Huge explosion in breakaway region bordering Ukraine

A security service building in the city of Tiraspol is said to have been hit with a grenade launcher.

Local officials said no one was injured. Channel RT said videos and pictures circulating online showed the headquarters of Transnistria’s security agency damaged, with windows and doors broken into pieces.

Some images show at least two rocket launchers scattered on the street near the headquarters of the Transnistria security service.

While the fighting was concentrated in the East UkraineTransnistria, home to hundreds of Russian troops, occupies a strategically important position on Ukraine’s western flank, about 40 kilometers from the Ukrainian city of Odesa.

Photos circulating online show the headquarters of Transnistria’s security agency damaged. Photo: RT

Last weekend, General Rustam Minnekaev, acting commander of Russia’s Central Military District, said one of Moscow’s current goals in Ukraine is to establish “another point of access” to Transnistria.

This statement alarmed Ukraine that Russia wanted to occupy the entire Black Sea coast, including Odesa. However, these words have not been made clear whether this is the official plan of Moscow or just Mr. Minnekaev’s personal opinion.

Russian troops at the entrance to the village of Varnita, in Transnistria, March 4. Photo: New York Times

Meanwhile, channel RT quoting Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov of Belgorod province – Russia accused Ukraine of shelling the village of Zhuravlevka, 3 km from the border, injuring two people.

Mr. Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Twitter on April 25: “Some houses were destroyed, we will estimate the extent of the damage after inspection. We will restore everything destroyed.”

Russia also accused Ukraine of attacking several other border villages. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation on April 25 opened a criminal investigation into the attack on the village of Nekhoteevka, which damaged several buildings and vehicles. The agency said the village was under shelling from Ukrainian territory.

A day ago (April 24), the village of Otradnoye reported shelling that was believed to be from the Ukrainian side but caused no casualties, because the area being bombarded was far from houses.

View of the Azovstal factory in Mariupol. Photo: Sputnik

At the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol city, the humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians trapped here failed, the channel RT citing information from the Russian military on April 25. Moscow and Kiev have blamed each other for the fruitless evacuation efforts.

Mr. Mikhail Mizintsev, head of Russia’s Center for Defense Management, said: “The Kiev government once again interrupted this humanitarian operation. As of 8 p.m. on April 25, no one used the humanitarian corridor. proposed direction”.

Earlier on the same day, shortly after the corridor was opened at 2 p.m., Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk blamed the Russian side for the failed evacuation.

Initially, Ms. Vereshchuk told Ukrainian media that Kiev was ready to do “everything” to get the corridor working, but soon she claimed the humanitarian corridor was not properly set up and not working.

Russia successfully test-fired the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, in the Arkhangelsk region, on April 21. Photo Sputnik

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on April 25 called on United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to urge Russia to expedite the evacuation of Mariupol. Currently, about 100,000 people are still trapped in Mariupol.

On the same day, in an interview on Channel 1 Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed Russia’s position that nuclear war is unacceptable, Moscow successfully persuaded the US and other nuclear powers to agree to it in September. first.

However, Mr. Lavrov acknowledged that the situation had gotten worse, the risk of nuclear war was actually quite large. Lavrov also hopes the West will not allow sending its troops to Ukraine.