Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow airports restrict flights after drone attack – UK Times

Four Moscow airports restricted flights for security reasons, aviation regulator Rosaviatsia said on Sunday, amid a drone attack on the Russian capital.

At least seven drones were downed en route to Moscow, the Interfax news agency reported, citing Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

Budapest has threatened to block a new package of European Union sanctions against Russia and to stall efforts to help Ukraine until Russian oil deliveries to Hungary resume.

The EU’s foreign ministers are set to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the bloc’s 20th round of sanctions against Moscow, a measure they hope will be approved in time to coincide with the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Tuesday.

In a video posted to social media on Sunday, Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said he would block the sanctions package, accusing Ukraine of deliberately holding back Russian oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline.

“We will not consent to the adoption of the 20th package of sanctions, because we have previously made it clear that until the Ukrainians resume oil shipments to Hungary, we will not allow decisions that are important to them to be approved,” Mr Szijjarto said.

Russian oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia have been interrupted since 27 January after what Ukrainian officials say were Russian drone attacks that damaged the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian crude across Ukrainian territory and into Central Europe, leading to rising tensions between Budapest and Kyiv.

Ukraine headed into the third round of direct talks with Russia and US mediators this week following a string of symbolic victories on the frontlines.

There has been little progress in the talks to date, with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky recently sharing his frustration that his country is “too often” asked to make concessions – as Moscow sticks to its maximalist demands.

The Independent’s James C. Reynolds takes a look at how the battlefield lies:

One person has been detained after a “terrorist attack” in Lviv killed one and injured 25, according to Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.

In a post on X he said “all necessary resources have been provided to the investigation”.

Speaking ahead of the four-year anniversary of the invasion, the former politician told BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that Ukraine’s allies had been “too slow” to respond.

The Independent’s Maira Butt reports:

Ukraine has accused Hungary and Slovakia of “ultimatums and blackmail” after both governments threatened to halt emergency electricity supplies unless Kyiv restores Russian oil transit across its territory.

Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, said he would ask the state grid operator to cut emergency exports within two days if flows were not resumed. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán issued a similar warning earlier this week.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement that these actions were “provocative, irresponsible, and threaten the energy security of the entire region”.

Russian oil deliveries to both countries via the Druzhba pipeline have been disrupted since 27 January, after Kyiv said a Russian drone strike damaged pipeline infrastructure in western Ukraine.

Bratislava and Budapest blame Ukraine for the prolonged outage.

Hungary and Slovakia together account for roughly half of European emergency electricity exports to Ukraine, which has relied heavily on imports as Russian missile and drone attacks have repeatedly damaged its energy grid.