TOP HEADLINES 

• A sea drone attack damaged a Russian tanker near the strategic bridge linking Russia to the peninsula of Crimea, Russian authorities said on Saturday. Russian media said the SIG vessel, approaching the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, was hit by Ukrainian drones. READ MORE BELOW

• Vasyl Malyuk, head of Ukraine's SBU security service, did not directly say that Ukraine had attacked the Russian tanker but said that any incident with ships or the Crimean bridge was "an absolutely logical and efficient step towards the enemy."

• A Russian warship was seriously damaged in a Ukrainian naval drone attack on a Black Sea navy base at Novorossiysk, the first time Kyiv has projected its power so far from the country's shores. The port, which handles two percent of the world's oil supply and also exports grain, temporarily halted civilian ship movement before resuming normal operations, according to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.

• Talks starting in Saudi Arabia this weekend to find a peaceful settlement to end the conflict in Ukraine will be difficult, but Kyiv is counting on persuading more countries to back its peace formula, said Andriy Yermak, head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office.

• Jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny had an extra 19 years in a maximum security penal colony added to his jail term on Friday in a criminal case that he said was designed to cow the Russian people into political submission. A court at his IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo, about 230 kilometers east of Moscow, on Friday brought to a close his trial on six charges, including inciting and financing extremist activity and creating an extremist organisation.

• Ukrainian military officials said that Kyiv was persistently working to retake land near the shattered eastern city of Bakhmut while Russian forces were pouring in additional troops in a bid to stop Kyiv's advances.

• Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces had made air and artillery strikes on Klishchiivka and surrounding towns, knocking out Ukrainian vehicles and equipment. The report also said Russian forces had pressed offensive action on the southern front and hit Ukrainian personnel and equipment engaged in their drive southward.

• U.S. bank JPMorgan this week stopped processing payments for the Russian Agricultural Bank, Russia said, as it demanded action, not promises, from Washington to help Russian grain and fertilizer reach global markets.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law allowing for foreign investors from "unfriendly" countries to be barred from holding stakes in major Russian companies and banks, state news agency RIA said.

• Putin has signed a law introducing a windfall tax on excess profits of Russian companies. The law, passed by parliament last month, is aimed at raising more than $3 billion and easing strain on the budget as Russia wages what it calls its 'special military operation' in Ukraine.

IN DETAIL

Sea drones hit Russian tanker by strategic bridge

A sea drone attack damaged a Russian tanker near the strategic bridge linking Russia to the annexed peninsula of Crimea, Russian authorities said on Saturday. Russian media said the SIG vessel, approaching the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, was hit by Ukrainian drones. Ukraine's Interfax agency, citing an unnamed security service source, also said its navy was behind the attack with drones in its territorial waters.

No one was hurt, but the Crimean Bridge and ferry transport were suspended for several hours, according to Russian-installed officials in Crimea. Kyiv seldom claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine, but has said that destroying Russia's military infrastructure boosts its counteroffensive chances in the 17-month-old conflict.

Vasyl Malyuk, head of Ukraine's SBU security service, did not directly say that Ukraine had attacked the vessel, but he commented that any incident with Russian ships or the Crimean bridge was "an absolutely logical and efficient step towards the enemy."

"Moreover, such special operations are conducted in the territorial waters of Ukraine and are completely legal," Malyuk said on Telegram.

A drone attack on Russia's navy base at Novorossiysk damaged a Russian warship on Friday, the first time the Ukrainian navy has acted so far from its shores. Russia's Novorossiysk Maritime Rescue Coordination Center was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying there was no fuel spill from the SIG, as the ship had been carrying only technical ballast. It said water had stopped pouring into the SIG and recovery work was underway with two tugboats nearby.

The SIG had been supplying oil to Russian troops in Syria, according to Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in Ukraine's southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia.

The United States imposed sanctions on the tanker and its owner, St Petersburg-based Transpetrochart, in 2019 for helping provide jet fuel in Syria.

Rogov posted an audio clip on Telegram in which the SIG requested a tow from tugboats. He also posted pictures of what he described as shattered fixtures and equipment inside the vessel.

"The SIG tanker... received a hole in the engine room near the waterline on the starboard side, preliminarily as a result of a sea drone attack," Russia's Federal Marine and River Transport agency said in a statement on Telegram.

The Moscow-installed authorities in Crimea said the bridge, which was completed by Russia in 2018 and has come under serious attack twice in the war, was not targeted.

Ukraine's UNIAN news agency said three explosions had been reported in the area.

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