Russians warned devastating 'retribution' attack will take place on August 24

01 August 2023 , 08:54

786     0

Russians warned devastating 'retribution' attack will take place on August 24

A chilling new video from the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) warns the Russians to watch their backs as they plan for an impending attack on multiple cities in less than a month.

The animation, posted on the official page of the Strategic Communications Directorate for the AFU Telegram channel, is captioned: "The year of retribution continues. Dates are subject to change. And the result remains - the pain and tragedy of the occupiers." It shows a young cartoon boy beside a ruined house weeping over a drawing of a family with a Ukrainian flag. He turns the drawing into a paper plane, which then turns into a drone – which in turn becomes part of a fleet.

Red lines are then shown moving from different parts of Ukraine to places in Russia or occupied by Russia, including Sevastopol and Melitopol. The final red line is shown extending from Kyiv to Moscow, before videos of previous attacks are shown and the screen goes dark with a date shown: August 24.

The given date for the attack is the Independence Day of Ukraine (Telegram/AFU StratCom)

The given date is the Independence Day of Ukraine, which commemorates the day in 1991 when the country broke free from the Soviet Union. Last year, the day was marked by threats of airstrikes on Kyiv, with some city residents fleeing the area. The clip was released a day after three drone missiles attacked government buildings in Moscow.

Russian authorities also accused Kyiv of yet another attack on Moscow today on the same building as early Sunday. Kremlin officials have claimed that the intensified attacks on the capital region reflect failures in Ukraine's counteroffensive, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said over the weekend that "the war is gradually coming back to Russian territory", but stopped short of taking responsibility for the attacks.

Russian model killed after calling Putin a 'psychopath' was strangled by her ex

It shows a young cartoon boy beside a ruined house (Telegram/AFU StratCom)

The Russian Defense Ministry said in the early hours of Tuesday that it shot down two Ukrainian drones outside Moscow and jammed another, sending it crashing into a skyscraper in the Moscow City business district and damaging the building's facade. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the drone crashed into the same building that was damaged in a similar attack early Sunday. IQ-Quarter is just 4.5 miles from the Kremlin and has offices of several government agencies, including, reportedly, the headquarters of Russia's Ministry for Economic Development.

Zelenskyy's advisor Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that Moscow "is rapidly getting used to a full-fledged war, which, in turn, will soon finally move to the territory of the ‘authors of the war’ to collect all their debts", without confirming or denying Kyiv's involvement in the attack. The attacks on Moscow and Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, follow a deadly Russian missile strike on Kryvyi Rih, a city in central Ukraine and Zelenskyy's hometown. Monday's strike partially destroyed a residential building and killed at least six people, wounding dozens more.

Rachel Hagan