NEWS
Russia Frustrates Ukraine’s Largest Drone Strikes On Moscow
Russia successfully warded-off Ukraine’s scaled up hostilities, in what is clearly the largest ‘single’ attack since the beginning of the ongoing war in February 2022.
Russian officials revealed that on Wednesday, at least 11 drones that were shot down by air defences which frustrated Ukraine’s largest drone strikes targeted at Moscow.
Biztellers reports that Ukraine launched a total of 45 drones over Russian territory about the same time, which Russian defence sources claim were all successfully defended.
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It was gathered that for months, Ukraine had intensified efforts on winning the war with an increasingly damaging drone deployment against the refineries and airfields of Russia.
Russia is the world’s second largest oil exporter, which marks out the drones’ onslaught on the capital region – with a population of over 21 million, a clear shift in Ukraine’s strategy.
The war, largely a grinding artillery and drone battle across the fields, forests and villages of eastern Ukraine, escalated on Aug. 6 when Ukraine sent thousands of soldiers over the border into Russia’s western Kursk region, according to Reuters.
However, information filtering out from Russia’s defence ministry have it that its air defences destroyed a total of 45 drones over Russian territory, including 11 over the Moscow region, 23 over the border region of Bryansk, six over the Belgorod region, three over the Kaluga region and two over the Kursk region.
The Mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin revealed that some of the drones were shot down over the city of Podolsk. The city in the Moscow region is some 38 km (24 miles) south of the Kremlin.
Sobyanin stated on the Telegram messaging app, on Wednesday, “This is one of the largest attempts to attack Moscow using drones ever.
“The layered defence of Moscow that was created made it possible to successfully repel all the attacks from the enemy UAVs.”
It was gathered that the attack happened as President Vladimir Putin was locked at a meeting with Chinese premier Li Qiang in the Kremlin.
Biztellers reports that Russia has been strategic to ensure that Moscow’s boulevards, the cafes, restaurants and shops of the capital were kept carefully insulated from the war, a code that Ukraine would have wanted to breach with her latest effort.
Russia, according to Reuters, is advancing in eastern Ukraine, where it controls about 18% of the territory, and battling to repel Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region, the biggest foreign attack on Russian territory since World War Two.
In what appears to be a proof-point of Russia’s defence capabilities, a segment of Russian media showed unverified footage of drones whirring over the dawn sky of the Moscow region and then being shot down in a ball of flame by air defences.
The scare saw Moscow’s airports, Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky, scale down flights for four hours but restarted normal operations from 0330 GMT, Russia’s aviation watchdog said.
Sobyanin maintained that there were no injuries or damage reported in the aftermath of the attacks.
There were also no casualties or damage reported following the attack on Bryansk in Russia’s southwest, the governor of the region, Alexander Bogomaz, wrote on Telegram.
Russia’s RIA state news agency reported that two drones were destroyed over the Tula region, which borders the Moscow region to its north.
Governor of the Rostov region in Russia’s southwest, Vasily Golubev, stated that air defence forces destroyed a Ukraine-launched missile over the region, with no injuries reported.
However, the Russian defence ministry was silent on both Tula and Rostov in its statement on the destroyed Ukrainian air weapons.
On its part, Ukraine’s military said on Wednesday it overnight struck an S-300 anti-aircraft missile system based in the Rostov region.
The drone attack on Moscow was on a par with a May 2023 attack when at least eight drones were destroyed over the capital, a strike Putin said was a Ukrainian attempt to scare and provoke Russia, according to Reuters.
In Kursk, Russian war bloggers reported that intense battles were ongoing along the front in the region where Ukraine claims to have carved out at least 450 square km (175 square miles) of Russian territory.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed retired Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas as the military administrator of Rivers State following the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the state House of Assembly.
The announcement came during a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday amid heightened political tension in the oil-rich South-South state.
Tinubu said the suspension would last for an initial period of six months.
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“By this declaration, the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Mrs. Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the House of Assembly of Rivers State are hereby suspended for an initial period of six months,” the President stated.
Ibas, a former Chief of Naval Staff who served from July 2015 to January 2021, will take charge of the state’s affairs.
Tinubu clarified that the judiciary remains unaffected and will continue to function as mandated by the constitution.
“The Administrator will not make any new laws. He will, however, be free to formulate regulations as may be found necessary to do his job, but such regulations will need to be considered and approved by the Federal Executive Council and promulgated by the President for the state,” Tinubu added.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Mrs. Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the state House of Assembly for an initial period of six months.
Tinubu made the announcement in a nationwide broadcast on Tuesday, citing undisclosed reasons for the decision.
READ ALSO: JUST IN: Rivers Assembly Accuses Fubara, Deputy Of Gross Misconduct
“By this declaration, the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Mrs. Ngozi Odu, and all elected members of the House of Assembly of Rivers State are hereby suspended for an initial period of six months,” the President stated.
The suspension comes amid ongoing political tensions in Rivers State.
More updates to follow…
In what political watchers perceive as part of efforts to discomfit and scatter the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the feeling that its National Working Committee (NWC) antagonises him, the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has revoked the rights to occupy the land on which the party’s national secretariat, Abuja is sited.
Biztelers reports that Wike’s revocation notice was conveyed in a letter released in Abuja on Tuesday, dated March 13, 2025.
The letter was titled, “Notice of right of occupancy with file no: MISC 81346 in respect of plot no: 243 within central area district, Abuja.”
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The letter was signed by the Director, Land Administration (FTC), Chijioke Nwankwoeze.
Wike, it was gathered predicated his action on the PDP’s failure to pay the annual ground rents due on the property for twenty (20) years, from January 1, 2006, to January 1, 2025.
The negligence on the part of the opposition party, the letter claimed was despite many publications in several national dailies and electronic media to pay up every outstanding bill and ground rent on its property.
The letter read, “I have been directed to refer to the above Right of Occupancy granted to PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP), NATIONAL SECRETARIAT and inform you that the Minister of Federal Capital Territory has in the exercise of powers conferred on him under the Land Use Act No. 6 of 1978, Cap. L5, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, revoked your rights, interests and privileges over Plot No. 243 within Central Area, Cadastral Zone A00, Abuja.
“The revocation is in view of your continued contravention of the terms and conditions of grant of the Right of Occupancy by failing to pay the annual ground rents due on the property for twenty (20) years, from Ist of January 2006 to 1st of January 2025. This is despite the many publications made by the FCT Administration since 2023 in several national dailies and on electronic media requesting all allottees of plots in the Federal Capital Territory to pay up every outstanding bill and ground rent on their property.
“You would please note that the said breaches by PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP), NATIONAL SECRETARIAT (MISC 81346) run contrary to the provisions of Section 28, Subsection 5 (a) and (b) of the Land Use Act.”
There are palpable fears that the PDP’s national secretariat might be demolished or vandalised, sooner than later because Wike added that the FCTA administration would take immediate possession of the party secretariat until all bills are settled.
Tinubu Appoints Vice Admiral Ibas As Rivers Administrator
JUST IN: Tinubu Suspends Fubara, Deputy and Lawmakers
JUST IN: Wike Renders PDP Homeless In Abuja
Explosion Hits Trans-Niger Oil Pipeline In Rivers
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Billie Little
August 22, 2024 at 9:34 pm
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a little bit, but other than that, this is fantastic blog. A great read. I’ll certainly be back.