Ukraine’s security service SBU attacked a substation in Russia’s Kursk region near the border in a “successful attack” with a drone, an SBU official said Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.
The governor of the Kursk region said a Ukrainian drone dropped explosives on the electrical substation in the Russian village of Belaya and knocked out power nearby, including at a hospital. There was no immediate comment from Kiev. The SBU official said the drone hit Russian military targets connected to the substation and shared aerial footage showing explosions. The Washington Post could not immediately verify the claims.
Here you will find the latest on the Russia-Ukraine War and its impact around the world.
The attack on the power plant caused a fire and firefighters rushed to the site in the Kursk region in western Russia, wrote the governor Roman Starovoyt on Telegram. “Power will be restored as soon as it is safe to do so,” he added.
Air defense shot down several other drones targeting Kursk. said the governor and the Russian Defense Ministry, also blaming Kiev. There were no initial reports of casualties. As Russia reports a recent increase in attempted drone strikes, Ukrainian officials have been vocal about their view that targets inside Russia are part of the conflict.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich remains “defiant” six months after being jailed in Russia. During a reporting trip, his mother told CNN. “He’s smiling,” she said. “And I have to say, under all circumstances, he is doing really well.” The American journalist’s colleagues and employer have rejected Russian espionage allegations against him, while advocates in Washington and international news media are calling for his release.
Russia will increase its military spending by about 68 percent in 2024said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, citing the draft budget for the coming year published by the Ministry of Finance. “Of course, such an increase is necessary because we live in a state of hybrid warfare,” he said, “and this requires large expenditures.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said the final round of conscription for military service will begin on Sunday. The draft will be carried out across Russia and in four regions in eastern and southeastern Ukraine that Moscow illegally annexed last year, although parts of the areas are not under Russian control. The announcement said those conscripted in the autumn campaign would not be sent to the battlefield in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with former Wagner commander Andrei Troshev and assigned him to work on forming volunteer units for the Ukraine war, Russian news agencies reported Friday. Troshev was seen as a potential candidate for intervention after a short-lived mutiny by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash in August. Troshev, a former lieutenant colonel in the Russian Interior Ministry, is one of the mercenary group’s few public figures who was not listed in that plane’s passenger manifest, the Washington Post reported.
Poland said its planes had not crossed the border into neighboring Belarus, reject allegations from Minsk that a Polish helicopter had violated its airspace. Tensions have increased between Poland and Russian ally Belarus, and Warsaw moved troops to reinforce the border.
France will increase its support to Ukraine through industrial partnerships, French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu said this after his visit to Kiev on Thursday. The minister led a delegation of French lawmakers and business leaders from industries including drones, ammunition and artificial intelligence. He said France hoped to “propose innovative solutions to the Ukrainian army and be increasingly able to make fewer transfers and instead direct acquisitions, partly with French subsidy, for the Ukrainian army.”