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Ukrainian attacks triggered a fire at a factory producing electrical devices and wounded at least six people in Russian areas bordering Ukraine overnight, local governors said on Tuesday.
A drone attack on a factory in the town of Korenevo in Russia‘s Kursk region caused the fire which was extinguished by morning and no one was harmed.
One person was injured when a drone dropped an explosive device on a house elsewhere in the region, interim governor Alexei Smirnov said.
Images published on his Telegram channel showed the factory’s roof engulfed in flames against the night sky. The interior was reduced to charred wreckage.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border said four people were injured by Ukrainian shelling. In the Voronezh region, one person was wounded in a drone attack, local governor Alexander Gusev said.
It comes as a Ukraine official said Vladimir Putin has withdrawn the last Russian naval patrol ship from its base in Crimea- a victory for Kyiv’s sustained campaign against Moscow’s naval infrastructure on the occupied peninsula.
“The last patrol ship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation is bolting from our Crimea just now. Remember this day,” Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said.
Malta’s Metsola wins second term as EU Parliament chief,
Roberta Metsola, a Maltese lawmaker from the centre-right European People’s Party, easily won a second term on Tuesday as president of the European Parliament and she appealed for a more inclusive politics to help combat polarisation.
Metsola, who in 2022 became the first woman in 20 years to head the European Union assembly, has emerged as a strong supporter of Ukraine in its war with Russia and its bid to join the EU. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy sent his congratulations.
Some 562 EU lawmakers out of the 623 who took part in Tuesday’s vote backed her reappointment to the mainly ceremonial role for a further two and a half years, the largest margin of victory ever for a president of the European Parliament.
“Polarisation in our societies has led to more confrontational politics, even political violence,” Metsola, 45, told the assembly.
“We need to move beyond this zero-sum thinking that has excluded people, that turns people away,” she said.
Metsola urged the European Parliament to remain a strong supporter of Ukraine, the rule of law, and women’s rights, while preparing to add new countries to the EU.
In his message of congratulations, Zelenskiy wrote on X: “I greatly appreciate President Metsola’s personal involvement in supporting Ukraine, as well as her unwavering commitment to protecting people and upholding our European way of life.”
Metsola was the first leader of an EU institution to visit Kyiv following Russia‘s February 2022 invasion.
Baltic countries to leave joint power grid with Russia and Belarus
The power grid operators of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have signed an agreement to decouple from the Soviet-era joint BRELL power grid with Russia and Belarus in February 2025, Lithuania’s energy minister said on Tuesday.
“We have always strongly known that, like we’ve become part of the European Union and NATO, so we will become part of the European power system”, Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys wrote in a post on Facebook.
The three Baltic countries, as part of the BRELL circuit, are relying on Russian operators to control frequencies and balance the grid.
Hungarian PM suggests EU leaders ‘reopen lines of communication with Russia’
In his letter to EU leaders, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban suggested “reopening direct lines of diplomatic communication with Russia“.
He also proposed simultaneously maintaining high-level contacts with Kyiv as well as conducting talks with China “on the modalities of the next peace conference”.
On the topic of the US, Orban said Joe Biden was “making immense efforts” to remain in the electoral race, and suggested he was “not capable of modifying the current US pro-war policy.”
The Hungarian leader said a Trump victory would change the burden between the United States and the EU when it comes to financial support for Ukraine, to the disadvantage of the Europeans.
Orban has long criticised European military support for Ukraine in contrast to most allies who support Kyiv’s war effort.
“Our European strategy in the name of transatlantic unity has copied the pro-war policy of the US. We have not had a sovereign and independent European strategy or political action plan up to now,” he said.
“I propose discussing whether the continuation of this policy is rational in the future.”
Trump’s vice president pick JP Vance spells disaster for Kyiv, EU official says
Donald Trump’s choice for his running mate is a “disaster” for Ukraine, a senior EU official has said.
Speaking to Politico under the condition of anonymity, the official’s comments reflected the bleak future in store for US-Ukraine support with JP Vance as the new candidate for vice president.
The 39-year-old Ohio senator has backed attempts by the US Republican Party to end support for Ukraine in its war against Russia since the invasion began.
In a speech at the National Conservatism conference, he criticised the decision to send Ukraine “hundreds of billions of dollars of weaponry with no obvious end in sight and no obvious conclusion or even objective that we are close to getting accomplished”.
Trump ready to act ‘immediately’ as Russia-Ukraine peace broker, Orban tells EU leaders
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is ready to act “immediately” as a peace broker in the Russia-Ukraine war if he is elected in November, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said in a letter to EU leaders.
The letter, addressed to European Council President Charles Michel and shared with all EU leaders, was drafted after Orban held talks with Trump as well as with the leaders of Ukraine, Russia and China.
“I can (…) surely state that shortly after his election victory, he will not wait until his inauguration, (Trump) will be ready to act as a peace broker immediately. He has detailed and well-founded plans for this,” Orban wrote.
Watch live: European Parliament president is elected
Russian court orders house arrest for a general in custody on fraud charges
A court in Moscow on Monday ordered house arrest for a general in custody on fraud charges, in a ruling that represents an about-face from just weeks ago, when the same court refused to release the general from jail.
Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov was ordered to be placed under house arrest until at least Oct. 11 by the 235th Garrison Military Court.
Popov, who had commanded the 58th Guards Combined Arms Army, was arrested in May along with several top military officials, including former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, a close associate of then Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Some of these officials have been charged with bribery, while Popov has faced charges of fraud on an exceptionally large scale.
Zelensky prays for ‘protection and blessings for the Ukrainian people’
Volodymyr Zelensky said “unwavering faith in victory and a just peace for Ukraine is very important” in a post on X after visiting the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra on Monday.
Ukraine attacks on factory wound six in Russian border regions
Ukrainian attacks caused a fire at a factory producing electrical devices and wounded at least six people in Russian areas bordering Ukraine overnight, local governors said on Tuesday.
None of the workers were injured in the drone attack on factory in the town of Korenevo in Russia‘s Kursk region, but one person was wounded when a drone dropped an explosive device on a private household elsewhere in the region, interim governor Alexei Smirnov said.
There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian authorities on the reported attacks which Reuters could not confirm independently.
Russia‘s Defence Ministry said air defence systems destroyed 13 Ukrainian drones overnight, including one drone over the Kursk region.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the border region of Belgorod, said four people were wounded by Ukrainian shelling. In the Voronezh region, one person was wounded in a drone attack, local governor Alexander Gusev said.
Russia‘s Kommersant daily newspaper reported on Tuesday that authorities were considering evacuating people from 14 villages in the Belgorod region that were particularly close to the Ukrainian border.
Man throws grenade at Ukrainian army draft office, no one hurt, police say
An unidentified individual threw a grenade at a military draft office in the western Ukrainian town of Busk overnight, causing an explosion but not hurting anyone, police said on Monday.
The police said in a statement they were investigating the incident, which comes as Ukraine is stepping up its effort to draft civilians into the armed forces more than 28 months since Russia invaded.
Police in the western Lviv region said the explosion damaged the facade of the draft office and its windows. The individual had fled after throwing the grenade, they said.
There have been persistent cases of men fleeing Ukraine to avoid military service throughout the war. In recent months there have also been Ukrainian media reports of violence directed at draft offices and draft officers.
Asked if they were concerned, Ukraine‘s military told Reuters that maintaining public trust was an “important component of the activities of the (armed forces), without which it will be extremely difficult to achieve victory over the enemy.” (
Source: independent.co.uk
