UKRaine Set to Enter Crimea ‘soon’ After Stealing North Korean Rockets: Reports; RUssia Blames UKR for Missile Strike on Border City, Pounds Key Village; How UKR DIY Drones are Taking Out RU Tanks; 77% of UKRs Confident in UKR’s Eventual Victory, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

NY POST: Ukraine set to enter Crimea ‘soon’ after stealing North Korean rockets: reports

Ukrainian forces are planning to enter Russian-occupied Crimea “soon” and have been spotted with North Korean rockets they reportedly seized from Moscow’s forces, according to reports.

Chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov did not specify when the military would begin their operation, according to Ukrainian news outlet TSN.

Crimea was annexed and invaded by Russia in 2014 and retaking it has become a key mission for Ukraine, which has been undertaking a slow but steady counteroffensive for weeks.

Recent fighting had ticked up over the last two days, near the village of Robotyne, near Orikhiv, British defense officials said Saturday.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have been spotted with North Korean rockets, the Financial Times reported.

Ukraine’s defense ministry suggested they captured the weaponry from Russia — despite both Moscow and the hermit kingdom denying that they had been conducting arms transactions.

The rockets were shown by Ukrainian soldiers operating Soviet-era Grad multiple-launch rocket systems near the war-torn city of Bakhmut, which has been the site of some of the war’s most brutal and long-lasting fighting.

A Ukrainian artillery commander said his troops don’t like using the missiles, which were made in the 1980s and ’90s, because “they are very unreliable and do crazy things sometimes.” —>READ MORE HERE

NY POST: Russia blames Ukraine for missile strike on border city, pounds key village:

The Kremlin accused Kyiv of firing a missile at a Russian city near the Ukrainian border that wounded 15 people and threatened retaliation – as Moscow’s forces pounded a strategically important village that had just been recaptured by Ukraine.

Russian air defense shot down a Ukrainian missile over the city of Taganrog in the Rostov region, located less than 25 miles east of the Ukrainian border, reported the Russian Defense Ministry.

Debris from the missile landed in the center of the city, leaving 15 people injured, according to local officials, who reported no fatalities.

Rostov regional Gov. Vasily Golubev said on Telegram that a café and a museum had been damaged in Taganrog, and that the windows of an apartment building had been blown out on impact.

Videos taken at the scene showed a part of a building lying in ruins.

A second missile was intercepted by air defenses elsewhere in the region, but it fell in a deserted area without causing any harm, Golubev added.

Earlier in the day, a Ukrainian drone was shot down outside Moscow, the Defense Ministry said. No injuries or damage were reported.

Maria Zakharova, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said that Moscow “reserves the right to take tough retaliatory measures” in the wake of the missile attack in Taganrog, which she said was “directed against the civilian population and peaceful infrastructure.” —>READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to +++++relevant+++++ and related stories:

+++++Russia-Ukraine News LATEST UPDATES: (REUTERS) (AP) (NY POST) and (WSJ)+++++

+++++WSJ: How Ukrainian DIY Drones Are Taking Out Russian Tanks+++++

+++++77% of Ukrainians confident in Ukraine’s eventual victory – poll+++++

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