MOSCOW (AFP) Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday ordered officials to tighten control of the border with Ukraine after a spate of drone attacks that Russian authorities blamed on Kyiv delivered a new challenge to Moscow more than a year after its full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
While Putin didn’t refer to any specific attacks in a speech in Moscow, his comments came hours after drone attacks targeted several areas in southern and western Russia and authorities closed the airspace over St. Petersburg in response to what some reports said was a drone.
Also Tuesday, several Russian television stations aired a missile attack warning that officials blamed on a hacking attack.
The attacks caused no casualties but provoked a security stir as the war with Kyiv stretched into its second year last week.
US would target Chinese companies if Beijing provides lethal aid to Russia, Blinken says
Washington will not hesitate to target Chinese companies and individuals with sanctions if Beijing violate US sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.
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Drone crashes in ‘failed attack’ southeast of Moscow
A drone has crashed near a natural gas distribution station southeast of Moscow in an apparent failed attack, the regional governor has said.
Andrei Vorobyov reported the incident near the town of Kolomna, 110 km (68 miles) from the centre of Moscow, shortly after the defence ministry accused Ukraine of attempting two drone strikes in southern Russia overnight.
Postings on Russian social media showed the grey metal wreckage of a drone lying in a snowdrift by the edge of a wood said to be near Kolomna. The images could not be immediately verified.
Ukraine will join NATO in ‘long term’, Stoltenberg says
Ukraine will become a member of the Western military alliance in the “long term”, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has told reporters during a visit to Finland’s capital Helsinki.
Moscow says Ukraine launched failed drone attacks on Russian territory
Russia’s defence ministry has accused Ukraine of launching attempted drone strikes against civil infrastructure targets in two southern Russian regions overnight, adding that the attacks had failed.
Bakhmut situation ‘extremely tense’ as Russia seeks to encircle city
The situation in war-ravaged Bakhmut is “extremely tense”, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces has said as Russian troops step up their efforts to encircle the eastern city.
Ukraine’s military said earlier Russia had strengthened its forces in the Bakhmut area and was shelling settlements around the city.
Victory in Bakhmut would give Russia its first major prize in more than half a year and open the way to the capture of the last remaining urban centres in the Donetsk region.
Ukraine intel chief sees no sign China plans to arm Russia
Ukraine’s head of military intelligence has brushed aside claims that China is considering supplying arms to Russia, telling US media that he saw no “signs that such things are even being discussed”.
Senior US officials have said as recently as Sunday that they were “confident” China was considering providing lethal equipment to Moscow, with a diplomatic pressure campaign underway to discourage it from doing so.
But when asked about the possibility in a lengthy interview with Voice of America published on Monday, Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said: “I do not share this opinion.”
Russia fights to encircle Ukraine’s defenders in Bakhmut
Russian forces are pressing their offensive in eastern Ukraine as they attempt to encircle the mining city of Bakhmut, the scene of some of the toughest fighting since the start of the war.
