Russia-Ukraine War – Live: 4 killed in Kharkov attack, Moscow claims to be in direct conflict with NATO

Donald Tusk has warned that Europe is in a “pre-war era” reminiscent of 1939 and no one will feel safe if Ukraine is defeated by Russia.

In recent weeks, Kharkov has faced relentless Russian attacks, which appear to be driven by revenge rather than military strategy, writes Askold Krushelnytsky:

Two years after the suburban massacre, Bucha is evolving, but time has not eased the pain of loss for those who suffered Russia’s worst atrocities.

NATO officials said Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries may have disrupted more than 15% of Russia’s production capacity.

They added that the alliance believes Moscow still lacks sufficient ammunition and manpower to carry out a successful attack.

Some of the Ukrainian attacks have penetrated as far as 1,000 kilometers into Russian territory.

“In terms of damage, this attack probably disrupted more than 10%, probably more than 15%, of Russia’s refinery capacity. Depending on the extent of the damage, repairs could take a significant amount of time.” said the person in charge.

“What we are seeing here is this kind of Russian energy, less and less critical infrastructure that is safe from potential strikes, and more and more impact on the Russian economy. I think.”

According to Reuters calculations, about 14% of Russia’s refining capacity was shut down by drone strikes.

Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday, citing Russia’s Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov, that affected Russian refineries will return to normal operations by early June.

The Finnish government has announced it will extend the closure of border crossings with Russia beyond the current April 14 deadline “until further notice” due to the high risk of organized migration orchestrated by Moscow. .

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Germany’s Defense Ministry says it is “very likely” that Russia is behind a series of disturbances affecting GPS navigation in the Baltic Sea region, and Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave is to blame. he pointed out.

“Persistent disruptions to global positioning satellite systems are very likely originating from Russia and are based on disruptions in the electromagnetic spectrum, including those that occurred in Kaliningrad Oblast,” a ministry spokesperson told Reuters. , confirmed the news website’s report. -online.

Citing military security, the spokesperson declined to provide details about Berlin’s assessment or the exact nature of the disruption.

Kaliningrad, located between Lithuania and Poland on the Baltic Sea coast, was separated from Moscow when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and Lithuania became independent, but Russia’s Baltic Fleet is still stationed there.

Officials in Russian-controlled areas of southern and eastern Ukraine said six civilians were killed in the Ukrainian attack.

Andrei Aleksenko, a Russian official in the Kherson region, said one drone crashed into a car in a village, and a second drone opened fire on passengers who managed to crawl away, killing two people. Ta.

He said two repair workers working to restore mobile communications were killed in separate attacks. The other person was hospitalized in critical condition.

Officials set up by Russia in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, said two people were killed and nine others were injured by Ukrainian military shelling there.

Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians. In February, the United Nations Human Rights Observatory said more than 10,000 civilians had been killed and nearly 20,000 injured in Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the NATO allies have agreed to identify and discover air defense systems in their arsenals to be sent to Ukraine for its own defense.

“Allies will bring and provide additional air defense systems to Ukraine and bring these additional air defense systems to help defend our skies,” he said in Brussels, where he attended the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit. “We will begin training to identify or allocate them.”

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Ukraine will eventually join NATO because support for the country among member states remains “solid.”

“Ukraine will become a member of NATO. Our objective at the summit is to help build a bridge to that membership,” Blinken said.