An early morning attack, allegedly carried out by Ukrainian helicopters that flew very low to evade radar, against a refinery on Russian soil caused the immediate reaction of the Kremlin. Moscow assured that the bombing of the petrochemical plant in Belogorod does not create “comfortable conditions” for peace talks.
However, Moscow and kyiv resumed this Friday the dialogue but this time by videoconference. The last negotiations had been three days ago in Istanbul, and culminated hoping for a possible ceasefire and the Russian promise to withdraw.
But the next day, Moscow bombed almost all of Ukraine. and redoubled its offensive in the east of the country. Putin himself said that The conditions for an agreement were not yet in place.
This Friday, the Russian delegation, headed by Vladimir Medinsky, published an image of the ongoing dialogue. And the office of President of Ukraine Volodimir Zelensky confirmed the resumption of contacts.
“Our positions on Crimea and Donbas they haven’t changed,” Medinsky said, alluding to Russia’s demand that both territories go definitively into the hands of Mother Russia.
Russia annexed Ukraine’s southern Crimean peninsula in 2014. Donbas is the majority Russophone industrial region where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014.
The attack on Russian soil
Negotiations start this Friday with the thorn of the attack about the refinery on Russian soil, an incident that is unprecedented.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, which is in northern Ukraine, confirmed that an oil depot was on fire on Friday after two Ukrainian helicopters attacked.
The moment of the attack captured by a security camera. Photo: Reuters
Kremlin spokesman Peskov was asked at his daily press conference if the reported attack amounted to an escalation of the conflict.
“Of course this is not something that can be perceived as creating comfortable conditions for the continuation of negotiations,” he replied, according to the Interfax news agency.
He also said that the authorities were doing their best to reorganize the fuel supply chain and avoid interruption of power supply in Belgorod.
Does the war expand to Russia?
If the attack is confirmed, that is to say if Ukraine admits that it was its forces that attacked the refinery (responsibility for the Belgorod attack has still been claimed), it would be the first time that a Ukrainian aircraft has been known to fly in Russian airspace. to attack a target, taking the war to Russia.
According to reports this Friday, Jonathan Beale, defense correspondent for the BBC in Odessa, Ukrainian helicopter pilots they have a lot of experience to fly low and fast to avoid detection by military radar and air defense systems.
They have been doing exactly that in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. during years. I experienced and witnessed the extraordinary skills of Ukrainian military pilots in 2018, flying just a few meters above the tree line and light poles.
But if these reports are correct, adds Beale, fly at night, deep inside Russian territory, to launch an attack on an enemy fuel depot would have required extraordinary braveryas well as finely honed flying skills.
Low-flying helicopters remain vulnerable to short-range air defense systems. Flying at night would have reduced that risk but increased the danger of hitting an object close to the ground.
This alleged attack alone won’t dramatically alter the battle, Beale thinks But it could show that Ukraine has managed to keep its air force operational and give a big boost to the morale of Ukraine’s armed forces.