Ukraine Recap: Russian Missile Attack Thwarted at Airfield Southwest of Kyiv

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is about to hit the 16-month mark. Kyiv’s ground counteroffensive in the south and east presses on while meeting strong resistance from heavily fortified Kremlin forces. A top Zelenskiy aide lamented delays by Western allies to provide more weapons. “Breaking the Russian front today requires a reasonable and balanced approach,” Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter. Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner militia group, said Russian troops are sustaining heavy casualties in a new video challenging Moscow’s military leadership. “Our soldiers are dying,” Prigozhin said.

Ukraine’s foreign minister pushed back on a report that Russia’s security service had broken up an attempt by five men to buy radioactive material to smuggle into Ukraine and conduct a false-flag operation. The report came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy alleged that Russia is weighing a “terrorist attack” on the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that would result in a radiation leak, and said he would share intelligence on the matter with the US, China and others. Zelenskiy urged other countries to heed his warning.