Oorlog in Oekraïne #979: Drone Wars

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See a Russian inspector satellite get up close and personal with a spacecraft in orbit
The satellite "has a history of unusual maneuvering near other satellites in geostationary orbit, which has also generated suspicions regarding its mission."

A Russian military satellite named Luch-2 was found closely approaching a geostationary satellite last month, a maneuver that follows in the footsteps of its predecessor that was found eavesdropping on other nations' satellites on multiple occasions since 2014.

Aldoria, a French startup that tracks satellites in orbit using a network of ground-based telescopes, alerted satellite operators in May 2024 that it had detected "a sudden close approach" by the Russian Luch-2 to a satellite positioned in geostationary orbit. The maneuver by Luch-2 occurred on April 12, 2024 about 22,232 miles (35,780 kilometers) from Earth's surface, the company said in a statement.

Aldoria did not disclose what satellite Luch-2 might have been spying on or precisely how close it approached the object. The minimum distance between the two objects was 6.2 miles (10 kilometers), while today (June 3) they are about 12 to 30 miles apart (20 to 50 kilometers), Saloua Moutaoufik, Aldoria's public relations manager, told Space.com in an email.

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Poland demands location and extradition of criminal who murdered Polish soldier
Poland’s Foreign Minister, Radosław Sikorski, has demanded Belarusian authorities identify and hand over the murderer of a Polish soldier who died defending the border.

The soldier was fatally stabbed while preventing an illegal crossing. Sikorski asserted this act wasn’t perpetrated by refugees but by criminals.

“When someone puts a knife on the tip of a spear and strikes through the fence, across the state border, at a Polish soldier, they are not refugees, but ordinary criminals,” declared the head of Polish diplomacy at a meeting with voters.

The Polish foreign minister also said an investigation is ongoing regarding the death of the Polish soldier. “We demand that the Belarusian authorities identify the murderer and hand him over to the Polish authorities as part of the investigation already conducted by our Ministry of Justice,” Sikorski declared.

He also stated that later on Thursday, “literally in fifteen minutes, a protest note will be handed to the Belarusian chargé d'affaires at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

“I promise that the Belarusian authorities will face consequences for this. It is completely unacceptable for a neighboring country to behave this way at the border,” he emphasized.

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Russia attacks Ukraine's critical infrastructure, including in Kyiv region
Russia attacked Ukraine's critical infrastructure overnight into Friday, targeting at least nine regions including the capital Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities said.

Ukraine's air defenses shot down 48 out of 53 attack drones launched by Russia and all five cruise missiles launched, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram.

They were shot down in the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Odesa, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Khmelnytskyi regions, he said.

At least one person died and four injured in Russian attacks on Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region; four others were injured in the Kherson region and six others in Dnipropetrovsk, local officials said.

In Kyiv region, a fire broke out at an industrial facility, but there were no casualties and responders are working to try to extinguish the fire, the head of Kyiv region military administration said.