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At least 19 injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine
Is the war entering a new phase? Ukrainian officials say at least 19 people have been injured in Russian missile and drone strikes targeting Kyiv and surrounding areas. Ukraine's Air Force said on Thursday that it destroyed or suppressed 131 Russian aerial targets during the overnight attacks, adding that the main areas targeted were the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and Odesa regions. Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces hit metallurgical and electronics plants, factories of the military-industrial complex, energy and transport facilities in the three regions. Three bulk carriers and a ferry used to carry supplies for the Ukrainian military were hit in the port of Chornomorsk, added the ministry.
Russia's attacks on Europe are getting more brazen and more dangerous
Russia's attacks on Europe are getting more brazen and more dangerous Firefighters extinguish a fire inside a train carriage that was damaged by a drone strike near Ukraine's border with Poland on Saturday. Over the course of the summer, Russian attacks have been pushing ever deeper into European territory. On Aug. 11, military divers destroyed two drones floating off the coast of Romania near a โฌ4 billion ($4.7 billion) energy project. Nine days later, Bucharest scrambled two F-16s to take out a maritime drone near the same Black Sea gas platform with hundreds of workers on board. Earlier that month, German police detected an armed UAV at Leipzig airport, while this week NATO jets downed another unmanned aircraft that entered Lithuanian airspace from neighboring Belarus, an ally of Moscow.
AI can supercharge Putin's goals, not his great-power ambitions
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with the governor of Novgorod region in Moscow on Monday. When Russian President Vladimir Putin imposed harsh censorship laws in the wake of his 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a major Russian publishing house took drastic action. Faced with trawling through the thousands of volumes it had published over the previous 20 years in light of the new restrictive criteria, the Eksmo-AST group trained an artificial intelligence agent to highlight books and passages that risked falling foul of the law so they could be removed from bookshelves. The publisher conducted some 20,000 checks, and 600 volumes were handed over to external experts for additional reviews, Oleg Novikov, the group's president, told Russian state television. "We're here on the frontier of technological progress," he said.
Denmark says Russian warship fired flares at military helicopter
Denmark has accused a Russian warship of firing two emergency flares at one of its helicopters while it was tracking the vessel in the Baltic Sea. The Danish government has summoned the Russian ambassador over the incident, which it said happened during a routine monitoring operation on Monday. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen branded the Russian action reckless and said it was designed to intimidate and divide. Moscow has not commented on the incident. It came on the same day Nato forces shot down a drone over Lithuania in the latest security scare on the alliance's eastern flank, where tensions remain high during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russian strikes kill two in Kyiv as Moscow targets capital's fuel stations
Is the war entering a new phase? Russian strikes kill two in Kyiv as Moscow targets capital's fuel stations Share Russian strikes kill two in Kyiv as Moscow targets capital's fuel stations on social media Russian drone attacks on two fuel stations in Kyiv have killed two people and injured others, as Moscow continues to target civilian areas. They were struck early on Friday within ten minutes of each other in the capital's Obolonskyi and Dniprovskyi districts, shortly after emergency sirens rang out, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a statement. Ukrainian authorities have warned people to avoid filling up when air raid sirens sound. One person died at the scene of one of the attacks, Klitschko said, while the other died in hospital.
Russia outpacing Ukraine's air defences with daily use of new jet-powered drones
Russia fired its new rapid, jet-powered drones against Ukraine every day throughout August, BBC Verify analysis of Ukrainian Air Force data has found, escalating its use of a weapon that Kyiv's air defences are struggling to deal with. It marked the first time that daily attacks by Moscow's new upgraded Geran drones were recorded in Ukrainian Air Force data. The growing use of jet-propelled and other varieties of drones prompted President Volodymyr Zelensky to condemn what he called an unfolding horror over the skies of Kyiv. Ukraine's military recently told the BBC that jet-powered drone attacks grew from 350 in June to 1,600 in July and 2,800 in August. In five of the nightly attacks in August, these drones outnumbered the older, slower models.
At least two people dead after Russian strikes on Kyiv
At least two people have been killed after Russia resumed airstrikes on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv early on Tuesday, officials said. The attack came after both countries agreed to halt strikes on each other's capitals for three days while US Donald Trump's top envoys visited Moscow and Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday he expected the war to continue into the winter, following talks with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner - their first visit to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion. Air raid alerts warned civilians to seek shelter as Russian forces launched drone strikes on Kyiv early on Tuesday, authorities said. A series of explosions across Ukraine's capital overnight killed two people and injured ten others, the city's state emergency service said on Telegram.
US envoys meet Putin: What's behind latest diplomacy on Russia-Ukraine war?
Is the war entering a new phase? US envoys meet Putin: What's behind latest diplomacy on Russia-Ukraine war? Share US envoys meet Putin: What's behind latest diplomacy on Russia-Ukraine war? on social media US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have held talks with President Vladmir Putin in Moscow, in what appears to be new efforts by the Trump administration to end the Russia-Ukraine war. US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the envoys were bringing "a proposal to end the war" - Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II - and a senior Russian official said it was an "important peacemaking visit". Both Moscow and Kyiv announced a three-day ceasefire to coincide with the latest trip.
Trump's peace envoys to visit Moscow and Kyiv over weekend
Trump's peace envoys to visit Moscow and Kyiv over weekend Image caption, Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and Witkoff have visited Russia multiple times - but are yet to hold talks in Ukraine US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will visit Russia and Ukraine this weekend, as efforts to end the war appear to be gathering pace. Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed he will meet with the envoys on Sunday, after they visit Moscow on Saturday to hold talks with meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. Witkoff and Kushner have led US President Donald Trump's efforts to broker a peace deal, but a gulf remains between the two warring sides. Earlier on Friday, Zelensky said a Russian drone hit the office of Ukraine's security chief Oleksandr Poklad in Kyiv. Poklad appears to be unharmed.
Russia hits Ukrainian security headquarters in drone attack, Zelensky says
A Russian drone has hit the headquarters of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) during a strike in the heart of Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. The unmanned aerial vehicle crashed into the SBU headquarters on Friday afternoon, targeting a room used by security chief Oleksandr Poklad. It is not clear whether Poklad was in the building, but Zelensky said he had since spoken to him to order an appropriate, tangible response. The drone was aimed directly at the office of the Head of the Security Service in that building, Zelensky confirmed. It suggests Russia's new drones are growing in accuracy and signals Moscow could step up strikes before possible US mediation talks this weekend.