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.
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.
A massive explosion has rocked the Trans-Niger Pipeline at Bodo, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, sending plumes of fire and smoke into the sky.
The incident, which occurred on Monday night, has left a section of the major crude oil transport pipeline in flames, though the exact cause of the explosion remains unknown.
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Authorities have yet to determine whether the explosion was due to sabotage, equipment failure, or other factors.
However, concerns have been raised over possible human interference, particularly in light of recent threats by militant groups to attack oil infrastructure.
The threats were issued as a response to the Federal Government’s decision to withhold Rivers State’s allocation amid the ongoing political crisis in the region.
More to follow………
With the commencement of the rainy season, the Osun State Government has issued modalities for the operations of tractors across farmlands in Osun State.
The state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon Tola Faseru, according to a government house statement on Monday in Osogbo, confirmed the development.
Faseru said interested farmers should reach out to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry or the General Manager of Osun State Agricultural Development Corporation (OSSADEC) through virtual or physical applications.
He noted that the government was subsidizing the operational rate per acre to lower the cost of farm operations, explaining further that the tractors will be domiciled at the OSSADEC farm centre located across the state.
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Faseru pointed out that some of the tractors were already in operation in some farmlands, and noted that the ministry was working to set up technical centres at designated locations for maintenance of the tractors.
He narrated further that tractor drivers are being assembled, trained and retrained for seamless operation even as he explained that the administration adopted a public private partnership approach for the management of the tractors.
“We are happy to inform the public that the tractors are out for the rainy season. We are conscious of the question of sustainability, hence the careful approach to inject private sector practices.
“In 14 or so years, this is the first time Osun is having new fleet of tractors. We have learnt from what caused the failure of the past efforts. We won’t repeat the same mistakes.
“We know we are not there yet. But Governor Adeleke has blazed the trail by procuring the first set of tractors. We innovated also because of ongoing issues at the local government level.
“We don’t want it to be managed in unsustainable manner. Hence, Mr Governor insisted the tractors be managed like a business although with public subsidy”, the Commissioner posited.
He stated that the ministry is reaching out to stakeholders among the farming community to ensure accelerated access for users within the state.
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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.