Ukraine-Russia war live: Mass drone attack on Russian arms depot sparks huge fire as war casualties reach 1m
Massive explosion at ammo depot forces evacuations and closure of schools in western Russia
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A “massive” Ukrainian drone attack on an arms depot in Russia’s Tver region which sparked huge fires and caused a blast picked up by earthquake monitors has led to evacuations, power cuts and school closures.
The attack caused an “extremely powerful detonation” at a Russian defence ministry warehouse in the 1,000-year-old town of Toropets, containing Iskander and Tochka-U tactical missile systems, guided aerial bombs and artillery ammunition, a source in Ukraine’s SBU security service said.
Russian state media had suggested in 2018 that the site at the 1,000-year-old town of Toropets – which sits northwest of Moscow, and 65 miles from the Belarus border – was home to a major arsenal for conventional weaponry.
It came as fresh estimates from Western intelligence suggested the total number of casualties from Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine may have exceeded one million.
The figure includes 80,000 Ukrainian troops killed and 400,000 wounded, according to a confidential estimate from Kyiv reported by the Wall Street Journal. Estimates of Russian casualties vary but are expected to number around 200,000 killed and 400,000 wounded.
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Ukraine boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk released after brief detention in Poland
Heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk has been released after being briefly detained at Krakow airport in Poland, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“I was disappointed by this attitude towards our citizen and champion,” Mr Zelensky said, following a phone call with Usyk. “Our champion has been released, and he is no longer being detained.”
He posted a photo of Usyk with Ukraine’s Consul General in Krakow after the athlete was released.
It was not immediately clear why the 37-year-old was detained. He is one of Ukraine’s most prominent athletes known abroad, and has organised and participated in different projects aiding his country’s efforts to resist Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk released after brief detention in Poland
Heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk has been released after being briefly detained at Krakow airport in Poland, says Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Nato must respond to Russian breaches of alliance’s airspace, Romania says
Nato must respond to incidents in which Russian missiles or drones fired at Ukraine enter the alliance's airspace, Romanian defence minister Angel Tilvar has warned.
His remarks come just days after Romania reported once again that a Russian drone had breached its airspace during overnight attacks on “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube River in Ukraine.
Kremlin labels Nato chief comments about Putin ‘extremely provocative and dangerous’
The Kremlin has criticised “dangerous” comments by Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg that allowing Ukraine to use Western long-range weapons to strike Russia would not be a red line that would prompt an escalation by Moscow.
In an interview with The Times, Mr Stoltenberg dismissed a warning by Vladimir Putin last week that letting Ukraine use such weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory would mean the West was directly fighting Russia.
“There have been many red lines declared by him before, and he has not escalated, meaning also involving Nato allies directly in the conflict,” said Mr Stoltenberg, whose tenure as head of the military alliance ends in October.
“He has not done so, because he realises that Nato is the strongest military alliance in the world. They also realise that nuclear weapons, nuclear war, cannot be won and should not be fought. And we have made that very clear to him several times.”
Claiming Mr Stoltenberg’s comments were “extremely provocative and dangerous”, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “This ostentatious desire not to take seriously the Russian president’s statements is a move that is completely short-sighted and unprofessional.”
Russia has not detected elevated radiation in atmosphere, Kremlin says
Russian services have not issued any alerts on higher levels of radiation in the atmosphere, the Kremlin has said, after Norway reported having detected elevated levels of radioactive caesium (Cs-137) near the Arctic border with Russia.
The Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) said on Tuesday it had measured “very low” levels of radioactive caesium at Svanhovd and Viksjoefjell.
The authority detected elevated levels of radioactive caesium (Cs-137) at Svanhovd during the week to Tuesday and at Viksjoefjell between 5 and 12 September, it said, adding that the levels did not pose a risk to humans or the environment.
Asked about the statement, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “There were no warnings from our relevant services about an increased level of certain isotopes in the atmosphere, there were no warnings about threats to human health either, so I have nothing to say here.”
Church that survived Second World War destroyed in Russian aerial bombardment
The sound of broken brick and glass could be heard underfoot as Ukraine’s special “White Angel” police officers walked through a destroyed church in Donetsk on Tuesday, reports Oliver Browning.
The church was built more than 110 years ago, Gennadiy Yudin, the major of the special police unit said, walking through the debris in Novoeconomichne, a small village a few kilometers from the frontline in eastern Ukraine. The dome was completely destroyed and several icons of Jesus Christ left in ruins.
“Locals are saying that this church survived the Second World War, but was destroyed by the Russian army,” Mr Yudin said. Russian forces destroyed the church with aerial bombardment on 8 July, according to Ukrainian officials.
Financial institutions that help Russia are new focus, EU sanctions envoy says
The EU’s sanctions envoy has said that a new focus for the bloc was to look at financial institutions that underpin battlefield product flows to Russia – as well as the flow of products made in southeast Asia by western subsidiaries.
“A lot of the product going through China is made by subsidiaries of western companies in southeast Asia,” EU sanctions chief David O’Sullivan told a Brussels think-tank event.
“We are looking at which financial institutions are funding the shipments of battlefield products to Russia ... The US has done this to great effect. We are starting to collect the information and compare notes.”
HQ created in Sumy to coordinate defence of region and its energy facilities
Oleksiy Kuleba, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister in charge of reconstruction, regions and infrastructure, has announced that a coordination headquarters has been created to support Sumy region.
The body is intended to coordinate the defence of energy facilities and prepare the region's critical infrastructure for the winter season.
Sumy lies across the border from the Russian region of Kursk, where Kyiv’s forces launched a daring incursion last month, which president Volodymyr Zelensky has said aimed to create a buffer zone to better protect Sumy from frequent Russian attacks.
Russia attacks energy infrastructure in Sumy, officials say
Russia has attacked energy facilities in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy, regional authorities said.
Sumy regional authorities said air defences had shot down 16 drones over the region, where energy infrastructure has repeatedly come under fire, forcing authorities to use back-up power systems.
Man killed and 90-year-old woman injured in Russian attack, authorities say
Russian attacks in the central Ukrainian region of Kirovohrad have left one person dead and a 90-year-old woman injured, as several residential buildings damaged in the city of Kropyvnytsky, local officials said.
No damage to critical infrastructure was reported in the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv after air defences went into action there.
Ukrainian drone attack destroyed weapons depot, Kyiv security source says
A Ukrainian drone attack destroyed a warehouse storing missiles, guided bombs and artillery ammunition in Russia's Tver region, close to the border of Belarus, a source in Ukraine's SBU state security service has told Reuters.
Power outages have been reported in the region after a huge blast sparked evacuations and was registered by earthquake monitoring stations and Nasa satellites picked up several sources of fires emanating from the site.
Russia had been building an arsenal for the storage of missiles, ammunition and explosives in Toropets, a 1,000-year-old town in the region, which state media suggested in 2018 was a major arsenal for conventional weapons.
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