Russian attacks damage infrastructure in Ukraine's Odesa, official says
Russian attacks damaged infrastructure and residential buildings in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa on Wednesday, Serhiy Lysak, the head of the city's military administration, said on Telegram without providing details.
Putin alleges Germany planted evidence in order to frame Russia for Leipzig drone attack
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Germany on Tuesday of planting evidence in order to blame Moscow for a drone attack last month at Leipzig airport.
Putin, speaking to reporters, did not say what he was basing the accusation on.
He said that by levelling accusations against Russia, the German government was trying to resolve domestic problems caused by Chancellor Friedrich Merz's falling approval ratings.
Putin says Russia has advanced in Donetsk region, surrounded some Ukrainian troops
President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russian troops had captured 270 square km of Ukraine’s Donetsk region in August and a large group of Ukrainian troops were surrounded.
Reuters could not independently verify his statement.
Russia continues to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Putin said, adding that Moscow's forces were preparing to launch massive strikes against energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
Putin says Russia is open to concrete talks on Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Moscow was open to "concrete" talks on settling the Ukraine conflict if new momentum could be injected.
Speaking to reporters after a summit in Kyrgyzstan, Putin also restated his confidence that Russian forces would prevail in Ukraine and Kyiv's forces would "crumble".
He said that the main challenge for Russia was drones, but said that Moscow was dealing with it.
German sanctions over drone incident will have 'consequences': Russian ambassador
Measures against Russia announced by the German government over an alleged attempted "hybrid attack" at a strategic airport last month will have "consequences", the Russian ambassador to Germany said Tuesday.
In a statement published to the embassy's Telegram channel, Sergey Nechayev called Berlin's claim that Moscow was behind the drone incident "unsubstantiated, absurd, and contrary to common sense", adding that the sanctions were "an unprecedented escalation of Russian-German relations and will not be without consequences".
Macron backs new sanctions on Russia over Germany drone incident
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday called for fresh sanctions on Russia over an incident involving an explosive-laden drone at a German airport in August, which Berlin has blamed on Moscow.
"France is fully in solidarity with Germany and supports the adoption of new European sanctions against Russia," Macron wrote on X.
Zelensky warns 'safe days in Russian skies are over'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday warned airlines, insurance firms and passengers that Russian airspace would be "completely unsafe" and filled with Ukrainian drones for the duration of the war.
"Today, we want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer, and everyone who still uses Russia's key airports: Russian airspace is becoming completely unsafe," he said on X. "There will simply be drones in Russia's skies on a scale that has to be taken into account," he added, warning "the safe days in Russia's skies are over."
Kremlin says Putin, Xi and Trump may hold a trilateral meeting
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping may hold a trilateral meeting at the next summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
At least 12 killed and over a dozen injured in Russian strikes on Kyiv
Germany blames Russia for last month's attempted drone attack at Leipzig airport
The German government on Tuesday blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport last month using a drone laden with explosives.
The drone was found near a Ukrainian plane on the evening of Aug. 4 and the device was defused.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said that the attempted attack fits into a known pattern of “Russian hybrid operations.” He said the German government “comes to the conclusion that Russia is responsible for the hybrid attack in Leipzig on Aug. 4.”
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that the Russian consulate in Bonn will be closed effective Sept. 18 and the contract under which the Russian House, a cultural center in Berlin, is operated will be rescinded.
Ukraine hopes for bolstered support as EU defence ministers meet in Dublin
EU defence ministers are grappling with bolstering Ukraine's air defences, as worries grow over Russia's campaign to destabilise Kyiv's European backers. This comes as Moscow is taking advantage of Kyiv running low on US-built air defence missiles to intensify its attacks on the country.
EU ministers are also expected to discuss Russia's hybrid war against Ukraine's European allies. FRANCE 24's Angela Diffley tells us more.
One person killed in drone attack on Russia's Belgorod, authorities say
One person was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, local authorities said on Tuesday.
Russian hybrid attacks will not 'scare' EU off supporting Ukraine: Kallas
The EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas vowed Tuesday that Russia would not succeed in scaring the 27-nation bloc off supporting Ukraine, as worries grow over a hybrid campaign by Moscow to destabilise Kyiv's European backers.
"Russia is hitting Europe with a wave of increasingly kinetic hybrid attacks," Kallas told journalists after a meeting of European Union defence ministers in Ireland. "Russia wants to scare us away from supporting Ukraine. They will not succeed."
Russia hit thermal power plant in Ukraine's south, Naftogaz says
A Russian drone and missile attack on Monday damaged the thermal power plant in Ukraine's southern Odesa region, state energy company Naftogaz said on Tuesday.
Russia targets Kyiv and its region for sixth consecutive night of attacks
At least nine people have been killed and 14 injured in Russian strikes on Ukraine overnight. Moscow targeted Kyiv and the wider region in the attack, hitting a railway depot in the Kyiv. Russia's defence ministry said it had also struck infrastructure in the Southern Odesa region.
Russia has intensified strikes on the beleaguered Ukrainian cities in recent weeks disrupting the daily lives of millions of people and triggering up to a dozen air-raid alerts a day.
Four people killed by Ukrainian drones in Russian-controlled Luhansk region, Moscow says
Four people were killed and three more wounded by a wave of Ukrainian drone attacks in the Russian-controlled part of Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, the region's Russian-installed governor, Leonid Pasechnik, said.
Brussels floats fresh plans to increase sanctions against Russia
Beyond ramping up intelligence sharing and police cooperation, the EU is trying to raise the cost of the war for the Kremlin by bolstering support for Ukraine and hitting Moscow with sanctions.
Brussels has floated fresh plans to add 1,600 more firms and individuals to its already long list of Russians sanctioned over the war.
Meanwhile discussion has resurfaced on whether the bloc should tap some 200 billion euros ($235 billion) of frozen Russian central bank assets to fund Ukraine.
A proposal to use the funds failed last year after opposition from Belgium, where the bulk of the assets are held, and the EU came up with a 90 billion euro loan for Kyiv off its own back. But there is already a sense that the money might not last the two years it was intended for and the EU may need to find a way sooner or later to use the immobilised Russian funds.
"As each day passes, the cost of the war is rising," the top diplomats of the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden wrote in a letter last week.
Russia fired more than 2,800 drones at Ukraine in August as battlefield tactics evolve
Over the course of the month of August, Russia launched more than 2,800 jet-propelled drones at Ukraine, a type of drone that is harder to shoot down.
That has come with a massive uptick in the number of drones used, considerind those now found on the front line are quite a new model: Ukrainian authorities say they are pressed into service almost immediately after leaving the factory.
FRANCE 24's Oliver Farry looks at those new drones, and how Russia is using them to try and change the course of the war.
- 'Massive' Russian air attack on Kyiv kills eight people
- Port infrastructure in southern Odesa region came under Russian attack, emergency service says
- Death toll from Russian strikes in and around Kyiv rises to 12 dead, 21 wounded
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
