Russia – which has repeatedly violated European countries’ airspace with its war drones – has threatened Baltic countries if they let Ukraine do the same. Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry’s spokesperson, spoke after Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia’s Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga, which have disrupted its oil exports. “If third countries have provided or are providing their territory for enemy drones to fly over, they must fully understand – and we are confident they do, because it has been explained to them – the risks they are exposing themselves to.”
The US has ignored compelling evidence that Russia has been helping Iran to target US bases in the Middle East because it “trusts” Vladimir Putin, according to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Luke Harding writes that in an interview with Alastair Campbell on The Rest is Politics podcast, Zelenskyy said he had tried to draw the White House’s attention to it but “the problem is they trust Putin. And it’s a pity.” Zelenskyy said Donald Trump’s negotiators had failed to “really understand the details of what Russia wants”. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had “spent too much time” with Putin and his senior officials. The pair travelled to Moscow five times last year, but have yet to visit Kyiv.
Russian drones damaged a power substation in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said. The governor of south-eastern Zaporizhzhia region, Ivan Fedorov, said an overnight strike by Russian glide bombs killed a man in a village outside the region’s main town, also called Zaporizhzhia. Two women were injured. The governor of adjacent Dnipropetrovsk region, Oleksandr Ganzha, said Russian drones and artillery attacked a string of towns nearly 40 times throughout the day. At least three people were injured.
Officials also reported injuries from drone attacks in Sloviansk, near the frontline in eastern Donetsk region, and in Kherson region in the south and Sumy region on the border with Russia. Debris from a drone shot down in Russia’s southern Krasnodar Krai region killed a man, its governor said on Thursday.
Ukrainian drones blew up an oil terminal at Feodosia in Russian-occupied Crimea, Ukraine’s drone commander announced on Wednesday. Robert “Magyar” Brovdi also listed attacks on a Buk-M3 missile system and Zoopark counter-artillery radar in the Zaporizhzhia region, and a Tor missile system in the Donetsk region, in the Zzaporizhia region.
Ukraine’s anti-monopoly committee has sent back an application for a $760m purchase of a stake in Ukraine’s top drone and missile maker Fire Point by a UAE-based defence conglomerate, the agency told Reuters on Wednesday. The committee said the application from UAE-based Edge Group did not meet the required criteria. Fire Point makes many of the long-range drones Ukraine uses to attack Russia as well as the Flamingo cruise missile.
France is to increase its explosive drone stocks by up to 400% by 2030, draft legislation showed on Wednesday. The military spending bill was presented after France’s top commanders said it must be ready in the next few years for a clash with Russia and that Nato should adapt to produce more weapons and faster. According to the draft legislation, an additional €8.5bn will be allocated to boost stockpiles of ammunition between now and 2030. Stock levels of Scalp cruise missiles are to go up by 85%, torpedoes by 230%, and surface-to-air missiles by 30%.
The French government is also moving to double penalties for ships that fail to fly a flag or refuse to comply, in a measure apparently aimed at Russia’s “shadow fleet”. Vessels in the oil-smuggling fleet frequently change their flags, known as flag-hopping, or sail under invalid flags. France will impose penalties of up to two years in prison and a fine of €300,000.
Hungary’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, offered to send Russia’s Sergei Lavrov a document about Ukraine joining the EU, leaked recordings purported to show on Wednesday. The audio clips released by a consortium of investigative news outlets including VSquare.org were the latest in a series of leaked conversations. Reuters said it was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the audio, but Szijjarto has previously hit out over alleged wiretapping of his phone calls without denying the veracity of the recordings.
“I will send it to you. It’s not a problem,” Szijjarto reportedly says in one conversation, after Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, says Moscow wants a document about the role of minority languages in Ukraine’s EU accession talks. Reuters’ report said it was not clear what the document in question was and whether it was available in the public domain. Reuters also said the Hungarian government had been contacted for comment.
