Russia reinforces its fleet. The president, Vladimir Putin, announced this Sunday that the country’s Navy will add 30 new ships this year in an intervention at the naval parade in Saint Petersburg. “Today, Russia confidently fulfills the large-scale tasks of its national maritime policy and is constantly increasing the power of its fleet. This year alone, 30 ships of different classes will join its composition,” Putin said in a speech broadcast live on television on the occasion of Navy Day. Nearly 40 ships participated in the naval parade, including boats and submarines.
From a platform installed on one of the embankments of the Neva River, the president, who previously reviewed the ships on board a boat, congratulated the members of the Navy and all the citizens. “For centuries our fleet has been and remains the indestructible guardian of the borders of the motherland, its pride and glory,” Putin said.
“For the sake of Russia, our sailors give all their strength, show true heroism, fight bravely, like our great ancestors,” said the president, who did not make any direct reference to the war in Ukraine in his speech.
Nor did he mention a new drone attack on Moscow, the latest in a series of which he blames the kyiv government. The Russian Defense Ministry described the event as an “attempted terrorist attack”. A drone headed for the capital was shot down on the outskirts of the city and two others were “suppressed by electronic warfare” and crashed into an office complex, the ministry said, adding that there were no injuries.
The mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, published on Telegram that “the facades of two city office towers were slightly damaged.” The Russian state news agency TASS reported that the Vnukovo international airport, which serves the capital, was “closed for departures and arrivals” and its flights were redirected to other cities. In less than an hour, air operations returned to normal.
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Russia also assured that its forces thwarted a Ukrainian night attack, with 25 drones, against Crimea, illegally occupied by Moscow since 2014. “Sixteen Ukrainian drones destroyed by air defense fire,” the ministry said, adding that there were no casualties. “Nine other Ukrainian drones were neutralized using electronic warfare and, without hitting the target, crashed into the Black Sea,” the Kremlin said.
Ukraine has affirmed on several occasions its intention to recover Crimea and in recent weeks it has intensified and increased its attacks on this peninsula.
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