Ukraine War: Alleged Russian Drones Strike Romania, Spy Trial in Sweden, Kiev Defense Minister Sacked
All the latest developments from the war in Ukraine.
Kiev claims that Russian drones struck Romania
Ukraine said on Monday that Russian drones had shot down NATO member Romania, after a wave of massive strikes overnight.
advertisementBucharest “categorically” denied Kiev’s allegations.
Citing information from Ukrainian border guards, Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Facebook: “During a large-scale attack carried out by Russia in the area of Port Izmail, Russian martyrs fell and exploded on Romanian territory.”
“This is another confirmation that Russian missile terrorism poses a major security threat not only to Ukraine but also to neighboring countries, including NATO member states,” he added.
Romania’s defense ministry said it was “monitoring the situation” and that Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure did not pose a “direct military threat” to Romania or its territorial waters “at no time”.
On Monday, Ukraine intercepted 17 Russian drones in the southern Odessa region, damaging buildings in the Port Izmail area, according to a local governor.
“Warehouses, production buildings, agricultural machinery and industrial equipment were damaged,” Oleg Kipper wrote on Telegram.
He added that the attack lasted three and a half hours and did not result in any injuries.
The river port of Izmail has become one of the main exit routes for Ukrainian grain since Moscow ended a deal that allowed Kiev to export grain across the Black Sea in July.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office said that, over the weekend, Russian drones hit industrial sites on the Danube River.
The trial of a Russian-Swedish man on charges of espionage
Sergei Skvortsov, a Russian-Swedish man in his 60s, appeared in a Stockholm court on Monday accused of transferring Western technology to Moscow nearly a decade ago.
Skvortsov has been charged with “illegal intelligence activities” against Sweden and the United States, following an investigation by the Swedish police and the FBI.
advertisementHe moved to Sweden with his wife in the 1990s and is alleged to have used companies that import and export electrical components in his spying activities.
According to experts quoted by the Swedish media, these technologies can be used to research nuclear weapons.
The trial comes amid mounting national security concerns for Sweden, months after a former Swedish intelligence agent was found guilty of spying for Russia.
Skvortsov, who has been detained since his arrest in November 2022, faces up to four years in prison.
His lawyer, Ulrika Borg, told the judges: “He is not guilty of any charges brought by the public prosecutor.”
advertisementThe trial is scheduled to continue until 25 September, but will take place partly behind closed doors for reasons of national security.
Ukraine dismisses its defense minister
Zelensky announced the dismissal of Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov from his post.
In his evening address, the Ukrainian president said “new approaches” were needed at the Defense Ministry, where Reznikov has been in charge since the Russian invasion in February.
Rustam Umarov was appointed as his successor.
He is a senior official in the Crimean Tatar community who has represented Kiev in sensitive negotiations with Moscow.
advertisementOmirov, 41, was born in what was then the Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan, where his family had been exiled under Stalin. When he was a child, his family settled in Crimea when the Tatars were allowed to return during the 1980s and 1990s.
Russia claims to have destroyed Ukrainian speedboats
Moscow said on Monday that it had destroyed military speedboats carrying Ukrainian soldiers in the Black Sea.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that its Black Sea fleet destroyed four US-made Willard Marine speedboats that were heading towards Cape Tarkhankut, west of the Korean Peninsula, during the night from Sunday to Monday.
It added that the speedboats were carrying landing groups of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Last week, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that it had destroyed four military boats bound for Crimea with 50 Ukrainian special forces on board, without providing further information.
And on August 24, Ukraine carried out a rare commando raid against the Black Sea peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and claimed to have raised its national flag there.
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