kyiv continues to try to keep the pressure on Russia. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced overnight from Friday to Saturday that three Ukrainian naval drones were shot down near the Crimean Bridge, a particularly strategic structure for Russia for the transport of military equipment, already heavily attacked last July. According to the ministry, three unmanned semi-submersible boats were sent by kyiv to carry out an attack on the structure. The third was reportedly shot down around 2:20 a.m. (Moscow time) before it could reach its target.
The offensive follows kyiv’s announcement this week of the first drone attack carried out directly from Russian territory. During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, the Kresty air base in Pskov was the target of Ukrainian drones, nearly 700 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
Drone attacks are an integral part of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which appears to be progressing. Washington thus announced this Friday, September 1 that the Ukrainian army had “made notable progress” in recent days on the front. Remarks contrary to those of several American military officials in the press in recent weeks, who had expressed strong reservations about the progress of the counter-offensive led by kyiv.
US approves sale of tanks to Bulgaria
This is a new arms contract for a country in Eastern Europe and a member of NATO. Washington announced on Friday, September 1, having approved the sale of armored vehicles to Bulgaria for an amount of 1.5 billion dollars. The US State Department has told Congress that it has given the green light to the sale of 183 Stryker armored vehicles, half of which are infantry transport vehicles. The sale “will improve Bulgaria’s rapid infantry deployment and its ability to send forces,” he said in a statement, as the Bulgarian government agreed a month ago to send around 100 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine.
This sale again shows the intensification of American military aid to Ukraine and NATO member countries. On August 21, the United States had already announced the sale of 96 Apache attack helicopters to Poland, for an amount of nearly 12 billion dollars.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov listed as ‘foreign agent’ in Russia
Co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, Dmitry Muratov, editor of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was added to the list of “foreign agents” by Moscow on Friday, September 1. According to the Russian Ministry of Justice, Dmitry Muratov allegedly “used foreign platforms to spread opinions aimed at forming a negative attitude towards the foreign and internal policy of the Russian Federation”, justifying this label commonly used in Russia to gag the critics.
In particular, it involves significant administrative constraints for the persons or entities concerned, including regular monitoring of their sources of funding. This status also requires that any publication, including on social networks, be accompanied by the “foreign agent” label. Dmitry Muratov had recently been seen in Russia, where he is helping to defend Oleg Orlov, an official of the NGO Memorial – officially dissolved and co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize – who is on trial for having “discredited” the Russian army by criticizing the offensive against Ukraine.
The independent media he ran, Novaya Gazetahad to suspend its publication after the start of the war in Ukraine, in the face of tougher repression in Russia.