May 4, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

A fire broke out in the reservoir of Russia’s Ilsky oil refinery in the southwestern Krasnodar region, state-run news agency Tass reported early Thursday.

Citing emergency services, Tass said the fire was caused by a drone strike.

There were no casualties, according to Krasnodar Gov. Veniamin Kondratiev, who said in a Telegram post that residents are no longer in danger.

Fuel to the fire: It comes after Russian state media on Wednesday said a drone strike ignited a fire that engulfed an oil storage facility in the port of Volna in Krasnodar.

Videos published on social media and geolocated by CNN show the oil storage tanks burning.

That facility is close to the Kerch bridge that was set ablaze by Ukrainian forces in October 2022. It is unclear how the fuel storage tank caught fire and Ukraine has not commented on the incident.

A former Russian lawmaker linked with militant groups in Russia claims an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin on Wednesday was the work of what he calls Russian partisans, not the Ukrainian military. 

Ponomarev, who lives in exile in Ukraine and Poland, was the only Russian MP to vote against the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 and has since been included on a list of terrorist suspects, according to the Russian authorities. 

On Wednesday, the Kremlin accused Ukraine of being responsible for two drone attacks on the Kremlin. 

In a statement, the Kremlin said, “We view these actions as a planned terrorist attack and an assassination attempt,” adding that “Russia reserves the right to take countermeasures wherever and whenever it deems appropriate."

Ukraine has denied any involvement in the alleged drone strike.

More on partisans: According to Ponomarev, members of partisans group inside Russia are usually "youngsters, students, residents of large cities. I am aware of the partisan activity in approximately 40 cities across Russia," he told CNN. 

According to Ponomarev, the alleged drone attacks inside Russia are a "new line of operation" for the groups, which he says pose a “real threat."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lashed out at Russia after he said at least 21 people were killed by shelling in the southern Kherson region. 

Zelensky added that at least 48 people were also wounded and sent his condolences to the families and friends of those affected. 

For days now, the blasts have echoed the condition each country’s military is in.

Ukraine is apparently striking at fuel depots in Russian-occupied areas and inside Russia itself — seemingly precise attacks but ones to which Kyiv is making no overt claim.

Russia has been lashing out at what often seem to be civilian targets in Ukraine, either in rage or through ineptitude. In Uman, more than 20 people died; in Pavlohrad, there were two dead and many injured.

In Kherson on Wednesday, three were killed when a crowded hypermarket was hit at 11 in the morning. And in Zaporizhzhia, two rockets slammed into a quiet residential garden that same overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, leaving a crater in a genteel, freshly sculpted lawn.

Nobody died in this last strike, but perhaps only because the first missile sent two families rushing for cover before the second struck.

During the night, the city of Zaporizhzhia was blasted with repeated air raid sirens — a familiar noise in the past months, but this time accompanied by explosions, suggesting Moscow’s escalation, as Russian forces apparently send S300 missiles into cities, according to local officials and accounts.

We don’t often know when Russia hits a military target in Ukraine, but the number of strikes on civilian targets suggests either extreme negligence and inaccuracy, or a tactic of intentionally terrifying ordinary people.

A pattern is forming, outside of Moscow’s repeated disregard for human life. Night by night, each side appears to be trying to weaken the other.

The Ukrainian strikes have hit obvious infrastructure targets — railroad tracks, huge fuel depots — which suggest both how researched their coming campaign is, and how poorly prepared Russia is. It is still, for the most part, doing things in the same old, obvious way.

The signals ahead of Ukraine’s long-heralded counteroffensive are getting louder. For two weeks, a slight uptick in clashes has been reported by pro-Russian officials along the Zaporizhzhia front lines, through which Kyiv’s forces will likely have to push if they are to separate the occupied peninsula of Crimea from the rest of occupied Ukraine — a key strategic goal. It is unclear if this uptick is Ukraine probing, or business as usual — and that is entirely the point.

Read the full analysis here.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new $300 million security assistance package for Ukraine Wednesday.

The top US diplomat said it is the 37th drawdown of US arms and equipment for Ukraine.

Here's what's in the package:

Earlier Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the package comes after "extensive work by the US government over the past few months to fulfill Ukraine's requests ahead of its planned counteroffensive and ensure they have the weapons and equipment they need."

The White House said it will continue to work with allies to support Ukraine.

Previewing this aid package earlier this week, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby suggested the new package would be "very much focused on ammunition and clearing capabilities" to give Ukraine "what they need to break through Russian defenses."

"They will be ready," Kirby said.

Russia claimed Ukraine launched an attempt to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin with a drone strike on the Kremlin overnight on Wednesday, an extraordinary allegation that was met with forceful denials in Kyiv.

The Kremlin said the attack was foiled and the alleged drones destroyed. Video that appeared on social media shows a bright flash and a puff of smoke over a part of the Kremlin, the official residence of the Russian president and the most potent symbol of power in Moscow.

In a statement, the Kremlin said it regarded the alleged attack as terrorism and a deliberate attempt on Putin’s life. “Russia reserves the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit,” it added.

US officials said they were still assessing the incident, and had no information about who might have been responsible. Whatever the truth, any admission of a security breach at the heart of the Kremlin is remarkable.

Moscow said the alleged attack took place in the early hours of Wednesday. The Russian president was not in the building at the time, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

CNN analysis of video showing the incident support the Kremlin’s claim that two drones were flown above the Kremlin early Wednesday, but did not show evidence of Ukrainian involvement:

Read more here.