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Kyiv claimed on Wednesday the attack hit the plant in the western Oryol region, as Russia and Ukraine continue to trade fire while the West pushes for a ceasefire.
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Ukraine has launched a drone attack on a Russian plant making parts for fighter jet and missile producers.
Kyiv claimed on Wednesday the attack hit the plant in the western Oryol region, “one of the leading enterprises” in semiconductor production, as Russia and Ukraine continue to trade fire while the West pushes for a ceasefire.
Meanwhile Moscow claimed to have downed three drones on their way to the capital as part of a 159-drone attack over Russian regions.
Ukraine’s national guard has also claimed six of its soldiers were killed during a training exercise when a Russian missile hit the Sumy region training camp.
Earlier, Russian president Vladimir Putin staged a visit to the war-battered Kursk region on Wednesday, including a trip to its nuclear power plant.
It comes after Donald Trump was urged to pressure Russia with further sanctions, after Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Putin is “trying to buy time” to continue his war.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said Russia‘s failure to negotiate in good faith should trigger threatened US sanctions.
The UK and the EU announced new waves of sanctions against Russia on Tuesday. The British measures alone impact around 100 entities and individuals.
Moscow’s Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports have temporarily halted flight arrivals and departures, Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said on Wednesday via its channel in Telegram, without specifying the reasons.
Russia on Wednesday rejected Ukrainian and European accusations it was trying to drag out the peace process around Ukraine, but said that no decision had yet been made on a venue for talks when asked if they could be hosted by the Vatican.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday “it would be great” for Russia and Ukraine to hold ceasefire talks at the Vatican, saying it would add extra significance to the proceedings.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday that Pope Leo had confirmed to her that he was willing to host the next round of negotiations.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia welcomed “the readiness and efforts of all parties who want to contribute to a speedy settlement”, but nothing had been decided yet about where the next meeting should be held.
Moscow had not received any specific proposals from the Vatican, he said.
The warring sides met in Istanbul last week for their first face-to-face negotiations since March 2022 and agreed a swap of 1,000 prisoners on each side, but Russia did not agree to an immediate, unconditional ceasefire that Ukraine was seeking.
President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone to Trump on Monday and said Russia and Ukraine would work on a memorandum relating to a peace accord, prompting new accusations from Kyiv and European governments that Moscow was stalling and had no serious interest in peace.
Peskov rejected that. “Nobody is interested in delaying the process. Everyone is working dynamically. We will keep you informed. Of course, most of this work is being done in a discrete mode, and it should not, for obvious reasons, be open to the public,” he said.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Wednesday that air defence systems had downed three drones en route to Russia’s capital.
“The Defence Ministry’s air defence forces repelled an attack by three drones flying towards Moscow. Emergency services specialists are working at the site where the debris fell,” he said on Telegram.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that air defense shot down 159 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions, and at least six were shot down over the Moscow region, which has a population of over 20 million.
Ukraine has called for its backers to focus on enforcing sanctions against those who aid Russian efforts to avoid penalties.
Andriy Sybiha, the country’s foreign minister, wrote on X: “From now on, individuals and entities who assist such activities face the threat of sanctions themselves. The EU no longer needs to prove that a specific Russian oligarch should be sanctioned, but rather that oligarchs must prove the opposite.”
You can read his full statement below.
An unidentified gunman or gunmen shot and killed former Ukrainian politician Andriy Portnov on Wednesday morning outside the gates of the American School in Madrid’s affluent neighbourhood of Pozuelo, a source close to the investigation said.
Police received the call about the shooting at 9.15 am (0715 GMT) local time, the Madrid police told Reuters, without identifying the victim.
Radio station Cadena SER said the man was taking his children to the school when he was shot.
Portnov was a senior aide to Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovich who was ousted in 2014.
Donald Trump must “ratchet up pressure on Russia’s finances” if he is to have any chance of getting Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire, the US president’s former Ukraine envoy has told The Independent.
Kurt Volker, who served as US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations from 2017 to 2019, says he believes Putin shows no sign of agreeing to a deal despite Trump’s demands.
Trump has vowed to slap further sanctions on Russia should Putin refuse to end the war, but, thus far, those threats have proved empty.
“I think [negotiations to end the war] will drag out for many more months. Putin does not want to do a ceasefire now, and will never agree to any reasonable peace terms,” says Mr Volker.
“So we have to ratchet up pressure on Russia’s finances, and maybe sometime this fall there will be a chance to get a ceasefire.”
Last week, Trump claimed that only a direct meeting between himself and Putin could lead to an end to the war, but nothing substantive came of a subsequent, two-hour phone call earlier this week.
The UK and the European Union announced additional sanctions on Russia this week following further objections from the Kremlin to a peace deal. The US, however, declined to join the efforts.
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