Ukraine updates: Drone downed over Moscow, Russia says

Russia's ambassador to the United Kingdom has claimed that the British government is "waging a proxy war" in Ukraine by providing Kyiv with weapons which are "killing Russian soldiers and civilians."

Speaking to the BBC this weekend, ambassador Andrei Kelin said his country's war against Ukraine could end if Kyiv's western allies stopped supplying arms and if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were prepared to negotiate.

"[Zelenskyy] does not want peace … he continues to ask for more and more; NATO [and] EU assistance, defense packages, anything, but nothing about negotiations at all," he claimed.

"No one likes the war," he continued. "But we are not just going to say: OK, [from] tomorrow we do not shoot each other. We won't."

After launching a full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia still controls around 18% of Ukraine's sovereign territory. Moscow's forces continue to launch indiscriminate air strikes against civilian infrastructure across the country while, on land, Russian troops are reported to be making incremental gains – albeit at significant cost.

"If [Zelenskyy] won’t negotiate with us, fine," said Kelin, threatening: "He will lose more and more terrain. The resistance is more and more feeble. The end of this phase will mean the end of Ukraine."

The interview with Kelin came as the United Kingdom opened a public inquiry into the death of Dawn Sturgess, a British civilian who died after coming into contact with a Russian nerve agent, Novichok, which had been intended to kill former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the British town of Salisbury in 2018.

Asked if he had any words for Sturgess's family, the ambassador said: "I don't know. I have never met this family. I am not involved in discussions with them or anything else. If someone has died, of course we are concerned about that. But why drag this [story] on for so long?"

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic for the first time in two-and-a-half years on Sunday.

A European Union candidate country, Serbia has condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but it has also maintained close relations with Moscow and refused to impose sanctions.

"Serbia will not impose sanctions on the Russian Federation, that will not change," Vucic said in a video message posted on social media, before thanking Putin for "ensuring that Russia will provide sufficient quantities of gas for Serbia this winter."

The Kremlin said in a statement that the two leaders discussed "the situation in Ukraine," with Putin providing "his assessment of the course of the special military operation," as he calls the full-scale invasion.

The statement added that bilateral relations between Russia and Serbia are based on "spiritual, cultural, and historical commonalities" and said Putin and Vucic would remain in contact.

The phone call was intended to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade from German occupation by Soviet troops during the Second World War, but also came as Vucic decides how to respond to a Russian invitation to attend a BRICS summit in Kazan next week.

"If I say I'm going to Kazan, it will signal the end of Serbia's European path," Vucic said last week. "[But] if I say something else, they'll claim I've betrayed the Russians."

He is expected to announce a decision on Monday.

Ukraine launched more than 100 drones at targets across western Russia on Sunday morning, including Moscow, authorities in both countries have confirmed.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that a total of 110 drones were shot down by air defenses over seven different Russian regions, including 43 over Kursk, eight over Nizhny Novgorod, several over Bryansk und Oryol and at least one over Moscow itself.

No damage or injuries from falling debris were initially reported in the capital, according to mayor Sergey Sobyanin.

Elsewhere, however, four firefighters were injured by grenade fragments in the city of Dzerzhinsk in the Nizhny Novgorod region, around 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow, according to local governor Gleb Nikitin.

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces posted on Telegram that it targeted Dzerzhinsk's state-owned Sverdlov factory, which it said had been making chemical components for artillery ammunition and aerial bombs.

Social media footage appeared to show air defenses at work close to the factory in the city's industrial zone.

Both the Ukrainian military and local Russian authorities also said that several small fires had broken out at a military airfield in Russia's southwestern Lipetsk region, seemingly caused by debris falling from an intercepted drone.

The governors of the regions of Bryansk und Oryol also reported that air defenses had destroyed several drones.

At least 17 people were injured in Russian missile strikes on the southern Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian authorities said Sunday.

Russia reportedly struck the city, which lies some 350 kilometers (217 miles) from Kyiv, with two ballistic missiles.

The head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Vilkul, said more than 20 buildings were damaged, including a residential block.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 110 Ukrainian drones over its territory overnight. One of the drones was intercepted near Moscow, the ministry said.

People in Moldova headed to the polls on Sunday to vote in the country's presidential election and in a referendum on joining the European Union.

Moldova borders south-western Ukraine and, like its larger neighbor, was also formerly part of the Soviet Union.

A largely agricultural country of around 2.5 million people, Moldova has sought to cut ties with Moscow and move closer to the EU since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The eastern Moldovan region of Transnistria is controlled by Russian-backed separatists and is home to several thousand Russian troops.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, many observers considered the Russian army's attempted advance across southern Ukraine towards the cities of Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa to be ultimately aimed at linking up with those Russian units stationed in Transnistria and threatening Moldova, too.

North Korea condemned a new US-led sanctions monitoring team established after Russia rejected the annual renewal of a UN panel.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui described the move as "utterly unlawful and illegitimate."

North Korea has in recent years intensified its development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, moves which have been met with international sanctions.

The US and South Korea have warned of North Korea's deepening military ties with Russia. On Friday, Seoul's spy agency said that Pyongyang had sent 1,500 special forces troops to Russia's Far East for training, claiming they will likely later be deployed for combat in Ukraine.

Russia and North Korea have both denied they have engaged in arms transfers and the Kremlin dismissed Seoul's assertions that Pyongyang may have sent military personnel to aid in Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia launched an air attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging service.

"Air defense forces are at work in the capital. Stay in shelters!" Klitschko told residents.

Earlier in the night, Ukrainian authorities had sounded air raid alerts across 15 regions.

One woman was injured in Kyiv after a piece of drone debris crashed through her window, Klitschko said in an earlier Telegram message.

According to authorities, eight people were injured in an attack using drones and glide bombs in the northeastern region of Sumy and one woman was killed in the Cherkasy region in central Ukraine.

Ukraine launched a series of drones on Moscow and western Russia, regional officials said.

No injuries or significant damage was reported.

Russian air defense destroyed at least one drone as it made its way to the Russian capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a post on the Telegram messaging service.

Drone debris sparked several fires in the Lipetsk region in southwestern Russia, which were then rapidly extinguished, regional Governor Igor Artamonov said on Telegram.

The governors of the western Bryansk and Oryol regions also reported that several drones were destroyed by air defense units.

The reports could not be independently verified.

sdi/rm (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)