Russia says 8 US ATACMS shot down – DW – 04/01/2025

Power outages continued in Moldova’s separatist region of Transnistria on Saturday. The breakaway republic was left without Russian gas after Kiev refused to extend a contract allowing Moscow to transit gas through pipelines in Ukraine.

Transnistrian officials said the first rolling blackouts came into effect on Friday evening.

The flow of Russian gas to parts of central and eastern Europe stopped on New Year’s Day after an earlier agreement between Ukraine and Russia expired. In addition to the expiry of the pipeline contract, the Russian company Gazprom stopped gas deliveries to Moldova on Wednesday due to a financial dispute with the Moldovan government in Chisinau.

The predominantly Russian-speaking region of Transnistria, which lies on the border between Moldova and Ukraine and was split off from Moldova in the 1990s, received Russian gas via Ukraine and used it to generate electricity.

Pro-Ukrainian protesters in Slovakia staged a rally against Prime Minister Robert Fico in Bratislava on Friday.

Under the motto “Slovakia is Europe! We have had enough of Russia!” demonstrators gathered in front of the government building.

The protest was organized by the “Mier Ukrajine” (Peace for Ukraine) initiative, which campaigns for arms deliveries to Ukraine. The number of participants in the rally was estimated at around 4,000, members of the initiative said.

Demonstrators carried banners with the words: “Treason!” and “We are Europe!” distributed by the initiative.

The organizers accused the left-wing populist prime minister of steering Slovakia in a pro-Russian direction.

Fico recently clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after Kiev stopped gas transfers from Russia to Slovakia.

The Russian authorities had to temporarily suspend operations at the airport in St. Petersburg for security reasons.

Takeoff and landing operations at Pulkovo airport were suspended for several hours due to reports of Ukrainian drones nearby.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 16 Ukrainian drones were destroyed overnight over the Bryansk, Smolensk, Belgorod, Pskov and Leningrad regions. The regions all surround St. Petersburg.

Operations resumed later on Saturday, a representative of Russia’s aviation regulator Rosaviatsia said.

Russian forces shot down eight US-made ATACMS missiles, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

“Air defense systems shot down eight US-made ATACMS missiles and 72 drones,” the Russian Defense Forces told news agencies. They did not say whether there were any casualties or damage.

According to publicly available data, ATACMS missiles have a range of up to 300 kilometers (190 miles). The administration of outgoing US President Joe Biden has supplied Ukraine with missiles capable of penetrating Russia’s interior.

Moscow has warned that their use by Ukraine could trigger a hypersonic missile attack on central Kiev.

Also on Saturday, Moscow announced it had taken control of the village of Nadiya in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region. The reports could not immediately be verified.

rm/wd (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)