Key events
Moscow buildings damaged by drone attacks, one injured – Russian officials
More on the report of the drone attacks in Moscow.
Russia’s state news agency TASS sent an update saying a security guard was injured in the attacks, citing emergency officials.
Russia’s defence ministry said a Ukrainian drone was destroyed in the air over the Odintsovo district and two others crashed in Moscow, according to TASS, and the attack prompted a temporary closure of one of four airports around the Russian capital.
City mayor Sergei Sobyanin posted on Telegram that the “facades of two city office towers were slightly damaged”.
He added that there were “no victims or injured”.
There is still no comment from Kyiv. It’s the latest in a series of recent drone assaults – including on the Kremlin and Russian towns near the border with Ukraine – that Moscow has blamed on Kyiv.
The TASS state news agency reported that the capital’s Vnukovo airport was “closed for departures and arrivals, flights are redirected to other airports”.
Within less than an hour, operations appeared to return to normal.
You can read our full story here.
Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Christine Kearney with the latest.
Our top stories this morning:
A night-time drone attack on Moscow damaged two office blocks, the mayor of the Russian capital said early Sunday. A security guard was injured, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials.
“Ukrainian drones attacked tonight. Facades of two city office towers were slightly damaged,” Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin posted on Telegram.
Kyiv is yet to comment, but Ukraine typically declines to claim responsibility for attacks on Russia. The Kremlin has accused Ukraine of a series of drone attacks on its territory in recent months, including a drone strike on the Kremlin.
Meanwhile, Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that an African initiative could be a basis for peace in Ukraine, but that Ukrainian attacks made it hard to realise.
Speaking at a press conference after meeting African leaders in St Petersburg, he said there are provisions of the peace initiative that are being implemented, “but there are things that are difficult or impossible to implement”.
More on these stories shortly. Elsewhere:
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A group of 100 mercenaries from the Russian Wagner group moved closer to the Belarusian city of Grodno near the Polish border, the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said, raising fears of a potentially “dangerous” situation. Poland and Lithuania are considering closing their respective borders with Belarus amid concerns over the Wagner group.
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Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the main intelligence directorate of Ukraine’s defence ministry, raised the prospect of Ukrainian forces “soon” entering Crimea in an effort to retake the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. Crimea has been subject to attacks in recent weeks – including an explosion which damaged the Kerch Bridge two weeks ago.
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The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, has criticised Russia’s “handful of donations [of grain] to some countries” which he said does not offset the consequences of the end of the Black Sea initiative.
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South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, called for the reopening of the Black Sea grain initiative at a summit with Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
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Saudi Arabia plans to host talks next weekend to discuss a path towards peace in Ukraine, convening representatives from Kyiv, western powers and developing countries, officials said. Russia will not attend the meeting in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah.
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Ukrainian soldiers have been observed firing North Korean rockets that they said were seized by a “friendly” country before being delivered to Ukraine, it was reported.
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A Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant engineer has been held illegally by Russia since his “abduction” last month and is being subjected to torture, the Ukrainian state nuclear energy company claimed.
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Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, visited Ukrainian troops in “advanced positions” near the eastern Bakhmut frontline.
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A Russian rocket attack killed one civilian and injured five more in the north-eastern city of Sumy late on Saturday, Ukraine’s interior ministry said. Ukraine’s national police posted video on Telegram showing one person being carried away in a stretcher.
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Unesco representatives arrived in Odesa to assess the damage to cultural and religious sites caused by Russian strikes on 19 to 23 July.
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Ukraine’s energy minister says he is confident Ukraine will keep lights on this winter. German Galushchenko did not give details, but said the country was adding power in ways it had never done before
