Ukraine-Russia struggle newest: Drone armed with explosives at German airport represents ‘new threat’, minister warns
Germany believes that professionals were behind the explosive-laden drone found near a runway at Leipzig/Halle airport on Wednesday amid fears of another hybrid attack on European soil.
Interior minister Alexander Dobrindt said that the drone represented “a new quality of threat” as counterterrorism police launched an investigation.
Mr Dobrindt said it was the nature of hybrid threats that the device was hard to trace, but suggested it had been “very professionally carried out”.
While the minister did not directly blame Russia for the incident, according to Bild the drone was found close to a Ukrainian Antonov cargo plane.
Oleksii Makeiev, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, promptly blamed Russia, asking “who else could it be?” Moscow has not commented on the discovery.
Airport workers discovered the drone in a restricted cargo area near the southern runway overnight into Wednesday. Flights were suspended and several aircraft were diverted as bomb experts attended the scene.
All speculation about the explosives, the drone, its origin, and who is behind it, is now part of the investigation, Mr Dobrindt said.
Watch: Zelensky says Russia likely to boost ballistic missile output
Russia claims more attacks on Ukrainian vessels in Black Sea
Russia struck two dry cargo vessels near Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa late on Wednesday, TASS news agency reported, citing the Russian Defence Ministry.
The vessels were transporting military goods, the ministry said.
Our quarrel is with Putin, not the Russian people, says Streeting on first trip to Kyiv as defence minister
British defence minister Wes Streeting said Britain’s “quarrel” is with Vladimir Putin but not the Russian people on his visit this week to Ukraine.
Speaking to The Sun on his first trip to Kyiv, Mr Streeting said: “Putin is losing this war, he is losing badly, and he is losing the war with an intolerable and unconscionable loss of life among his own people.”
He added: “I cannot understand how any leader of a country can simply place so little value on the lives of the people he sends into battle on his behalf. I find it staggering and unconscionable.”
He insisted: that Britain “[does not] desire and [has] never desired a conflict with Russia” but would stand “unequivocally” with Ukraine.
One killed after ‘Russia hits foreign-flagged ship’ in Ukraine’s Black Sea
A Russian attack damaged a foreign-flagged ship loaded with wheat in Ukraine’s Black Sea area, killing one crew member and causing a fire, Oleh Kiper, Odesa regional governor, said on Thursday.
Ukraine’s sea ports administration said that the vessel Mera Queen, under the flag of Guinea-Bissau, was hit late on Wednesday.
For more than a month, Russia has been ramping up its efforts to strangle Ukraine’s trade and export routes, launching nearly daily attacks at the country’s Black Sea ports.
Six killed across Ukraine overnight
Rescuers worked on Thursday to douse fires and clear debris in Ukraine’s eastern city of Balakliia after Russian strikes on homes killed three people overnight, authorities said.
Three people were also killed overnight and at least 19 wounded in Russian attacks on settlements in the northern region of Sumy.
Twelve more were wounded in the city of Sumy itself, following an attack with guided aerial bombs, the Ukrainian police said on Telegram.
A drone attack on a van wounded six in the southern region of Kherson, the regional administration said on Telegram.
Wildberries warehouse again attacked in Russia’s Tver region
A warehouse belonging to Russian logistics giant Wildberries has again come under attack from Ukrainian drones overnight, officials said.
Falling Ukrainian drone debris slightly damaged the facade of a Wildberries logistics complex in Russia’s Tver region, Vitaly Korolyov, the local governor, said on Thursday.
The incident is the latest in a series of Ukrainian strikes targeting Wildberries facilities. At least 20 warehouses owned by the company have been attacked since 18 July.
Watch: Zelensky says Russia likely to boost ballistic missile output
The real worry for Ukraine’s allies as beach strike on Russian civilians marks a shift in the war
The gentle splash of breaking waves on a resort beach and the laughter of children having innocent fun gives way to the screech and crack of an explosion. Seven people dead – three of them are children.
This was the scene on Monday in the Russian Black Sea town of Gelendzhik where, even if every adult killed and all 40 of those injured were wide-eyed fans of Vladimir Putin and part of his war machine, the children were innocent.
Russia hit two vessels near Ukraine’s Odesa
Russia has struck two dry cargo vessels near Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa late on Wednesday, the Russian defence ministry said.
The vessels were transporting military goods, the ministry said.
Zelensky says he spoke to Nato head Rutte about securing interceptors
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he has spoken with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte about the possibility of securing more air defence interceptors.
“Mark is well-informed about the threats, and we have coordinated our efforts regarding countries that possess the necessary missiles and the capability to help,” Zelensky wrote in English on social media platform X.
“It is crucial to eliminate all bureaucracy and make the required political decisions.”
After speaking with the Ukrainian leader, Rutte said in a post on X that he is “discussing with Allies how we can continue to get Ukraine the air defences they urgently need”.
Source: independent.co.uk
