Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv claims devastating strike on Crimea bridge destroyed 50 military vehicles – UK Times

Russian drones attacked railway stations, electrical signalling posts and substations in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, killing a railway worker, the chief executive of Ukraine’s state railway Ukrzaliznytsia said on Friday.

CEO Oleksandr Pertsovskyi also said another railway worker was injured. The attack followed an overnight ‌one on Thursday when a railway worker was killed and four injured in ​an attack on the town of Konotop, also in the Sumy region.

Ukraine’s air ‌force said Russia had launched 117 drones since ⁠6pm local time on Thursday, with air defence units downing or ⁠neutralising 102 of them.

Three people were injured in a drone attack in the southern city of Mykolaiv overnight, local ‌authorities said on Telegram, reporting damage ​to 14 private buildings. Another drone attack early ‌on Friday injured a man, they said.

The Independent ​could not independently confirm the reports.

The UK is facing the highest level of threat from Russia since the Cold War, the chief of defence staff has said in a chilling warning for the country.

Stressing that Britain faces its “most dangerous period” in decades, Sir Richard Knighton said the country needs to prepare for “longer conflicts” like in Ukraine.

The threat comes as Russia is “definitely raising the stakes and risks crossing a line,” through cyber attacks, assassination attempts, “or trying to smuggle technology and reckless sabotage,” he said.

His speech came before two senior defence resignations in a blow to Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday.

John Healey and Al Carns both quit government over the Defence Investment Plan (DIP), which Mr Healey said “could make the country less safe”.

Donald Trump and the leaders of Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan are set to join Emmanuel Macron in the French lakeside resort of Evian-les-Bains for the G7 summit next week.

There could be awkward moments between Trump and Macron, as well as among the US president and the other G7 leaders he’s criticised for not joining him in Iran.

To make matters worse, experts say waning support for Ukraine in its war against Russia from the Trump administration “has really irritated the French”.

“They feel this is important and we’re not paying attention to it,” said Kurt Volker, a former US ambassador to Nato.

Macron has invited Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to join the leaders’ discussions on Tuesday.

“But I also think European leaders are quite professional when it comes to politics, and in some ways diplomacy at this point, and will maybe see it as an opportunity as well,” Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Associated Press.

Residents of Crimea and other occupied territories are keenly feeling the blow of Ukraine’s increasingly aggressive drone campaign.

The peninsula has had periodic fuel shortages from Ukrainian strikes before, but this crisis is the worst since it was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

At the end of May, authorities restricted the sale of gasoline to 20 litres (5 1/3 gallons) per vehicle owner per week using prepaid coupons. Those were snapped up immediately following their release on an official messaging app channel, and motorists lined up for hours, waiting to refuel.

Social networks have been abuzz with requests and advice on where to find fuel, and authorities launched a hotline for tourists who have found themselves trapped.

While fuel shipments over the Kerch Bridge long has been suspended for security reasons since the Ukrainian attacks, fuel also has been carried by ferries. Those shipments are expected to increase.

Some motorists bring their own gas over the bridge from the mainland, but they are restricted to carrying 100 liters (about 26 1/2 gallons) per vehicle. Some speculators are selling gas at double the market price.

Crimea attracted nearly 7 million tourists last year, and it had hoped to top that number this year, but instead business daily Kommersant reported that nearly 80 per cent of hotel bookings were canceled in late May and early June.

The Russian city of Nizhnekamsk in the central region of Tatarstan will cancel all public events on Friday amid the threat of drone attacks from Ukraine, mayor Radmir Belyayev said on his Telegram channel.

Several major industrial facilities, including Sibur’s Nizhnekamskneftekhim petrochemical plant and Tatneft’s TANECO oil refinery, are located in the area. Belyayev did not mention any damage ⁠caused by drones.

Russia downed down 231 Ukrainian drones overnight, news agencies said, citing the defence ministry.

The major threat comes on the day country is marking Russia Day ⁠(12 June) with ​a ⁠national holiday.

The city of Togliatti, home to ‌Russia’s biggest carmaker Avtovaz and ​some industrial ‌facilities, has come under ⁠drone attack, Samara ⁠region governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said on ‌Telegram, ​without giving details.

The Kremlin has shrugged off the prospect of new European Union sanctions against its banks, saying they ⁠had already been operating under sanctions for a long time and this had not stopped them from making a profit.

The EU has proposed a ⁠new package of ​sanctions against ⁠Russia for its war in Ukraine, heavily targeting the country’s banks and crypto ⁠networks in an effort to weaken its ​financial ⁠system.

“Our largest banks ‌have long been under sanctions. This does not prevent the banks from earning large profits, ‌developing, maintaining absolute stability,” Kremlin spokesperson ‌Dmitry Peskov told journalists, when asked about the sector’s ability to weather new restrictions.

Peskov highlighted Wednesday’s comments ⁠by president Vladimir Putin about the overall economic situation being under control.

“The same can be said about the banking sector. Our central bank has repeatedly spoken about this; it is monitoring the situation quite closely and taking the ‌necessary measures to maintain this stability,” he ​said.

Sanctions, high interest rates, and ‌war spending have taken ⁠a toll on Russia’s $3 trillion economy, which ⁠contracted by 0.3 per cent in the first quarter, marking its ‌first quarterly ​decline since early 2023.

The governing body of world chess has suspended Russia – for decades the dominant force in the game – after a successful ⁠legal challenge by Ukraine.

An international tribunal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in March upheld a complaint by Ukraine that Russia’s chess federation had usurped control of the game in areas of Ukraine captured by Russian forces since 2022. It gave Russia 90 days to relinquish control of chess bodies in five regions of Ukraine and stop holding tournaments there.

But on Wednesday the International ⁠Chess Federation (FIDE) – which is headed by Russia’s former deputy prime minister ​Arkady ⁠Dvorkovich – said Russia had not complied with the deadline and it had therefore decided to “impose the sanction of temporary suspension of (Russia’s) membership… with immediate effect”.

At least two people were killed and another 10 injured in a Ukraine attack on ⁠Russia’s border region of Bryansk, acting regional governor Yegor Kovalchuk said.

Two were killed and another two injured in shelling of the Suzemka area close to the border, with another seven wounded in an attack on petrol stations in Starodub some 110km (68 miles), he said, adding that a five-year-old boy was also injured in a separate drone attack.

Bryansk, a Russian oblast on the border with Ukraine, has frequently been targeted by Ukrainian forces in response to Russian aggression on its border villages.