The ninth Russian attack on Kiev in a month, amid the Ukrainian advance towards Bakhmut

On Thursday, Russia launched its ninth bombing raid on Kiev so far this month, as the eastern stronghold of Bakhmut loses the initiative in the face of daily counterattacks by Ukrainian forces.

Faced with this advance, the head of Wagner’s mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhinhe once again showed his differences with the Russian military high command, to what accused of handing over the country to the Ukrainians by ordering a withdrawal regular troops, leaving their fighters exposed. Thus, he condemned that Russian soldiers, who in principle should protect the flanks, not only left the north-east and south-west wings in the last six days, but also on Wednesday they retreated as much as 570 meters to the north.

In a new example of apparently irreconcilable relations between the army and the mercenary company, Prigozhin called on Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov to halt the retreat. «Endure as much as you can for at least a few days », he announced on his Telegram channel. In recent days, Ukrainians have recaptured almost 20 square kilometers in the suburbs of Bakhmut.

9. attack on Kyiv

Russia launched several waves of attacks from Wednesday night and into the early hours of Thursday morning from different directions on the center and south of the country, as well as on Kiev. The shelling came while China’s special envoy Li Hui was still in the capital.

In Kiev, air defense systems shot down all attacking weapons, according to the Ukrainian command. Moscow, for its part, reported that the bombardment destroyed “substantial reserves of weapons and ammunition of the Ukrainian army and prevented the sending of reserves to combat zones.”

“The Kremlin needs senseless and super-expensive attacks to raise the level of security.” patriotic hysteria inside the country,” tweeted the secretary of the National Security Council, Oleksiy Danilov.

Russian rockets also hit the regions of Jmilnitsky, Vinnitsa, Kharkiv, where one was killed, and the port of Odesa, where another was killed and two were injured in an industry.

In the meantime, a grain train derailed in Crimea, in the capital Simferopol, as a result of an explosive device placed on the road. “Wagons full of grain derailed in Simferopol,” said the governor of the Russian-annexed peninsula, Sergei Aksionov, according to Colpisa.

Russian rail operator RZhD said in a statement that what happened was “the result of third-party intervention,” hinting at sabotage. Several Russian Telegram channels reported that there had indeed been an explosion on the road. At the last moment, Moscow reported two deaths in attack on the Russian border area of ​​Belgorod.

Beijing warns Zelenskiy: “Everyone must create the conditions for peace”

“There is no magic formula for solving the crisis. All parties must create the conditions to end the war.” This was the warning given to President Volodymyr Zelensky by the mediator sent by China, Li Hui, during their meeting on Wednesday in Kyiv.

The Beijing envoy assured during the meeting, which was also attended by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, that Ukraine and China must “work together on the basis of mutual respect and sincerity” and “continue to move towards win-win cooperation”. in a press release from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On Kyiv’s side, a statement released after the meeting noted that Kuleba told Li that Ukraine would not accept a peace plan that included the loss of its territory. The proposal presented by President Xi Jinping in March does not call for the withdrawal of Russian troops from all the territories they occupy in Ukraine, as Kiev claims.

Li, the Chinese government’s special representative for Eurasian affairs, is on a tour of Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia this week to “communicate with all parties on a political solution to the ‘crisis’ in Ukraine,” according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday.