Ukraine war – live: Russia closes major airports as Moscow apartments hit in drone strike

The latest attack on Russia’s bomber jet by uncrewed aerial vehicle or drones likely came from inside the Russian territory, the British Ministry of Defence said today.

The ministry said a Tu-22M3 BACKFIRE medium bomber of Russia’s Long Range Aviation (LRA) was “highly likely destroyed” at Soltsky-2 Airbase in Novgorod Oblast which is 650 km away from Ukraine’s border. It noted Russian Defence Ministry’s response that a copter-style uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) was responsible for the attack.

“If true, this adds weight to the assessment that some UAV attacks against Russian military targets are being launched from inside Russian territory. Copter UAVs are unlikely to have the range to reach Soltsky-2 from outside Russia,” the British MoD said.

“Russia has frequently used BACKFIRE bombers to launch the notoriously inaccurate AS-4 KITCHEN heavy anti-ship missiles against Ukraine. Early in the war, they also carried out the intense bombardment of Mariupol using unguided bombs,” it added in its latest intelligence update.

The attack is at least the third successful attack on LRA airfields, “again raising questions about Russia’s ability to protect strategic locations deep inside the country”.

A group of Ukrainian “saboteurs” attempted to breach Russia’s border in the Bryansk region, regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Tuesday.

The attempt was thwarted by Russia’s defence ministry, security services and police, Bogomaz said in a post on Telegram.

A massive belt of land mines laid by Russian military in south-eastern Ukraine is hampering Ukrainian soldiers and Kyiv has made clear that it needs equipment to help it get across, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said on Tuesday.

“We are currently discussing how we can meet this request, not only as Germans but jointly with other partners,” she said at a press conference in Berlin alongside her Estonian counterpart.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday its forces had destroyed a U.S.-made military speedboat near Snake Island in the Black Sea.

Tiny Snake Island became synonymous with Ukrainian resistance in the first hours of what Russia calls its “special military operation” on Feb. 24, 2022, when Russian officers on the Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva radioed Ukrainian guards stationed there and ordered them to surrender or die.

An adviser to president Zelensky has called for allies to send more fighter jets to Ukraine.

It comes after Denmark and the Netherlands agreed to donate 19 F-16s to Ukraine in what Mr Zelensky called a “breakthrough”.

Mykhailo Podolyak said: “The countries that are now transferring aviation equipment to Ukraine are openly demonstrating that they are deeply interested in protecting international law, democracy and justice.

“All of this is possible only if Russia is absolutely defeated. It is extremely important that Ukraine’s other coalition partners make similar decisions.”

Ukraine said on Tuesday its troops had entered the strategic southeastern village of Robotyne, a potentially significant advance in its counteroffensive against Russian forces.

Deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on the Telegram messaging app that Ukrainian soldiers were organising the evacuation of civilians after entering Robotyne but were still coming under fire from Russian forces.

“Our soldiers in the village of Robotyne,” General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of Ukrainian forces in the south, wrote on Telegram under a picture of a soldier in a tank.

Robotyne is 10 km (six miles) south of the frontline town of Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region on an important road towards Tokmak, a Russian-occupied road and rail hub.

Tokmak’s capture would be a milestone as Ukrainian troops press southwards towards the Sea of Azov, a military push intended to split Russian occupying forces.

The Institute for the Study of War, an American research group and think tank, has described the Ukrainian attacks on Robotyne as “tactically significant”. Advancing in the area could enable Ukrainian forces to begin operating beyond the densest of the Russian minefields that have held up the counteroffensive launched in early June, it said.

In a video published by the Ukrainian military, a woman is seen kissing a Ukrainian soldier and several evacuated residents talking on the phone with loved ones.

“Psychologically it was very hard (…). We were waiting for so long that today they came unexpectedly. We could not even believe it was ours (..) We are very grateful to the boys (troops),” a 52-year-old woman was saying in the video.

Reuters was able to verify the location of the aerial footage from the road layout and positions of buildings seen in the video, which matched satellite imagery of the area. Reuters was not able to independently verify the date it was filmed.

Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, did not immediately comment on the reports from Robotyne.

Russian air defence systems thwarted four nighttime Ukrainian drone attacks, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Tuesday, with the falling wreckage of one drone shattering an apartment building’s windows and damaging vehicles in Moscow’s western suburbs.

There were no reports of injuries in the latest drone attacks that Russia blamed on Kyiv, as the war approaches its 18-month milestone.

Though the drone attacks on Russian soil have occurred almost daily in recent weeks, they have caused little damage. Even so, they have unnerved some Russians and are in line with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky’s pledge to take the war into the heart of Russia.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday he had had “open, honest and fruitful” talks with Serbian [resident Aleksandar Vucic.

“An open, honest, and fruitful meeting with the president of Serbia,” Zelensky, who is visiting Athens, wrote on the Telegram messaging app under a photograph of the two leaders shaking hands.

“Good conversation on respect for the UN Charter and the inviolability of borders…On our nations’ shared future in the common European home. On developing our relations, that is in our mutual interest,” Zelensky wrote.