TOP HEADLINES

• The United States does not encourage or enable attacks inside Russia, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said after Russian authorities said they downed drones that tried to attack Moscow early on Wednesday. READ MORE BELOW

• A drone hit a building that was under construction in central Moscow early on Wednesday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in his channel on Telegram. Russian military downed one more drone over the western part of the Moscow region, he said.

• Two educational workers were killed and three other people wounded in a Russian attack on a school in the city of Romny in the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Wednesday. 

• Russia's Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that it had destroyed a drone over Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine and regularly comes under fire from Kyiv's forces.

• The governor of Russia's Belgorod region said on Tuesday that three civilians had been killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on a sanatorium in the village of Lavy, close to the Ukrainian border.

• Ukrainian air defenses shot down 11 out of 20 drones launched by Russia in overnight attacks, the air force said on Wednesday.

• Russia targeted Ukrainian ports in the southern Odesa region and the Danube River area in overnight drone attacks, setting at least one grain storage facility on fire, Ukraine's military and local authorities said on Wednesday.

IN DEPTH

U.S. says it doesn't 'encourage or enable' attacks inside Russia 

The United States does not encourage or enable attacks inside Russia, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said after Russian authorities said they downed drones that tried to attack Moscow early on Wednesday.

It is up to Ukraine to decide how it chooses to defend itself from the Russian attack that began in February last year, the State Department spokesperson said, adding Russia could end the war any time by withdrawing from Ukraine.

Drone strikes deep inside Russia have increased since two unmanned aircraft were destroyed over the Kremlin in early May. Drone strikes on the Russian capital have become increasingly common in recent months.

The United States, which has supplied Ukraine with massive assistance in the form of weapons and other military equipment to combat the Russian attack, has consistently said it does not support attacks inside Russia.

The Russian defense ministry said early on Wednesday that air defense systems downed three drones that tried to attack Moscow. One drone hit a building under construction in central Moscow early on Wednesday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his channel on Telegram, a messaging app.

Moscow airports suspended flights early on Wednesday, Russia's TASS news agency reported. Major airports around the Russian capital have repeatedly closed for departing and arriving flights in recent days due to Ukrainian drone activity.

Russia also shot down two Ukrainian drones over the Moscow region with no casualties and brought down a further two drones over the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, the Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

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