Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv drone strikes hit Black Sea ports ahead of crucial US-backed peace talks – UK Times

Ukraine has attacked several Russian oblasts with drone strikes, targeting regions including Moscow, Bryansk and Belgorod.

Sergei Sobhyanin, Moscow’s mayor, said Russian air defence units shot down at least 13 drones heading toward the capital and emergency services are responding to debris at impact sites.

The attack took place late last night.

The drone attacks caused temporary flight restrictions at Domodedovo airport in Moscow but these were later lifted, state media reported.

Bryansk oblast governor Alexander Bogomaz said the region had been under sustained drone attack since early morning, claiming that 120 drones were destroyed there.

At least five municipalities and parts of Bryansk city were left without heat and electricity, he said.

Earlier yesterday, Russia’s defence ministry said at least 102 Ukrainian drones were intercepted between 9am and 1pm across Bryansk, Kaluga, and Tula oblasts, as well as near Moscow.

Another attack was reported on Belgorod city on Russian telegram channels.

Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said preliminary information indicated significant damage to energy infrastructure and emergency services are assessing the extent of the damage.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has called a report by five European allies blaming Russia for killing late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny “troubling”, adding that Washington had no reason to question it.

The joint statement from the UK, France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said lab analysis of samples from Navalny’s body “conclusively” confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America and not found naturally in Russia.

“We obviously are aware of the report. It’s a troubling report. We’re aware of that case of Mr Navalny and certainly… we don’t have any reason to question it,” Rubio told reporters at a news conference in Bratislava during a visit to Slovakia.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko says whether or not Ukraine will survive as a country is still an open question, four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

“Right now, the question of the future of our country – whether we will survive as an independent country or not – is still open,” he said, speaking to the Financial Times.

Russia’s main goal, he said, is not just limited to Donetsk but Kyiv and the whole of Ukraine, in order to “destroy our independence”.

“If you want to kill someone, you shoot at the heart,” he said.

The mayor of the Ukrainian capital, which has seen the worst attacks from Russia away from the frontline, said Kyiv has been on the brink of catastrophe in the past two months.

Klitschko said the city has suffered severe damage to critical infrastructure from Russian attacks over the past two months.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said it has arrested the country’s former energy minister, German Galushchenko, as he tried to cross the border out of Ukraine.

The former minister resigned in November amid a massive corruption scandal, a damning incident that led to criticism from the war-hit nation’s allies.

“Today, while crossing the state border, NABU detectives have detained the former Minister of Energy as part of the ‘Midas’ case,” the NABU said in a statement yesterday.

The NABU did not name Galushchenko in its statement, but he served as the country’s energy minister last year and resigned in November.

“Initial investigative proceedings are ongoing, carried out in accordance with the requirements of the law and court sanctions. Details to follow,” the NABU said.

Galushchenko was among a chain of ministers forced to tender their resignations after the NABU revealed an alleged money-laundering scheme in Ukraine’s energy sector.

A Ukrainian drone strike ignited fires at one of Russia’s Black Sea ports, officials said Sunday, ahead of fresh talks aimed at ending the nearly four-year-old war.

Two people were wounded in the attack on the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region, which damaged an oil storage tank, warehouse and terminals, according to regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev.

Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian energy sites aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion.

Meanwhile, falling debris from Russian drones damaged civilian and transport infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa region, officials said, causing disruption to the power and water supply.

Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponise winter.”

The attacks came ahead of another round of US-brokered talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday and Wednesday in Geneva, just before the fourth anniversary of the all-out Russian invasion of its neighbour on 24 February.

North Korea announced completion of a new housing district in Pyongyang for families of North Korean soldiers killed while fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, the latest effort by leader Kim Jong Un to honour the war dead.

State media photos showed Kim Jong Un walking through the new street — called Saeppyol Street — and visiting the homes of some of the families with his increasingly prominent daughter, believed to be named Kim Ju Ae, as he pledged to repay the “young martyrs” who “sacrificed all to their motherland”.

In recent months, North Korea has intensified propaganda glorifying troops deployed to fight in Russia’s war against Ukraine, such as establishing a memorial wall and building a museum. Analysts see it as an effort to bolster internal unity and curb potential public discontent.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky suggested there are still questions remaining over future security guarantees for his country.

He also questioned how the concept of a free trade zone – proposed by the US – would work in the Donbas region, which Russia insists Kyiv must give up for peace.

He said the Americans want peace as quickly as possible and the US team wants to sign all the agreements on Ukraine at the same time, whereas Ukraine wants guarantees for the country’s future security signed first.

Mr Zelensky’s concerns were echoed by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a ranking member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“Unless we have real security guarantees on whatever peace agreement is ultimately determined, we are going to be here again, because one of the things we know is that Russia has geared up not just for Ukraine, but to go beyond Ukraine,” she told reporters in Munich on Sunday.

Russia has said Canada has “no right to comment on Russia’s internal affairs” as condemnation grows over allegations that Moscow killed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Canada’s foreign office posted on social media: “Russian authorities bear full responsibility for the death of Alexei Navalny while in their custody. The findings surrounding his death are deeply disturbing.”

Russia’s foreign ministry responded: “Canada has no right to comment on Russia’s internal affairs. Russia does not interfere in Canada’s domestic matters and calls on to adhere to the same principle.”