Live blog | Ukrainian drones hit Russian energy supplies

America will send military equipment to Ukraine as quickly as possible. President Joe Biden said in signing the relief package that “shipments will begin immediately, in the coming hours.” Biden today signed the hard-fought law that frees billions of dollars in new US aid for Ukraine. Earlier today, the US Senate passed the bill after the House of Representatives approved the aid shipment last Saturday. The shipment has been discussed for months.

Also read | Biden will send military equipment to Ukraine ‘within hours’

Russian authorities report that energy supply buildings in the Smolensk region are on fire due to Ukrainian drone attacks. So far there have been no reports of casualties. People have been evacuated elsewhere in Russia.

“Our region has once again become the target of a Ukrainian drone attack,” the governor of the Smolensk region Vasily Anochin reports on Telegram. “Fires have broken out as a result of enemy attacks on civilian energy infrastructure.” It is still unclear exactly what targets were attacked. This would involve both power and fuel supplies. From images on social media it appears to be a large oil depot. That would have caused a huge fire.

Smolensk is located west of Moscow, near the border with Belarus. People were evacuated in the more southern Lipetsk region. According to Governor Igor Artamonov, a drone landed in an industrial area. It is unclear where it was on its way to.

Ukraine could soon see a new supply of weapons and other military equipment from the United States. After the House of Representatives previously approved a support package worth $61 billion, the US Senate has now also approved. Anyone who looks at the situation on the battlefield will see that the package is desperately needed, says correspondent Chris Colijn. “The Russians are pushing hard and they also want to start a major offensive in the next two months.”

A Russian deputy defense minister has been arrested on suspicion of taking bribes, Russian state media report. It concerns Timur Ivanov, who has been in office for eight years. Russia has twelve deputy defense ministers. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin has been informed of Ivanov’s arrest. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu had already been informed in advance. What Ivanov allegedly accepted bribes for, and the amount, has not been disclosed.

According to Russian news reports, 48-year-old Ivanov, a confidant of Shoigu, could face a prison sentence of up to fifteen years. He is believed to be the highest-ranking Russian official to face such accusations since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Ivanov, an expert in cybernetics and nuclear energy, worked at energy companies and for the Moscow regional administration before ending up at the Ministry of Defense in 2010. In 2016 he became deputy minister. According to Forbes magazine, Ivanov is one of the richest people in Russian security and defense circles.

This live blog is based on reporting by BNR’s own correspondents and editors, The Guardian, ANP, Al Jazeera, Reuters, Associated Press, CNN, BBC, CNBC, Sky News and Agence France-Presse. BNR also uses online messages from the news agencies Tass, RIA Novosti and Interfax (Russia) and Belta (Belarus). Because reporting from these agencies is not verifiable and cannot be qualified as independent, in these cases it is explicitly stated where the reporting comes from.