Ukraine War: Crimea ‘attacked with 20 drones’, tensions between Poland and Belarus

Russia describes attack with Ukrainian drones in Crimea

The Russian Defense Ministry said early Saturday that it had thwarted an attempted attack by Ukrainian drones against the Crimean peninsula.

“Last night (from Friday to Saturday), the attempted terrorist attack of the Kiev regime with 20 drones against targets on the territory of the Crimean peninsula was thwarted,” the Defense Ministry said on Telegram.

Fourteen Ukrainian drones were destroyed by air defense systems and another six by electronic warfare, it added.

The attack caused no casualties or damage, the Defense Ministry added.

The news came after the Russian military announced on Friday that it had destroyed a Ukrainian drone in western Moscow, amid increasing such attacks against the Russian capital.

“The drone was neutralized by means of electronic warfare and crashed in a wooded area west of Moscow,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram, accusing the “Kiev regime.”

The Russian military said the drone was aimed at “a facility on Moscow territory”, without giving details of the aircraft’s potential target.

Moscow’s mayor had earlier said the drone crashed “without causing major damage” in a forest park on the banks of the Moskva River, which runs through the Russian capital.

In late July and early August, the drones were shot down over Moscow’s business district, causing minor damage to the facades of two tower blocks. In May, two drones were shot down over the Kremlin.

More EU ammunition arrives in Ukraine

The European Union has delivered 223,800 artillery shells to Ukraine, a spokesman announced on Friday.

In March, the EU approved a 2 billion euro plan to send Ukraine one million 155mm shells from member state stocks this year and to finance joint ammunition purchases for Kiev.

Ukrainian forces complain of ammunition shortages as they try to dislodge Moscow’s troops from the occupied territories, as part of a counter-offensive launched in early June.

In the first phase of the plan, which runs from February 9 to May 31, €1 billion has been earmarked to reimburse EU member states for around half the cost of shells supplied from their existing arsenals.

“Member states delivered around 223,800 artillery munitions (long-range self-propelled artillery, precision-guided munitions and mortar munitions) and 2,300 missiles of all types,” EU spokesman Peter Stano said.

The total value of the ammunition supplied is 1.1 billion euros, according to the EU.

At the end of May, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, announced that 200,000 shells had been delivered to date.

However, in February several European capitals expressed skepticism about the ability to supply one million shells.

In preparation for the second part of the plan, the EU defense agency is negotiating joint procurement contracts with European manufacturers of 155mm ammunition.

The EU “expects the framework contracts with the industry to be signed in the coming weeks, which will allow Member States to place orders from that point.”

Any contract must be concluded before the end of September to be included in the EU supply plan.

Belarusian leader urges resuming contact with Poland

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced on Friday that he had ordered his government to resume contact with Poland amid border tensions between Moscow’s ally and its neighboring NATO member.

“We need to talk to the Poles. I have ordered the prime minister to contact them,” he was quoted as saying by the state news agency Belta.

Tensions between Minsk and Warsaw are currently high, in a context of division over the conflict in Ukraine, with Poland helping Kiev economically and militarily, while Belarus is an ally of Moscow.

NATO member Poland said Thursday it planned to deploy some 10,000 troops to protect its eastern border with Belarus as a “deterrent.”

According to Lukashenko, the Polish government is looking for “an escalation, to make the situation worse, in order to show that it has properly armed and rearmed the country”, in the run-up to “the (parliamentary) elections on October 15.” Poland.

The Belarusian leader considered it “unlikely” that within two months there would be “significant changes” in the position of Warsaw, which would be “beneficial for them and for us.”

“They demand a lot from us (…), but we cannot accept that, because it would be contrary to our interests,” he said.

Poland recently warned of the threat of provocation from Belarus and the potential dangers posed by the arrival in the country of the Wagner group of Russian mercenaries.

Warsaw also accuses Minsk and Moscow of orchestrating a new influx of migrants into the European Union to destabilize the region.

According to Pawel Jablonski, Poland’s deputy foreign minister, Lukashenko can do a lot to ease tensions simply by meeting some “basic conditions.”

If the Belarusian warlord “really wants to improve relations with Poland, he can do it in a very simple way (…): stop attacking our border, release the more than a thousand political prisoners and (Belarusian-Polish journalist) Andrzej Poczobut , stop this hate campaign, this hybrid war against Poland,” he said.

“We have no hostile intentions towards Belarus and never have,” he told Polsat television.

However, according to Jablonski, “Lukashenko’s words are still at odds with his actions.”