TOP HEADLINES

• Russia's defense ministry said it was forced to down seven drones in the Kaluga region, which lies in between Ukraine and the wider Moscow Oblast, amid a surge in such attacks targeting the Russian capital. Ukraine, in turn, reported its eighth consecutive night of drone strikes on Kyiv. READ MORE BELOW

• Ukraine's defense ministry said that while Russian forces had made no headway along the front lines, they were entrenched in heavily mined areas they control, making it difficult for Ukrainian troops to move east and south.

• Russia's defense ministry says its forces had repelled 12 Ukrainian attacks in the Donetsk area within 24 hours, adding that its troops had killed almost 300 of Kyiv's fighters in the region over the past day.

• Russia's foreign ministry said that Kyiv's use of "terror methods" were aggravating the Ukrainian crisis and delaying a peace settlement, adding that Ukraine's western backers were complicit. 

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Moscow of "waging a battle for a global catastrophe" by carrying out attacks on the grain route, claiming that Russia wanted to create a crisis in world food markets, prices and supplies. 

• The EU has accused Russia of offering cheap grain to developing economies "to create new dependencies by exacerbating economic vulnerabilities and global food insecurity." In a letter to developing nations, the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell claimed Moscow's move to strike new bilateral grain deals was "a cynical policy" that was "deliberately using food as a weapon."

• Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his country was working for peace in Ukraine but neither Zelenskyy nor Vladimir Putin were prepared to talk peace. "Brazil's role is to try to arrive at a peace proposal together with others for when both countries want it," he said.

• Poland's prime minister has accused Russia's Wagner mercenary group of moving fighters close to NATO's eastern flank to destabilize the Western military alliance.

• Russia has added Norway to its list of foreign states that have committed "unfriendly" acts against Russian diplomatic missions. Oslo expelled 15 Russian diplomats for alleged spying earlier this year, prompting Moscow to order 10 Norwegian diplomats to leave the country.

IN DETAIL

Uptick in drone warfare 

Russia on Thursday said it had downed seven drones over the Kaluga region, less than 200 kilometres southwest of Moscow, amid a surge in such attacks targeting the capital. Regional governor Vyacheslav Shapsha confirmed the foiled strikes on Telegram, but said there were no casualties.

As Moscow's offensive in Ukraine stretches into its second year, drone attacks on Russian cities and towns have multiplied. The Kremlin and Russian ministries have accused Kyiv of increasing such aerial strikes due to its counter-attack operation faltering. 

Earlier this week, Russia said it had partially repelled a drone attack in Moscow but that one of them hit a building in the city, which witnessed a similar strike over the weekend. Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Sunday that "war" was coming to Russia, with the country's "symbolic centers and military bases" becoming targets.

Meanwhile in Kyiv, almost 15 drones were downed during an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital, officials said, in the second strike on the capital in as many days.

Air defense forces "detected and destroyed almost 15 air targets", said Sergiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, without specifying who launched the attack. Early information indicated no damage or casualties, he added.

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