Ukraine updates: Drone attacks disrupt Moscow airports

Ukraine is facing its toughest winter since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion due to the intense attacks on its energy infrastructure, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

"Energy resilience is one of our greatest challenges this year," Shmyhal said.

He also mentioned that the Ukrainian government, with support from European countries, is working on decentralizing energy generation to make it less vulnerable to attack.

"We successfully got through what was essentially two and a half winters. We will get through three, with this upcoming heating season likely being just as difficult, if not the hardest," Shmyhal said.

Greenpeace is urging the Ukrainian government to invest in renewable energy, especially solar, to help the country rebuild its energy capacity.

"Our research says that the current targets, which the Ukrainian government set for reaching solar energy by 2027, could be increased at least fivefold," Natalia Gozak, director of Greenpeace in Ukraine, told the AP news agency.

The United Nations and the World Bank estimated that Ukraine has lost more than half of its power generation capacity since the start of the war in February 2022.

Iran's Foreign Ministry has rejected Western reports of Iranian weapons being transferred to Russia as "ugly propaganda" aimed at deflecting attention from Western military support for Israel.

"The publication of false and misleading reports about the transfer of Iranian weapons to some countries is simply an ugly propaganda to conceal the large illegal arms support of the United States and some Western countries for the genocide in Gaza," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said,

"Some Western countries present themselves as defenders of human rights and support the implementation of international conventions and treaties, but send all kinds of weapons to back the war crimes of the Zionist regime," Kanaani added, employing a term commonly used in Iranian political circles to refer to Israel.

Russia has regularly used Iranian-made Shahed drones in its aerial attacks on Ukraine — one even fell in Latvia, a European Union and NATO country, over the weekend and reports of deliveries of Iranian ballistic missiles to Moscow have this week prompted further Western sanctions.

As indicated earlier in the day, the United States and the United Kingdom have confirmed new sanctions against Iran linked to the alleged supply of ballistic missiles to Russia by Tehran.

An updated sanctions list on the US Treasury Department website details new sanctions imposed on 10 Iranian nationals and five Iranian companies in the transportation and propulsion industries with alleged links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and to Russia.

Several Russian organizations were also sanctioned for "their intent to use [Iranian] weapons systems" against Ukraine, as well as five Russian vessels involved in transporting military supplies from Iran to Russia. 

In addition, Washington has also sanctioned Iranian airline Iran Air "for operating or having operated in the transportation sector of the Russian Federation economy," the Treasury Department said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the UK said it is terminating "all direct air services between the UK and Iran."

London said it was acting alongside international partners to "cancel its bilateral air services arrangements with Iran," which would "restrict Iran Air's ability to fly in to the UK."

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said, "We will continue to use every lever at our disposal to put pressure on Iran to end its support for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's illegal invasion [of Ukraine]."

In Ukraine itself, Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhiy Tykhyi said Kyiv would consider cutting diplomatic ties with Tehran should Russia deploy Iranian ballistic missiles against Ukrainian targets.

"I will not say now exactly what is meant by devastating consequences, so as not to weaken our diplomatic position," he said. "But I can say that all options, including the one you mentioned, are on the table."

The Kremlin on Tuesday restated its stance to continue the war following recent Ukrainian drone attacks in the Moscow region.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the attack justified the "special military operation" in Ukraine and proved that the "Kyiv regime" is Russia's enemy.

Peskov addressed neither Russia unilaterally annexing the Crimean peninsula in 2014, in a step condemned by the international community, nor how an attack on Tuesday could be seen as justification for the full-scale invasion Russia launched into Ukraine in February 2022.

He added that there is no possibility of peace negotiations as long as Ukrainian forces remain present in Russia's Kursk region.

Ukraine attacked the Moscow region on Tuesday, killing at least one woman and wrecking dozens of homes.

Meanwhile, Russia continues its own attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

The governments of the UK, France and Germany issued a joint statement condemning Iran's alleged delivery of ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine, as well as Moscow's procurement of the weapons. 

"This is a further escalation of Iran's military support for Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, which means that Iranian missiles will reach European territory and that the suffering of the Ukrainian population will be intensified," the governments said, according to the German government's statement provided to DW.

"This action is an escalation both on the side of Iran and of Russia and poses a direct threat to European security," they said. 

The governments said they had already warned of "new and far-reaching measures against Iran" should it make such weapons deliveries. 

As a result, they said, new steps would be taken "promptly," including sanctions against Iran Air and the freezing of bilateral air transport agreements, as well as identifying "meaningful entities and individuals" who are party either to Iran's ballistic missile programs or to delivering such weapons to Moscow.

Dutch Defense Minister Rube Brekelmans told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper on Tuesday that Ukraine is permitted to strike military targets inside Russia using weaponry from the Netherlands. 

"Yes. Ukraine can use our weapons on Russian territory, in order to defend themselves in accordance with international law. Kyiv has a right to self-defense," Brekelmans said. "If the country is attacked from border areas or from military airfields, then it can set its sights on military targets. The same applies to enemy missiles — these can also be intercepted using our weapons over Russia." 

Brekelmans said the Netherlands had not imposed any range limitations on Ukraine for such actions, saying "international law is not limited to a distance" and "the right to self defense doesn't stop 100 kilometers past the border." 

The minister said that Ukraine had been "reliable" in how it elected to use weapons from the Netherlands and that his government trusted Ukrainian war planners would continue to use them "in accordance with international law." 

Brekelmans said his government was trying to convince other NATO allies like the United States and Germany, which so far have given the green light only for strikes relatively near Ukraine's border to Russia, to "at least make exceptions for Russian military airfields or combat aircraft." 

He said that unless such a decision was taken, Moscow would be able to fly certain strikes like so-called glide bomber attacks "undisturbed." 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a visit to the UK that Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran for use in Ukraine. 

"Russia has now received shipments with these ballistic missiles, and will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine, against Ukraine," Blinken said during a visit to London. 

He said cooperation between Moscow and Tehran threatened wider European security and "demonstrates how Iran's destabilizing influence reaches far beyond the Middle East." 

Blinken said at a press conference that Washington had already warned Tehran that sending missiles to Moscow would "constitute a dramatic escalation." 

He said that new sanctions against Iran would be announced later on Tuesday. 

"The supply of Iranian missiles enables Russia to use more of its arsenal for targets that are further from the front line," Blinken said.

Iran has previously denied providing weapons to either side in the conflict, saying it considers this "inhumane" and liable to increase civilian casualties and reduce the chances of a truce.

Blinken and his British counterpart, David Lammy, are expected to travel to Kyiv on Wednesday.

Lammy, for his part, called the new alleged development "a troubling action that we're seeing from Iran." 

"It is definitely a significant escalation and we are coordinating," he said. 

The United Nations has said Ukrainian soldiers are routinely subjected to torture in Russian captivity. DW spoke with a former prisoner of war, recently released in a prisoner swap, about his ordeal.

Ukraine has boosted its production of weapons this year compared with 2023 as Ukraine continues fending off invading Russian troops. 

While the country is heavily reliant on military support from its allies, it has also been developing its own arms industry to become less dependent. 

"In the first eight months of 2024, we have doubled our weapons production compared to 2023," said Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal. "We are making progress. Drone production continues to grow."

Shmygal said Ukraine planned to build more than a million drones by the end of the year.

As part of its efforts, the Ukrainian military has successfully tested a domestically-produced ballistic missile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last month.

Zelenskyy also said that his forces had for the first time deployed a Ukrainian-made long-range "rocket drone" called Palianytsia in combat.

Although it is developing its own production, Ukraine is still lobbying for sustained aid from allies, including at the Ramstein meeting with key allies in Germany last week. 

 Zelenskyy called for quick delivery of the aid promised during the meeting in his daily address on Monday.

"The course of the war directly depends on the quality of logistics in supply and the fulfillment of all promises by partners," Zelenskyy said. 

Russia's Defense Ministry says its troops have captured the town of Krasnogorivka in eastern Ukraine — as well as three villages in different areas of the Donetsk region. 

The ministry said Moscow's forces had "liberated" the town and the villages of Grygorivka, Galytsynivka, and Vodiane. 

The statement used the Russian names for all four settlements.

Krasnogorivka, which had a pre-conflict population of 16,000, is in an area where the front line has remained relatively unchanged for weeks.
The town is some 20 kilometers (32 miles) west of Russian-held Donetsk and had been a key stronghold for Kyiv.

The Ukrainian Energy Ministry says Russian forces have attacked energy infrastructure in eight Ukrainian regions in the past 24 hours.

The ministry said the attacks had disrupted high-voltage lines and power substations.

Ukraine's air force shot down 38 out of 46 Russia-launched drones during an overnight attack across 13 regions, according to a statement. Russia also used two missiles in its attack, it said.

Regional governor Ihor Taburets said the attack injured two people and damaged buildings in the city of Cherkasy. 

In the same region, the strike damaged an infrastructure facility and caused a fire which had since been put out, Taburets said.

Kyiv's regional governor Ruslan Kravchenko said the attack also damaged a building and caused a fire in an open area near the capital after air defenses engaged aerial targets. 

Authorities in Kyiv reported no damage or casualties in the city itself.

Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu says Ukraine's cross-border attack on Russia's Kursk region last month has failed to distract Moscow's forces from their objectives in the eastern Donbas region. 

Shoigu claimed that Ukraine was losing up to 2,000 servicemen per day, and that Russian forces were increasing the pace of their offensive.

"They are losing up to 2,000 killed and wounded every day. In total, if we talk about 8 days in September and August, almost 1,000 square kilometers of territory have been liberated. The pace is increasing," Shoigu said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel.

Moscow's forces have ground ahead through the Donetsk region in recent weeks, in the direction of Pokrovsk, a strategic logistics hub for Ukraine.

Russian officials say more than 140 Ukrainian drones targeted regions in Russia, including Moscow, in one of the largest such attacks by Kyiv of the war.

Drones hit two multistory residential buildings and started fires in the town of Ramenskoye just outside the capital, Moscow's regional governor  Andrei Vorobyov said. 

Vorobyov said a 46-year-old woman was killed and that three more people had sustained injuries.

Five residential buildings near the damaged ones were evacuated as emergency services dealt with drone debris.

Authorities temporarily shut down three airports outside Moscow — Vnukovo, Domodedovo, and Zhukovsky.

Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said dozens of flights were diverted to other airports.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said drone debris fell on a private house on the outskirts of the city, but no one was hurt. 

Overall, Russia's Defense Ministry said it "intercepted and destroyed" 144 Ukrainian drones over nine Russian regions. 

They included those on the border with Ukraine and those deeper inside Russia.
In Bryansk, regional Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said "the enemy carried out a massive terrorist attack."

He added that "there were no casualties or damage, all attacks were repelled."

It is the second such massive Ukrainian drone attack on Russia this month.

The Russian military on September 1 said it had intercepted 158 Ukrainian drones in more than a dozen Russian regions. At the time, Russian media described it as the biggest Ukrainian drone barrage since the start of the war.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia would work with international organizations after the strikes, the RIA news agency cited her as saying. Zakharova described the drone strikes as "an illegal terrorist action."

rc/kb (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)