Russia claims no foreign airlines plan to stop flying over airspace
Russian aviation watchdog Rosaviatsiya said that it had not received any withdrawal notifications from any foreign airlines, Interfax news agency reported, citing the agency’s head, Dmitriy Yadrov.
He said that the Russian foreign ministry and the watchdog would cooperate with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) on civilian flights to and from Russia.
It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that flights in Russia had become unsafe.
Daniel Keane3 September 2026 10:15
Germany to provide extra €250m for Ukraine energy repairs ahead of winter
Germany’s economy ministry is making approximately €250 million in additional funds available to Ukraine via the KfW development bank for urgently needed energy infrastructure repairs ahead of winter, it said on Thursday.
Russia has repeatedly focused its attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure throughout the war, in a bid to hit Ukrainian public morale.
Daniel Keane3 September 2026 09:47
One person killed in drone attack in Belgorod
One person was killed and four people injured in a drone attack on a passenger bus in Russia’s Belgorod region, local authorities claimed.
Ukraine has not commented on the attack and insists that its military does not target civilians.
Kyiv has recently expanded its deep strike campaign, launching drone attacks far behind enemy lines.
Suha Kidwai3 September 2026 08:50
Watch: The woman making Ukraine safe from landmines amid a brutal warThe woman making Ukraine safe from landmines amid a brutal war
Daniel Keane3 September 2026 08:20
Russia says Germany’s closure of its consulate in Bonn is absurd
The Kremlin said Germany was displaying an inconsistent and absurd position by choosing to shutter the Russian consulate in Bonn, a decision Berlin took after a drone incident at the Leipzig/Halle Airport.
Germany’s response measures included the closure of a Russian cultural centre in Berlin and the consulate in Bonn.
On Tuesday, president Vladimir Putin accused Germany of planting evidence in order to blame Moscow for the incident.
Arpan Rai3 September 2026 08:00
Zelensky says Ukraine is finalising drone deal with Germany
Ukraine is finalising a drone deal with Germany, president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday after a call with German chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The agreement — proposed by Ukraine several months ago — is expected to cover the joint development of various types of drones, missiles and related software.
“Our teams are already finalising the text of the drone deal, and this will, among other things, definitely provide both Germany and Ukraine with additional defence capabilities,” Zelensky said on the Telegram app.
The deal will build on existing German-Ukrainian defence cooperation, including a multi-million-euro programme to supply to Kyiv some 15,000 Strila interceptor drones designed to counter Shahed-type attack drones.
Arpan Rai3 September 2026 07:44
Russia to close German cultural centres after Berlin blames Moscow for airport drone plot
Russia will shutter German cultural centres across the country, foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said this morning.
The move comes after Berlin blamed Moscow for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport last month and announced the closure of both the Russian Consulate in Bonn and the Russian House cultural centre in the German capital.
Lavrov said that cultural centres belonging to Germany’s Goethe-Institut would be closed in Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, adding that any other response would show a lack of “self-respect” on Russia’s part.
Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Lavrov said that Germany “could not have failed to understand” that the closure of the Russian House would “signify the end of their cultural presence in Russia.”
A drone laden with explosives was found near a Ukrainian plane at Leipzig/Halle Airport on 4 August and later defused. The airport is a major international freight hub used for providing support to Ukraine.
Arpan Rai3 September 2026 07:25
Zelensky calls shootout between top agencies ‘shameful’
Volodymyr Zelensky has reacted furiously to the shootout in Kyiv between Ukraine’s intelligence agency GUR and security services SBU which reportedly left three officers injured.
The gunfire erupted when the SBU was taking into custody a leader of an anti-Kremlin Russian unit that fights for Ukraine under the watch of the GUR, leading to clashes between the two Ukrainian agencies.
The situation is “absolutely shameful”, Zelensky said.
“Here in Ukraine, shooting is only permissible at Russian occupiers in defence of Ukraine,” he said. “Our state will not perceive any other shootout as something that anyone is allowed to do,” Zelensky said.
Arpan Rai3 September 2026 07:10
Building Patriots can take several years, says Rubio
US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said it can take Ukraine several years to start building Patriot air defence interceptors and doing so is not an immediate solution for Kyiv.
“I mean, these are highly sophisticated weaponry,” he told Fox News.
Rubio said the US is negotiating with Ukraine over licensed production of Patriot missiles.
“That may come to fruition, but it really won’t solve the short-term challenge that they’re pointing to,” he said. Rubio said the “whole world is asking for more air interceptors” but the US needs to fulfill its requirements first.
“It’s become the number one defence need on the planet, not just for Ukraine, but on the planet,” he said, including in the Middle East because of the US-Israeli war against Iran.
Arpan Rai3 September 2026 06:28
Russian attacks wound 17 and damage building in Ukraine’s Odesa
Russian air attacks wounded 17 people and damaged a 21-storey residential building in Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa in the early hours today, Serhiy Lysak, the head of the city’s military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Of those injured, three are children, Lysak said in the post, which showed footage of a building with its windows blown out.
In the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, a Reuters witness reported an explosion on Wednesday evening, amid continued Russian air strikes.
Ukrainian rescue personnel extinguish a fire in an auto parts warehouse following an air attack in Kyiv (AFP/Getty)
Arpan Rai3 September 2026 06:06