Day 219 Roundup: Attack in Zaporizhzhia Kills 25; Putin Announces Annexation of Four Regions

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Image copyright: Ukrinform [via Ukrinform]

The Facts

  • As Russian Pres. Putin announced the annexation of four regions in Ukraine on Friday, an earlier attack on the Zaporizhzhia region – one of the territories being annexed alongside Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson – left at least 25 civilians dead and injured as many as 50.

  • Ukrainian officials, including the governor for the Zaporizhzhia region Oleksandr Starukh and Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, alleged Russia was responsible for the attack. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, an adviser to Zelenskyy, alleged 16 S-300 surface-to-air missiles were fired, four of which struck near a convoy of civilian cars that were "on their way to the temporarily occupied territory to pick up their relatives."

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The Spin

Anti-Russia narrative

As Russia illegally annexes Ukrainian territory following its sham referendums, Moscow continues to terrorize Ukraine's citizens by carrying out criminal attacks on its civilian population. This aggression must be met with a strong response.

Guardian

Pro-Russia narrative

Following previous acts of reprisals, this tragic attack on civilians was carried out by Ukrainian forces who wanted to inflict punishment on those who wished to escape their government into Russian territory.

TASS

Metaculus Prediction

Establishment split

CRITICAL

PRO

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