, from Murmansk in the Arctic to Irkutsk in Siberia. Kiev has claimed that the strikes damaged or destroyed approximately 40 Russian military aircraft, including Tu-95 and Tu-22 long-range bombers. Moscow, however, has dismissed both the numbers and extent of damage. 'The equipment in question, as also stated by the Defense Ministry, was not destroyed, but damaged. It will be restored,' Ryabkov said, responding to a question about whether the strikes had affected strategic stability. Kiev's claims about the results of the attack have been inconsistent, Ryabkov claimed. 'There is nothing even remotely close' to the damage levels quoted by Kiev, he said, urging reporters to rely only on information shared through the Russian Defense Ministry's official channels. The official also stated that prior to the recent phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Moscow had raised concerns with Washington that US officials had not responded to the attack. Trump had reportedly insisted to Putin that the US had no prior knowledge of Kiev's plans to strike Russian airfields, according to the Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov. On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also confirmed that Putin and had told Trump a Russian response to the strikes is inevitable and that it would be carried out at the discretion of the Russian military. Putin has accused the 'illegitimate regime in Kiev' of carrying out terrorist attacks and 'gradually turning into a terrorist organization.' Shortly after the Trump-Putin phone call on Wednesday, the US Embassy in Kiev issued a security alert, warning of a 'continued risk of significant air attacks.' The US State Department has advised Americans currently in Ukraine to identify shelter locations in advance and keep reserves of water, food, and medication. Moscow has repeatedly condemned Ukraine's continued drone strikes and acts of sabotage on Russian territories, claiming that they undermine ongoing efforts to find a diplomatic resolution to the conflict.
Russia Today
05-06-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
Kremlin confirms Putin warning after Ukrainian drone strikes
Russian President Vladimir Putin told his US counterpart, Donald Trump, that Moscow would respond to Ukraine's recent attacks on Russian airbases, the Kremlin has confirmed. Following a phone call with Putin on Wednesday, Trump announced on his Truth Social account that the two leaders had discussed Ukraine's recent drone strikes on docked Russian airplanes and 'various other attacks.' According to Trump, Putin had told him 'very strongly that he will have to respond' to the attacks. Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Putin had told Trump about an upcoming response. However, Peskov did not disclose any details about what the retaliation would entail, stating only that it would be carried out 'when and how our military deems appropriate.' Ukrainian drones hit multiple Russian airbases on Sunday in a coordinated assault. Targets ranged from Murmansk in the Arctic to Irkutsk in Siberia. Kiev claims the strikes damaged or destroyed approximately 40 Russian military aircraft, including Tu-95 and Tu-22 long-range bombers. Moscow, however, has stated that the aircraft were only damaged and would undergo repairs. Kiev also committed railway sabotage over the weekend, killing at least seven people and injuring over 110 in Russia's Bryansk and Kursk regions. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) also reported on Thursday that an explosive device had damaged a railway track in Voronezh Region, and that the blast had occurred 'directly in front of an approaching train.' Severe consequences were only prevented by 'the professional actions of the train driver and crew, who noticed the track damage and carried out emergency braking,' the agency added. Putin has described the railway sabotage incidents as 'undoubtedly a terrorist act' committed by the 'illegitimate regime in Kiev,' claiming that it was 'gradually turning into a terrorist organization.' Shortly after Trump and Putin's phone call on Wednesday, the US Embassy in Kiev issued a security alert, warning of a 'continued risk of significant air attacks.' The US State Department has advised Americans currently in Ukraine to identify shelter locations in advance and keep reserves of water, food, and medication.
The Independent
05-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Operation Spiderweb: Satellite images show Russian bombers destroyed in massive Ukrainian drone attack
The impact of Ukraine 's audacious drone attack deep inside Russia over the weekend has been captured in satellite imagery which suggests a number of strategic bombers were severely damaged or outright destroyed. Carried out on Sunday, 'Operation Spiderweb' was planned out over the course of 18 months and executed by Ukraine's SBU security service. It saw truckloads of drones smuggled thousands of kilometres into Russian territory before they were unleashed close to airbases to destroy as many aircraft as possible, officials in Kyiv said. In a rare confirmation of such losses, Russia said Ukraine attacked airfields across five regions, causing several aircraft to catch fire. 'The attacks occurred in the Murmansk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Ryazan, and Amur regions. Air defences repelled the assaults in all but two regions, Murmansk and Irkutsk,' Moscow's defence ministry claimed on Sunday. New satellite images from Capella Space, a satellite company, took a before-and-after view of the airfield located in Irkutsk, a Siberian region. The images from 2 June, a day after Ukraine's operation, feature the dismantled debris and ashen remains of several aircraft located along the runway of the Belaya military air base or parked in protective revetments nearby. The latest images are from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites which direct energy beams at the Earth and detect echoes, allowing identification of small topographical details. Experts have said that the destruction seen in these images confirm Russia suffered the loss of multiple aircraft. "Based on the debris visible, comparison to recent satellite images and released drone footage from Telegram posted to Twitter, I can see the destruction of several aircraft," said John Ford, a research associate at the California-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. He added that the SAR satellite imagery seen by him purportedly shows the remnants of two destroyed Tu-22 Backfires – long-range, supersonic strategic bombers that have been used to launch missile strikes against Ukraine. The SAR images and the footage of the strikes posted on social media also indicated that four strategic Tu-95 heavy bombers had been destroyed or severely damaged, Mr Ford added. In Kyiv, Ukraine's SBU security agency said that the operation resulted in the loss of a total of 41 Russian warplanes. Explosive-laden drones were hidden in the roofs of wooden sheds, which were then loaded onto trucks and driven to the perimeter of the air bases, according to a Ukrainian security official. The roof panels of the sheds were lifted off by a remotely-activated mechanism, allowing the drones to fly out and begin their attack, the official said. The Independent has not verified the claims. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack 'absolutely brilliant', lauding the operation which hit Russian targets up to 4,300km (2,670 miles) from the war's frontline. The preliminary assessment from the Ukrainian military confirmed damages to 12 additional aircraft after the operation over the weekend. "After processing additional information from various sources and verifying it ... we report that the total (Russian) losses amounted to 41 military aircraft, including strategic bombers and other types of combat aircraft," the SBU said in an update. It added that the damage amounted to $7bn, and 34 per cent of the strategic cruise missile carriers at Russia's main airfields were hit.
