Russian attacks continue after ICC arrest warrant for Putin
Strikes on multiple fronts, including the capital Kyiv and the western province of Lviv, come hours after the ICC’s announcement.
Widespread Russian attacks in Ukraine have continued following the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights.
The Ukrainian Air Force said in the early hours of Saturday that Ukraine was attacked by 16 Russian drones on Friday night.
The air force command wrote on Telegram that 11 of the 16 drones were shot down “in the central, western and eastern regions”.
The targets included the capital Kiev and the western province of Lviv.
Kyiv city government chief Serhii Popko said Ukrainian air defenses shot down all drones heading for the Ukrainian capital, while Lviv regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi said on Saturday three of the six drones were shot down, while the other three hit an adjacent district. Poland.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the attacks were carried out from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov and the Russian province of Bryansk, which borders Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military added in its regular update on Saturday morning that Russian forces had carried out 34 airstrikes, one rocket attack and 57 anti-aircraft fire in the past 24 hours.
The Facebook update said falling debris hit southern Kherson province, damaging seven homes and a kindergarten.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, regional governor of Donetsk province, said one person was killed and three injured when 11 towns and villages in the province were shelled on Friday.
Further west, Russian missiles hit a residential area in the city of Zaporizhzhia, the regional capital of the partially occupied province of the same name, on Friday night.
There were no casualties, but houses were damaged and a catering establishment was destroyed, said Anatoliy Kurtev of the Zaporizhia city council.
ICC warrant
The International Criminal Court said on Friday it has issued an arrest warrant against Putin for war crimes and charges him with personal responsibility for the kidnapping of children from Ukraine along with Russia’s children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova.
It is the first time that the world court has issued an order against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
The move was immediately rejected by Moscow – and welcomed by Ukraine as a major breakthrough.
Its practical implications may be limited, however, as the likelihood of Putin being tried before the ICC is highly unlikely because Moscow does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction and does not extradite its nationals.
United Kingdom military officials said on Saturday that Russia is likely to expand conscription. In its latest intelligence update, the British Ministry of Defense said deputies in the Russian State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, introduced a bill on Monday to change the conscription age for men from 21 to 30, from the current 18 to 27.
The ministry said that currently many men aged 18 to 21 are claiming exemption from military service because they are pursuing higher education. The change would mean that they eventually have to serve after all. It said the law is likely to pass and take effect in January 2024.