Russian oppositionist Ponomarev on "Shaheds" attack on his house: It exploded heavily, right in front of my doorstep, bunch of debris flew at me. PHOTOS
Russian oppositionist Ilya Ponomarev said that on two consecutive nights, 31 July and 1 August, Russian attack drones tried to attack his house in Kyiv region. He was injured in the attack.
Ponomarev said this on his Facebook page, Censor.NET reports.
"The Russian authorities have been trying to get to me for a long time. There was one (clearly unsystematic) assassination attempt back in 2016, which was unsuccessfully carried out by a Chechen killer who was then shot short of death by Amina Okuyeva. There were three more serious attempts after February 2022 during our military actions. They failed, but they led to the fact that I have very serious security in different countries. Those who have seen it know. It is very difficult to get close to my Kyiv house because of this.
So the enemy decided to go the unconventional route.
Yesterday, on 31.07 - I said it on my Facebook page - I woke up at 3 am because the air defense cannonade against the drones started. At 3:15, there was a loud explosion, one of the drones (by the sound it was clear that it was a Shahed-136, also known as Geranium-2, carrying 40 kg of explosives) fell into the water right in front of the house. It is unclear where it was flying to. And closer to 4 a.m., two drones coming from the northeast were also shot down, fell and exploded (one on the ground, the other detonated against the tree canopy), one 50 meters away and the other about 100 meters from the house. They caused quite serious damage - several windows were smashed.
My bodyguards and I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, we couldn't believe in a personal attack, and there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for what was happening - a whole group of drones could well have been launched at the same target, air defences could have shot them down at approximately the same point above our house, and they fell in the same place. Of course, it was confusing that there were three drones all in one place, which is very unusual - but not impossible. So we assessed the damage, ordered new windows and went to work.
But tonight the attack happened again. I woke up again shortly before the explosion - this infernal machine was making noise like a faulty moped. But this time it was much louder, coming from the same direction as yesterday, and - the main difference - there was no air defence (later it turned out that the air raid had been cancelled a few minutes before). The thing exploded very heavily, right in front of my doorstep, and a bunch of debris flew at me. The security guards who came quickly put out the fire, but there was a lot of blood, and I had to go to the hospital quickly.
Many thanks to the doctors (I certainly admire the way Ukrainian medicine works now, especially for war injuries), they stitched me up in two hours. So now I look scary, angry, sitting in my office and reassuring all my friends who are calling me all the time. You are the best!
In general, I feel a little bit like Ismail Khaniya on the contrary. The only thing is what kind of state they are, such kind of air attacks they have. It's a good thing that we didn't have time to perfect GLONASS at the time. I think its error saved me. I was not four steps away from death, but almost five metres. The police measured it.
Now our task is to make them regret this mistake. We will not double our efforts on the frontline, on the partisans, and on sanctions, but will increase them tenfold. My ear is still intact, so I have room for improvement. And yes, whoever is reading me in Moscow, I will not be at home until the end of the war, so I would be grateful if you could leave him alone. You have blown up such a delicious blackberry.
Everyone is asking how to help. Friends, I'll say it simply: we really need money in this situation. You can send it to [email protected] with a note that it is for Ilya. And if you don't feel like sending it to me, I won't be offended at all, but I will ask you to send it to the Legion "Freedom of Russia". To be honest, they need it even more. They have all the details on their TG channel," Ponomarev said.
