Two Russian military vessels reportedly badly damaged in Ukrainian missile attack on Black Sea fleet base in Crimea
Ukraine has struck Russian naval targets and port infrastructure in the Crimean city of Sevastopol in what appeared to be the biggest attack yet on the home of the Russian navy’s Black Sea fleet. A large vessel and a submarine struck in the pre-dawn attack were so badly damaged as to be likely beyond repair, Ukrainian military intelligence official Andriy Yusov said. Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine attacked a Black Sea shipyard with 10 cruise missiles and three uncrewed speedboats, wounding 24 people.
Kim Jong-un invited Vladimir Putin to his country during their meeting in Russia and Putin accepted, Pyongyang’s state media KCNA reported on Thursday. The invitation came after the North Korean leader offered the Russian president his support for Russia’s “sacred fight” against the west during talks at a space base in Russia’s far east. The talks also touched on possible Russian help with North Korea’s space program.
The US state department said the Biden administration “won’t hesitate” to impose additional sanctions on Russia and North Korea if they establish further new arms deals.
Romania has found new fragments of a drone similar to those used by the Russian army near its border, officials say. Romanian specialist teams were deployed to the eastern county of Tulcea, where the fragments were spread over an area of “several dozen metres”, the defence ministry said. Preliminary analyses of the first two drone fragments had shown they did not explode in Romania, a Nato member, and were not carrying explosives.
The US ambassador to Russia has visited jailed US citizen Paul Whelan and reiterated Washington’s support to bring him back to the US, the state department said on Wednesday. Whelan, a former marine, was arrested in 2018 in Russia, convicted in 2020 on espionage charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
A Russian-installed court in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region jailed two Ukrainian soldiers for 29 years each, Russia’s investigative committee has said, after it accused them of killing three civilians. Moscow has repeatedly sentenced captured Ukrainian soldiers to long jail terms, in court proceedings that Kyiv does not recognise on Russian-occupied territory.
Russia’s defence minister said his forces were maintaining “active defence” in the face of Ukraine’s counteroffensive and that Moscow had no choice but to win. Sergei Shoigu said the autumn campaign was now under way and acknowledged to Rossiya-1 state TV that the situation on the front was difficult in places.
More than 100 port infrastructure facilities have been damaged in Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports since 18 July, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister has said. Oleksandr Kubrakov also said Ukrainian grain exports had fallen by almost 3m tonnes a month since 18 July, a day after Russia quit the UN- backed Black Sea grain export deal.
The European Commission president has said a major series of policy reviews will launched to ensure the 27-nation bloc can still function properly as it invites in new members in coming years. Ursula von der Leyen said the EU must prepare to grow to more than 30 members. Ukraine, Moldova and countries in the western Balkans are among those in line.
