Day 494 of the Invasion of Ukraine: Russia hits Kyiv with Drones

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Day 494 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

• Russia carried out its first nighttime drone attack on Kyiv in 12 days
• Prigozhin-controlled Russian media group to be shut down amid failed rebellion
• Ultranationalists want to limit the travel of the families of Russian officials
• Poland will strengthen security measures on its border with Belarus

Russia carried out its first nighttime drone attack on Kyiv in 12 days

Russia carried out a nighttime drone attack on Kyiv after a 12-day hiatus, the Ukrainian military said today, with the Ukrainian capital's air defense systems destroying all targets, Reuters reported.

Ukraine's air defense forces said eight Iranian “Shahed” drones and three cruise missiles were involved in the attack, which were all downed.

"Another enemy attack against Kyiv," Colonel Serhiy Popko, who heads the military administration of Kyiv, wrote in his Telegram post.

Three private homes were damaged by falling debris in Kyiv region, and one person was injured, Ruslan Kravchenko, head of the Kyiv region military administration, said on his Facebook account.

Eyewitnesses told Reuters they heard explosions similar to the sound of air defense systems hitting targets. There is currently no information on the scale of the attack.

An air raid alert was declared in Kyiv, its environs and in a number of regions in central and eastern Ukraine at 02:00 a.m. that night local time, which lasted for about an hour.

Prigozhin-controlled Russian media group to be shut down amid failed rebellion

Yevgeny Prigozhin's media holding group will be closed, the director of one of its publications announced, Reuters reported. This underscores the deterioration of the situation surrounding the mercenary leader a week after the failure of his attempted rebellion, organized together with his fighters from the private military company Wagner, the agency noted.

As part of the deal that ended the rebellion, Prigozhin, now a former ally of President Vladimir Putin, was allowed to go into exile in Belarus, and his people were given a chance to choose whether to join him, to be integrated into Russia's armed forces or to return home.

Patriot Media, whose best-known publication is the RIA FAN news site, takes a strongly nationalistic, pro-Kremlin editorial line, while giving Prigozhin and his Wagner Group a favorable profile.

"I announce our decision to terminate our activities and leave the information space of the country," said the director of "RIA FAN" Yevgeny Zubarev in a video message published late yesterday on the profiles of the media holding in social networks. Zubarev did not give a reason for his decision.

On Friday, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that Russia's media regulator Roskomnadzor had blocked media outlets linked to Prigozhin without providing any further information on its actions.

Russian media also reported that the "troll factory" allegedly used by Prigozhin to influence public opinion in foreign countries, including the United States, had been dismantled.

In his video address, Zubarev praised the work of Patriot Media, saying it had defended both Prigozhin and Putin from attacks by the anti-Kremlin opposition, including those of jailed Alexei Navalny. The Patriot group worked against "Navalni and other members of the opposition who are really trying to destroy our country," he said.

Despite the failed coup attempt, Russian authorities have not outlawed Wagner, but on Tuesday Putin said the finances of Prigozhin's catering company would be investigated. He said Wagner and its founder received almost $2 billion from Russia in the past year.

PMC "Wagner" fighters fought in some of the bloodiest battles during the 16-month war in Ukraine and their ranks include thousands of ex-prisoners recruited from Russian prisons, Reuters recalls.

Ultranationalists want to limit the travel of the families of Russian officials

The ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) is working on a bill that would temporarily ban close relatives of senior Russian government officials from traveling to "unfriendly countries," Reuters reported, citing RIA Novosti.

Russia considers as "unfriendly" all countries that have imposed sanctions against it because of its military campaign in Ukraine.

Citing Russian State Duma deputy Sergey Karginov, RIA reported that the restrictions could affect, among others, law enforcement officials, judges, high-ranking executives of state-owned corporations, as well as members of the central bank's board of directors.

"Now that Russia is forced to confront a US-led group of Western countries that is provoking the conflict in Ukraine, such trips are not only inadmissible, but also dangerous," Karginov said.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, calling it a "special military operation" to demilitarize and denazify its neighbor. Kyiv and its allies call the war an unprovoked aggression aimed at grabbing land.

Despite its name, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia has since its founding in 1991 espoused a hard-line, ultra-nationalist ideology that calls for Moscow to reclaim countries from the former Soviet Union.

It was not immediately clear when the LDPR would submit the bill for consideration in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.

Poland will strengthen security measures on its border with Belarus

Poland will deploy 500 police officers on its border with Belarus, Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said today, quoted by Reuters.

A total of 187 people tried to illegally cross from Belarus to Poland yesterday, the border service said earlier.

"Due to the tense situation on the border with Belarus, I have decided to reinforce our forces with 500 Polish police officers from the prevention and counter-terrorism squads," Kaminski wrote on Twitter. He added that "they will join the 5,000 border guards and 2,000 soldiers already deployed along the border."

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