Ukraine-Russia war latest: Huge explosion in attack on Kyiv gas facilities – UK Times

Russia launched 381 drones and 35 missiles at targets overnight, Ukraine’s air force said on Friday.

It said that they were targeting energy infrastructure.

Russia was reported to have carried out a major attack on key Ukrainian gas production sites on Friday.

Naftogaz’s CEO said that a strike had hit Ukraine’s main gas production sites in Poltava, Kharkiv region.

The Russian defence ministry said that Russian forces carried out a massive strike on Ukrainian military-industrial enterprises and gas and energy infrastructure facilities, as reported by Interfax.

Russia has lost around 1,113,430 troops since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces assessed in a report published on Friday.

On top of casualties, they claimed, Russia has lost 11,225 tanks, 23,297 armoured fighting vehicles, 33,413 artillery systems and 427 planes, among other equipment.

The Trump administration this week formally notified congress of a $51mn arms sale to Ukraine and its allies, two sources told the Kyiv Post.

An official told the outlet the step ‘signals a sustained US commitment to supplying Kyiv’, despite concern that a government shut down could disrupt the flow of aid to Europe.

One of the reported shipments was said to be a $1mn package for firearms, parts, and components for Ukraine.

The other was described as a wider $50mn package ‘in defense articles, including technical data and defense services’ for Ukraine, the UK and Belgium, the outlet reported.

Ukrainian drones struck a Russian chemical plant some 1,700 kilometres from the frontlines overnight, according to local officials.

Regional Governor Dmitry Makhonin said that Ukraine had hit the Azot chemical plant in Perm Krai on Thursday into Friday.

The plant is one of Russia’s largest nitrogen fertiliser producers and supplies chemicals for both agriculture and explosives.

Russian forces are regularly attempting to jam UK military satellites, the head of UK Space Command has revealed.

Major General Paul Tedman told the BBC that these efforts to disrupt UK-based military activities occur “weekly”, with Russia also closely monitoring the country’s space assets.

“We’re seeing our satellites being jammed by the Russians on a reasonably persistent basis,” Maj Gen Tedman stated.

Russia’s FSB security service claimed to have detained a 53-year-old Russian man alleged to have been recruited by Ukraine for acts of “sabotage and terrorism”, the Russian TASS news agency reported on Friday.

The suspect was alleged to have been recruited “to gather intelligence regarding military installations on the peninsula and to prepare acts of sabotage and terrorism,” the FSB told the agency.

The FSB said the suspect had taken components of an IED from a cache and sent photos of the deployment of two S-300 air defence systems in Crimea and their coordinates to the Ukrainian special service by WhatsApp.

The FSB claimed he had confessed and been remanded in custody.

Munich airport was shut down temporarily late on Thursday following a string of reported drone sightings in the area, the airport said.

Officials said that 17 flights were unable to take off, affecting almost 3,000 passengers. Fifteen arriving flights were diverted to three other airports in Germany and one in Austria.

Amid heightened concern over recent drone sightings and incursions attributed to Russia, European authorities and foreign media have expressed concerns that Russia could be behind the incident in Munich.

There was no immediate confirmation of where the drones came from. The airport has since reopened.

Copenhagen and Oslo airports were recently forced to shut after drones were sighted near airports and military airspaces. Russian authorities rejected claims of involvement in recent drone incidents in Denmark.

Danish authorities said there was no evidence Russia was involved.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has said it is ‘impossible to believe” that Moscow wants a war with Nato nations.

Putin said that while Europe’s “ruling elites” have warned a war with Russia is near, it is “impossible to believe” as it will run against Russia’s security interests. He was speaking yesterday at the Valdai Discussion Club, a forum of Russia experts, in the city of Sochi.

He also said Europeans are sceptical as they “don’t know what is so bad about Russia and why they should tighten their belts to counter Russia”.

The upgrades likely involve Russia’s Iskander-M and Kinzhal missiles, which have ranges of up to 500km and 480km respectively. These missiles follow a standard flight path before suddenly diving steeply, making interception by Patriot systems difficult, Ukrainian and Western officials told the Financial Times.

Ukraine’s missile interception rate has dropped sharply in recent months, from 37 per cent in August to just 6 per cent in September, the FT reported, citing Ukrainian Air Force data.