Russia Ukraine conflict stay: Poland threatens to shut borders with Belarus over Wagner fighters

Russia says it scrambled two fighter jets on Monday to answer US drones working over the Black Sea.

The Russian defence ministry assertion on Telegram claimed that the drones had been noticed close to Crimea and heading for the Russian border on an intelligence mission.

“As a result of the actions of anti-aircraft forces on duty the US intelligence drones altered the direction of their flight and left the area where they were conducting air intelligence,” the ministry assertion stated.

Russia stated it intercepted a US State Air Force MQ-9 “Reaper” and an RQ-4 “Global Hawk”.

A Pentagon spokesperson informed CNN the US “will continue to fly routine missions over the Black Sea as permitted by international law to ensure freedom of navigation and manoeuvre in the region”.

Poland and the Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have agreed to instantly retaliate with stern measures, together with shutting down of borders with Belarus in “critical situations”, Poland’s inside minister has stated.

Mariusz Kaminski of Poland met his counterparts of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia in Warsaw on 28 August to debate regional safety points.

“We are determined on joint action if a critical situation arises,” he stated. “Regardless of whether it is on the Polish, Lithuanian, or Latvian borders, we will apply immediate retaliation. All border crossings that are open so far, both passenger and cargo, will be closed.”

The nations had been elevating considerations over Wagner group members’ presence in Belarus, elevating safety dangers for the Baltic states.

“We demanded of the Lukashenko regime that the Wagner Group immediately leave the territory of Belarus,” Mr Kaminski stated.

Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko has stated Wagner would proceed to take care of a robust presence within the nation even after commander Yvgeny Prigozhin’s demise.

Russian air defences shot down two Ukrainian drones flying over Russia’s Tula metropolis south of Moscow on Tuesday, in line with the state-run RIA information company.

Tula is the most important metropolis and administrative centre of Tula Oblast in Russia

US citizen Paul Whelan, a former marine who’s jailed in Russia over espionage expenses, was seen in a uncommon footage broadcasted by a Kremlin-backed information channel.

Mr Whelan was seen dressed within the jail’s black uniform and an identical hat. He appeared in numerous components of the jail with different inmates, stitching utilizing a stitching machine and whereas on the cafeteria within the footage put out by state-controlled community Russia Today (RT).

He stated the channel had confirmed up within the jail in May to movie Mr Whelan and when he declined to take part, the jail employees retaliated in opposition to him. In the video, Mr Whelan tells the questioner that he is not going to reply his questions.

The US citizen was arrested in 2018 and convicted of spying in 2020, a cost the US denied. He was sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony in Mordovia, a Russian area infamous since Soviet occasions for its penal colonies. He has denied the accusations.

The Biden administration has designated Mr Whelan as “wrongfully detained,” a authorized time period that implies that the costs are baseless and that he was focused primarily as a result of he’s an American citizen.

Ukraine strongly opposes the imposition of any restrictions on the import of its grain by neighbouring nations after a European Union ban ends subsequent month, Kyiv’s overseas minister has stated.

After Russia’s invasion blocked Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, massive portions of the nation’s grain – which is cheaper than EU crops – stayed in central Europe because of logistical bottlenecks, impacting costs and gross sales for native farmers.

In May, the EU relented to permit Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to ban home gross sales of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds till 15 September, whereas permitting transit of cargoes for export elsewhere.

The 5 nations need the ban prolonged till the tip of the yr and a few have threatened to introduce their very own restrictions if Brussels doesn’t act.

But Ukraine’s overseas minister Dmytro Kuleba warned Kyiv was “adamantly against” any such steps. “This move will violate rules of common market,” he stated throughout a go to to Prague. “This move will violate the Ukraine-EU association agreement … it will go against the principle of solidarity.”

The Wagner founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is confirmed to have died in a aircraft crash – a flip of occasions that seems to depart his Wagner Group fighters rudderless and going through a extremely unsure future.

Now Poland the Baltics have threatened to shut their borders with Belarus except Wagner troops are pressured to depart.

My colleague Joe Sommerlad takes a take a look at what may lie in retailer for the mercenary group:

One of essentially the most vital challenges confounding Kyiv’s efforts to redraw the entrance line is the hundreds of thousands of mines Russia has laid of their path, to the extent that Ukraine is now being described as essentially the most closely mined nation on this planet.

“What we are seeing is an industrial level of mine-laying, particularly anti-tank mines,” stated Paul McCann, of the Halo Trust, the world’s largest humanitarian landmine clearance organisation. “Nothing like it [has been] seen in Europe since the Second World War.”

In one a part of the liberated Mykolaiv area, near lands flooded by the Khakovka Dam assault, clearance employees discovered “incredibly dense” fields of highly effective anti-tank mines, with one explosive for each sq. metre, Mr McCann stated.

You can learn extra about Ukraine’s battle with Russia’s minefields right here:

Three individuals have been killed in an in a single day Russian missile strike in central Ukraine, and two died in shelling afterward Monday within the east and south, Ukrainian officers have stated.

Interior minister Ihor Klymenko stated the three individuals had been killed at an industrial plant in central Poltava area. Five had been wounded and one other particular person was unaccounted for, he stated.

Presidential chief of employees Andriy Yermak stated these killed had been night time shift employees at a vegetable oil manufacturing facility within the Myrhorod district and posted images exhibiting the plant in flames. Mr Klymenko stated the hearth had later been extinguished.

Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of southern Kherson area, stated a 63-year-old lady had been killed within the mid-morning shelling of the village of Sadove.

Russian shelling killed a person working outdoors his home within the early night in Toretsk, in japanese Donetsk area, prosecutors stated.

Other experiences from Ukrainian officers described heavy Russian shelling of Marhanets, reverse the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant, with 4 individuals injured. Regional officers reported three injured within the shelling of 9 localities in northern Sumy area.

Ukraine’s army additionally stated central Kryvyi Rih area in had been struck in a missile assault. Local authorities stated non-public homes had been broken, however reported no casualties.

Russia’s FSB safety company has stated {that a} detained former worker of the US Consulate in Vladivostok is accused of accumulating details about Russia’s motion in Ukraine and associated points for US diplomats.

The FSB stated Robert Shonov is suspected of “gathering information about the special military operation, mobilization processes in Russian regions, problems and the assessment of their influence on protest activities of the population in the runup to the 2024 presidential election”.

The company additionally stated it had summonses to query two US diplomats who allegedly instructed Mr Shonov to gather the data. His arrest was first reported in May, however Russian authorities supplied no particulars on the time.

The US State Department, which beforehand condemned the arrest, has warned the allegations in opposition to Shonov “are wholly without merit”, and stated the regulation used to cost him highlights “the increasingly repressive actions the Russian government is taking against its own citizens”.