Russian army offices torched after parents conned into launching arson attacks
At least 25 Russian military enlistment offices have been torched after parents and elderly relatives were conned into launching arson attacks.
Mysterious callers and messages coaxed women and men into trying to burn down the draft centres after scammers persuaded them younger relatives would die if they refused. The attacks started in illegally-annexed Crimea and Kazan, central Russia, at the weekend and have continued throughout the week with arson assaults all over the country.
Two middle-aged women were seized after both attacks, a 62 year-old and a 51 year-old who both received messages on their phones warning their children would be killed, according to Russian media reports. Later a 75-year-old man threw a Molotov cocktail at an army enlistment centre in Severodvinsk after he received a similar warning from scammers about a younger relative.
The site of another drone attack in Odesa (AP)Russian security service investigators have raided homes of elderly people seized after the attacks and discovered they had received sinister orders to attack military offices. The mystery message senders have sparked paranoia among Russian parents and further undermined President Vladimir Putin’s strongman images.
The scammers who send the messages are said to have sent the messages via the Telegram channel and warn receivers they must “punish traitors” at the bases to be attacked. It is not yet known if the scam is linked to Ukraine but appears to be linked at least to a group with Ukrainian loyalties hell bent on crushing Putin’s bid to increase troops numbers.
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Drone strikes also struck MoscowIt follows weeks of escalating drone attacks on Russia, with direct attacks by Kamikaze drones on several office buildings within Moscow, close to the Kremlin. A UK security sources said: “Ukraine’s war against Russia may have taken a new turn with more clandestine methods and tactics being adopted.
“Whoever persuaded these Russians to attack the military offices has shown great ingenuity which will further undermine the Russian draft attempt to increase troop numbers. It is also ruthless, however, since these people will likely face pretty harsh justice. The war has become increasingly underhand and Moscow is seeing its own methods used against it.”
It the arson attack scam was revealed as Russian troops hit port infrastructure in Ukraine's Odesa region with Shahed drones overnight. A grain elevator was damaged and a fire broke out at the industrial and port facilities, which transport the country's crucial grain exports.
After leaving a deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain to world markets through the city of Odesa, Russia has hammered the country's ports with strikes with dozens of drones. Ukraine's Air Force intercepted 23 Shahed drones over Ukraine overnight, mostly in Odesa and Kyiv.
Serhii Popko, the head of Kyiv City Administration reported that all ten drones fired at Kyiv were intercepted. Numerous loud explosions were heard overnight as air defence systems were activated. Debris from felled drones hit three districts of the capital, damaging a non-residential building, Mr Popko said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said: "Russian terrorists have once again targeted ports, grain facilities and global food security. The world must respond." Mr Zelensky went on to confirm that some drones hit their targets, with the most "significant damage" in the south of Ukraine.
Ukraine is a major supplier of wheat, corn, vegetable oil and other agricultural products important to the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia where people are struggling with high food prices and hunger. Russia and Ukraine agreed on a UN brokered deal a year ago that reopened three Ukrainian Black Sea ports blocked by fighting.
Two civilians were wounded in shelling of the city of Kherson during the night, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Wednesday. In the eastern region of Donetsk, four people were wounded in Russian shelling over the past day, according to Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
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