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Drone assault across Russia
Ukraine launched one of its heaviest drone bombardments of Russia, with Moscow’s Defense Ministry saying Friday that the attack hit a dozen Russian regions, Russian-held Crimea and the surrounding seas.
“Russian air defenses intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones”
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones, and AP reported that the previous biggest Ukrainian attack over the past year involved 556 drones on May 17.
AP said Ukraine’s Security Service claimed it used drones to strike Russian navy ships and air defense radars in Kerch, naming the Volga and the Vyatka and the cargo-passenger ferry Petropavlovsk, and claiming the strikes started a large fire.
In parallel, AP reported that Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 47 Ukrainian drones were downed as they flew toward the Russian capital, and he did not report any casualties or damage.
AP also reported that Ukraine’s defenses overnight stopped 174 of 189 Russian drones, while four of seven Iskander-M ballistic missiles fired got through air defenses and struck various locations, according to the Ukrainian air force.
Emergency in Crimea
Authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea declared an "emergency situation" on Friday, with the Moscow-installed governor Sergey Aksyonov saying in a Telegram post that "A decision has been made … to sign decrees declaring a regional-level emergency situation" for Crimea and Sevastopol.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said the emergency announcement came amid fuel shortages and power cuts triggered by Ukrainian attacks on logistics chains and oil facilities across Crimea, the rest of Russian-occupied Ukraine and southern Russia.
In the same reporting, Zelenskyy hinted at escalation, saying on X that he had ordered "a 40-day influence operation," believed to mean an escalation of attacks aimed at "compelling (Russia) to end the war."
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation also reported that Ukraine’s Security Service said it used drones to strike Russian navy ships and air defence radars in Kerch, naming the Volga and the Vyatka and the cargo-passenger ferry Petropavlovsk.
Meanwhile, AP reported that two people were killed and seven were wounded in Russian attacks on the northeastern Kharkiv region over the previous 24 hours, with Oleh Syniehubov saying Russian forces struck the city of Kharkiv and 16 other settlements across the region.
Origins and stakes
A separate Conflits article framed the war’s start as beginning in 2014, saying "The Ukrainian Parliament officially designated February 20, 2014 as the date the Russo-Ukrainian war began" and describing an armored convoy leaving the base of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.
“The Ukrainian Parliament officially designated February 20, 2014 as the date the Russo-Ukrainian war began”
That same article said "Some 20,000 Russian soldiers participated in the occupation of Crimea," and it argued that Russia’s forcible takeover of the peninsula in February 2014 aimed to prevent both growing allegiance to the Ukrainian state and resistance to annexation by the Crimean population.
El País described how Putin’s 2014 annexation success turned into misfortune for people living in Crimea, and it quoted Putin saying in March 2014 in his annual State of the Nation address: "We were prepared for the worst possible scenario."
El País also quoted Putin in September 2016 saying, "The issue is historically closed. There is no return to the previous system. None," and it linked the entrenchment of that narrative to the peninsula’s role in the war.
In the context of international positions, TRT Français reported Türkiye’s stance on the 12th anniversary of the annexation, saying Türkiye stated it does not recognize the "de facto situation in Crimea," describing it as a "violation of international law."