Ukraine updates: Russia 'massively' shells energy sites

Russia's ambassador to Italy was summoned on Saturday after Moscow announced it was putting a subsidiary of Italian heating firm Ariston Thermo Group under the "temporary management" of Gazprom.

"The government requests clarification on the matter of the nationalization of the Ariston Thermo Group," Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on X. 

Tajani said he had spoken to Ariston's top managers and Rome "stands alongside businesses, ready to protect them in all international markets."

Russian President Vladimir Putin placed the Russian subsidiaries of Italian water heating company Ariston and German appliance maker BSH Hausgeraete under JSC Gazprom Household Systems, according to a decree published on Friday.

The EU criticized the move on Saturday, saying it showed Moscow's disregard for international law.

"These measures, targeting legitimate economic activities, are yet another proof of Russia’s disregard for international law and rules," a spokesperson for the EU's diplomatic service said in a statement.

"The European Union calls on Russia to reverse these measures and seek acceptable solutions with European companies targeted by them," the statement said.

Authorities in Latvia have encouraged residents to use Saturday's "Big Clean-up Day" — a tradition that began in 2008 and now been followed by Baltic neighbors Lithuania and Estonia — to convert basements into air raid shelters.

"We call on everyone during the big clean-up, but also afterwards, to ensure that your cellars and your basements can be used as shelters in case of emergencies," said Vilnis Kirsis, mayor of the capital Riga.

Some in the former Soviet republic are concerned that it could be targeted next by Russia as it continues its invasion of Ukraine.

The small Baltic state, which is a NATO member, shares a 214-kilometer (133 mile) border with Russia and has been a strong supporter of Kyiv's defensive efforts.

In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow has no interest in invading "Latvia or Poland or anywhere else" and dismissed any claims to the contrary as "threat-mongering."

Ukraine carried out a drone attack on Russia's southern Krasnodar region overnight, sources told the Reuters and AFP news agencies. 

The sources said the Ukrainian drones attacked two oil refineries in Krasnodar, along with a military airfield.

"Ukrainian drones struck the atmospheric distillation columns of the Illsky and Slovyansky refineries. These are key technological facilities," a Ukrainian defense source told AFP.    

Russian state media reported that there was a fire at the Slavyansk plant due to the attack and the refinery partially suspended its operations. 

The Russian Defense Ministry earlier said it had intercepted dozens of Ukrainian drones over Krasnodar, along with two over the Crimean Peninsula. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz once again rejected the idea of supplying Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. 

"Taurus is a cruise missile that can fly as far as 500 kilometers (310 miles)  if you do it correctly," Scholz told a gathering of his center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD)  in the northern German city of Lüneburg. 

"There are weapons that can only be delivered if you retain control over everything that is done with them," Scholz said, while adding that Taurus is a precise and effective weapon. The German chancellor suggested that Germany would have to still operate the targeting systems of the Taurus missiles even in case they did up in Ukraine.  

"There will be no German soldiers and there will be no NATO soldiers in this war," Scholz said. "We will not act inside Ukraine with German soldiers and also outside the country, with war actions such as choosing targets and the like."  

Scholz believes that the delivery of the weapons could risk escalation and draw Germany into the conflict.

The opposition conservative Christian Democratic Union has criticized Scholz for not sending the Taurus weapons, arguing that the Scholz government is not doing everything it can to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia.    

A psychiatric hospital in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv was hit by a Russian missile, Ukrainian Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. 

Syniehubov said a 53-year-old woman was hurt from the attack, which damaged the hospital building along with local power lines. Utility workers were deployed to clean the rubble after the attack.  

Russia launched a fresh barrage of missiles at Ukraine early Saturday with the goal of targeting energy infrastructure, according to Ukrainian officials.  

"This night, 34 Russian missiles targeted Ukraine. We managed to intercept a portion of them," Ukrainian President Voldoymyr Zelenskyy wrote on social platform X, while reiterating his call to receive more air defense systems from allies.  

Ukrainian private energy firm DTEK said four of its thermal power plants had been damaged from the assault.  

"The enemy against massively shelled the Ukrainian energy facilities," DTEK said. "At this very moment, energy workers are trying to eliminate the consequences of the attack."

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said on Facebook that energy plants were struck in at least three regions of Ukraine. Galushchenko added that one worker was wounded in the Russian assault. 

Facilities in the western Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions in western Ukraine were among those targeted, Galushchenko said. Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk are far away from eastern Ukraine, where the frontline fighting is underway.      

Russia contends that Ukrainian energy infrastructure is a valid military target. The missile barrage comes ahead of May 9, when Russia commemorates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.   

The strikes also come as Ukraine waits for the arrival of US arms after US President Joe Biden signed off on a $61 billion (around €57 billion) aid package. 

wd/dj (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)