An office building damaged by debris from Russian aerial attacks, Kyiv, Ukraine June 1, 2023

Thursday’s Coverage: 3 Killed in Russia’s 18th Strikes on Kyiv in Month

Map: Institute for Study of War

UPDATE 1227 GMT:

Russian MP Andrei Gurulyov responds to military problems in Ukraine and drone attacks inside Russia with the threat to destroy the US and the UK.

And a panel on State TV dissolves into heated argument when one analyst, Viktor Olevich, challenges the “fantasies” of those saying that Russia is winning — on the battlefield and economically — and should attack the US.

You’d have to be suicidal to start a full-scale confrontation against the West in current conditions.

UPDATE 1220 GMT:

Ukrainian strikes are reported on the Russian-occupied port city of Berdyansk.

UPDATE 1209 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has ordered a full review of air raid shelters in Kyiv and across the country.

Zelenskiy’s instruction, issued in a high-level government security meeting, follows Thursday’s killing of three civilians — including a mother and her 9-year-old daughter — by debris from a downed Russian drone in Kyiv.

The victims were standing outside a locked shelter.

UPDATE 1200 GMT:

The anti-Kremlin Freedom of Russia Legion claims that its raids into Russia’s Belgorod region are continuing.

The militia attacked Russian military positions and villages in the border area on May 22 and on Thursday.

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Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, claims two people were killed and two injured when Ukrainian forces shelled a road in the town of Maslova Pristan.

The governor of the Bryansk region, which borders northeast Ukraine and Belarus said four houses were damaged by Ukrainian shelling.

Alexander Bogomaz said there were no casualties.

The governors of the Smolensk, Kaluga, and Kursk regions all reported overnight drone attacks, with explosions in fuel and energy facilities.

UPDATE 0831 GMT:

The high treason trial of Russian scientist Anatoly Maslov, prominent in the hypersonic missile program, opened in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

Maslov and two colleagues, all from an institute in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, were arrested June. A “source close to Maslov” said had suffered two heart attacks and spent time in hospital since then. Doctors in the pre-trial detention center have not given Maslov access to all of his prescribed medication.

The trial is closed to the public and media.

In mid-May, members of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics appealed to Russian authorities to “protect Russian aerodynamic science”, warning that staffers do not understand how to “do their job” for fear of being accused.

“Any article or report can lead to accusations of treason,” the signatories said, “The work we’re awarded for and lauded as examples for today becomes grounds for criminal prosecution tomorrow. In these circumstances, it’s simply impossible for our institute to work.”

UPDATE 0740 GMT:

The latest Russian shelling of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine has killed two civilians and injured 12.

In the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine, one person was killed and two injured during the day on Thursday. In the Kherson region, 16 civilians were injured.

UPDATE 0739 GMT:

In the Kyiv region, an 11-year-old boy and a 68-year-old man were injured by debris from the overnight Russian missile and drone attacks.

UPDATE 0718 GMT:

The Swiss Parliament has rejected a provision allowed the transfer of weapons to Ukraine through third countries.

Legislators voted 98-75 against amendments to the Law on Military Equipment, which bans deliveries to countries involved in armed conflicts.

During Russia’s invasion, Switzerland rejected requests from Germany, Spain, and Denmark to transfer Swiss-made weapons to Ukraine.

However, last week 25 of Switzerland’s Leopard tanks were decommissioned, raising the prospects that — with the amendments to the Law — they could be sent to Kyiv.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine’s air defenses downed all 36 Russian cruise missiles and Iranian-made drones late Thursday and early Friday, defeating Moscow’s 19th aerial assault since May 1.

Russia again tried a “cluster” attack, firing groups of drones about 11 p.m. and then missiles about 3 a.m., as on Thursday morning when falling debris from a downed drone killed three people — including a mother and her 9-year-old daughter — in Kyiv.

But for the 19th time, the Russians failed to overwhelm defenses and hit a single significant target in the capital.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commmander of Ukraine’s armed forces, said 15 drones were launched from the south and 21 cruise missiles fired by Tu-95 bombers from the north from the Caspian Sea.

Kyiv’s military posted on Telegram, “According to preliminary information, more than 30 air targets of various types were detected and destroyed in the airspace over and around Kyiv by air defense forces.”

Mayor Vitali Klitschko added that there have been no calls for rescue services.