Russian air defense shot down two Ukrainian drones over Kaluga and Tver regions, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday. President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to Ukrainians on Friday evening about the situation on the front and about the progress made by the Ukrainian counteroffensive, confirming the capture of the village Andriivka, located 10 kilometers south of Bahmut.
Ukrainian soldier on a Bradley armored vehicle on the front line in Robotîne, Zaporozhye regionPhoto: Dmytro Smolienko/UKRINFOR / Sipa Press / Profimedia
Brief recap of recent information:
- The European Commission said on Friday it would not extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports to Ukraine’s five neighboring EU states, which is due to expire on Friday.
- The commander of Russia’s 247th Guards Air Assault Regiment, Vasili Popov, was killed during fighting in Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War said in an assessment on Friday.
- The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia and North Korea did not sign any military or other agreements during Kim Jong Un’s visit to Russia this week, Reuters reports.
- Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, considered the last dictator in Europe, is visiting Russia on Friday, being received by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea city of Sochi, according to a Kremlin statement, reports CNN.
- Kiev said on Friday that Thursday’s attack by Russian drones on a region that hosts a Ukrainian military airfield showed that Moscow is hunting warplanes involved in this week’s attacks in Russian-held Crimea, Reuters reported.
- Putin says Russia has captured several foreign mercenaries in Ukraine
- A Ukrainian naval drone damaged the airship “Samum” on Thursday in an attack at the entrance to Sevastopol Bay in Crimea, and the ship had to be towed for repairs, a source in the Ukrainian Intelligence Service said on Friday, Reuters reports.
- The regulatory authority in the field of energy in the Republic of Moldova, ANRE, fined Moldovatransgaz, a subsidiary of the Russian company Gazprom, with 1.9 million dollars for not complying with a requirement regarding the separation of gas transport activities from those of the supplier, it announced the institution on Friday, according to Reuters.
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who is visiting Russia, arrived Friday morning in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, in the Russian Far East, to visit an aircraft factory, Russian press agencies reported, reports AFP.
- General Gheorghiță Vlad, deputy chief of the Defense General Staff, declared that Romania is ready to use “all military power to defend the Romanian territory”, “depending on the level of the threat”.
- Russian General Sergei Surovikin is in Algeria as part of a Defense Ministry delegation in an apparent return to official duties after being suspected of involvement in a failed uprising by the Wagner mercenary group in June, it was reported on Friday Kommersant newspaper, citing a source close to the general, reports Reuters.
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Friday’s events regarding the Russian aggression were LIVE here on HotNews.ro
