Russia-Ukraine war live: drones hit planes at Russian airbase as six regions report attacks; two dead in Kyiv attack

Tech giants, including TikTok and Twitter, failed to effectively tackle Russian disinformation online during the first year of the war in Ukraine, according to a study published on Wednesday by the European Union.

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The European Union has previously warned against online manipulation and interference by Russia targeting the European internet in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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The independent study for the EU comes after tougher rules under the Digital Services Act (DSA) kicked in this month for the world’s biggest online platforms.

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The report focused on risks from pro-Kremlin disinformation on six platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (rebranded X), YouTube, TikTok and Telegram – and whether the companies’ actions complied with elements of the DSA, reports AFP.

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Except for Telegram, all must currently comply with the DSA’s stricter rules that demand a more aggressive approach to policing content – including disinformation and hate speech – from “very large” platforms with at least 45 million monthly active users.

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Tech companies signed a code of practice on disinformation before the DSA that would have “mitigated some of the Kremlin’s malign activities”, the report said.

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“The evidence suggests that online platforms failed to implement these measures at a systemic level,” the study wrote.

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Most major platforms signed the code last year but Twitter withdrew in June. The report also criticised the Telegram social network, but it has not signed up to the code.

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The authors warned that Russian online disinformation has increased in 2023, especially after SpaceX and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk took over Twitter late last year.

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“The reach and influence of Kremlin-backed accounts has grown further in the first half of 2023, driven in particular by the dismantling of Twitter’s safety standards.”

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Musk unleashed a wave of sackings when he took over, firing many moderators who vetted Twitter content for disinformation and harmful messages.

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He has said, however, that Twitter/X is “working hard” to meet the DSA rules.

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Russia’s defence ministry said in two separate statements on Wednesday that its aircraft had destroyed two Ukrainian speedboats east of Snake Island, in the Black Sea, Reuters reports.

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Neither Reuters nor the Guardian was able to verify the reports, which followed a similar incident on 22 August when Russia said it had destroyed a US-made speedboat carrying Ukrainian military personnel in the same area.

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Snake Island is a small Ukrainian outpost in the north-west part of the Black Sea where tensions have escalated since Russia last month pulled out of a deal that had enabled Ukraine to ship grain from its southern ports.

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The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said on Wednesday that the Black Sea grain deal would be one of the items on the agenda of the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov’s, talks on Thursday and Friday with his Turkish counterpart.

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Russia pulled out of the Turkish-brokered deal, which had enabled Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports, in July.

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So far, more than 40m tonnes of grain, oil seeds and related products are estimated by officials to have been exported through alternative routes via Poland and Romania, providing an important lifeline to Ukraine.

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• The Kremlin said on Wednesday that investigators were considering the possibility that the plane carrying the Wagner mercenary head Yevgeny Prigozhin was downed on purpose, the first explicit acknowledgment that he may have been assassinated.

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• Ukrainian drones struck targets in at least six regions deep within Russia on Wednesday, including an airfield where they destroyed military transport planes. Russian officials described attacks on targets in the Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan and Moscow regions. The Russian foreign ministry said the attacks would “not go unpunished” and could not have reached so far into Russian territory without western help.

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• The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia was working out where the drones had been launched from to prevent further strikes.

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• The attacks came as authorities in Kyiv reported at least two people killed in what they described as the heaviest series of Russian airstrikes on the Ukrainian capital for months.

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• Across Ukraine, Ukrainian air defences shot down all 28 Russian missiles and 15 out of 16 drones launched overnight, Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said on Wednesday.

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The Kremlin has responded to questions about the inquiry relating to the plane crash that killed the mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhinon (see post at 11.22).

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Russia has informed Brazil’s aircraft investigation authority that it will not investigate the crash of the Brazilian-made Embraer jet under international rules “at the moment”, the Brazilian agency told Reuters.

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Asked about that report, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said: “First of all, the investigation is under way, the investigative committee is engaged in this.

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“In this case there can be no talk of any international aspect,” he added.

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The private Embraer jet on which Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg from Moscow crashed north of Moscow, killing all 10 people on board on 23 August.

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The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia was working out where the drones were launched from to prevent further strikes (see earlier post at 06.07 for details).

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Vladimir Putin had been informed immediately, as would be the case after any such “massive attacks”, he added.

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Ukrainian drones reportedly struck targets in at least six regions deep within Russia on Wednesday, including an airfield where they destroyed military transport planes.

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Kyiv confirmed the Russian planes had been destroyed in Pskov, without commenting on the nature of the incident, Reuters reports.

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It generally withholds comment on strikes on territory inside Russia, though it says it has a right to hit military targets.

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“Yes, four IL-76 transport planes were destroyed in Pskov at an airfield, they are beyond repair. Also, several other of those (aircraft) are damaged, but the information is being checked,” Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s GUR military agency, told Reuters.

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The Kremlin said on Wednesday that the investigation into the plane crash which killed the Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and nine others last week included the possibility that it was caused deliberately, Reuters reports.

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“It is obvious that different versions are being considered, including the version – you know what we are talking about – let’s say, a deliberate atrocity,” the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

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Peskov also said that the inquiry into the plane crash was a Russian investigation, and that there could be no question of an international investigation.

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Russia’s investigative committee on Sunday confirmed Prigozhin was among the people killed. The committee said in a statement that after forensic testing, all 10 bodies recovered at the site had been identified, and their identities “conform to the manifest”.

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Russia’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that a wave of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian territory overnight “will not go unpunished”, Reuters reports.

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In a briefing to journalists, spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that the drones, some of which struck an airbase in Pskov, 400 miles from Ukraine, could not have covered such distances without information from western countries.

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Russia said it foiled one of the biggest Ukrainian drone attacks to date on western Russia on Wednesday, shooting down unmanned aircraft over at least six regions.

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Accross Ukraine, Ukrainian air defences shot down all 28 Russian missiles and 15 out of 16 drones launched overnight, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine‘s armed forces, said on Wednesday.

Ukrainian authorities have said at least two people were killed and two wounded in an attack on Kyiv on Wednesday morning. Several people were also injured in Kyiv region.

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It has been a big night in both Russia and Ukraine. Here is what we know:

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• Kyiv was targeted early Wednesday by the “most powerful” barrage of missiles and drones since the spring, authorities said, with two people reported dead, as Russia claimed it destroyed four Ukrainian boats in the Black Sea carrying up to 50 soldiers.

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• More than 20 missiles and drones were “destroyed by air defence forces” overnight, the Kyiv city military administration wrote on Telegram, describing the aerial assault as “the most powerful” to hit the city since the spring.

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• Ukrainian drones swept across Russia in overnight attacks that damaged military aircraft and disrupted air traffic, Russian officials said early on Wednesday, hours after the funeral service for Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.

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• Attacks by unmanned aircraft were reported in Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov and Ryazan regions as well as the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula, Russian officials said.

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• The attack on six regions in Russia is believed to be the largest on Russian soil since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Associated Press reports.

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• The most significant attack appeared to be in Pskov, where Russian officials said four Il-76 military transport planes were damaged. Poskov lies about 411 miles (660 km) north of the Ukrainian frontier, near the borders with Estonia and Latvia.

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• Russia’s defence ministry said that it had destroyed military boats in the Black Sea carrying 50 Ukrainian paratroops. An aircraft “destroyed four high-speed military boats” in the Black Sea around midnight Moscow time, the Russian defence ministry wrote on Telegram. The boats had been carrying “landing groups of Ukrainian special operations forces with a total number of up to 50 people”, the ministry said. It did not give details on exactly where in the Black Sea the claimed incident took place.

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• Early on Wednesday, the local Moscow-installed governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, was cited as saying by Tass that Russian defences repelled a “seaborne drone attack” near Sevastopol Bay in Crimea. Sevastopol is the base of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. “Anti-submarine … forces have completed their work,” Razvozhayev said, without giving details.

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• The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has announced a new package of military assistance to aid Ukraine. The package includes additional mine clearing equipment, missiles for air defence, ammunition for artillery and high bar systems, and over three million rounds of small arms ammunition, Blinken said in a statement.

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More than 20 missiles and drones were “destroyed by air defence forces” overnight, the Kyiv City Military Administration wrote on Telegram, describing the aerial assault as “the most powerful” to hit the city since the spring.

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“The enemy launched a massive, combined attack using drones and missiles,” the administration wrote.

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Here is more detail on the attacks on Kyiv, via AFP:

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Two killed by falling debris after missile strike on Kyiv: authorities

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Two people were killed by falling debris after a missile strike on Kyiv, the local military administration said on Wednesday.

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“As a result of debris falling in Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv… 2 people died, according to initial reports,” Sergiy Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, wrote on Telegram.

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Another person was injured and was being given medical assistance, he said.

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Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram that “two dead men were found” in a non-residential building in Shevchenkivskyi district.

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He did not specify how they died nor whether they were the same two reported by the city’s military administration.

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The regional military administration had earlier warned of a missile attack and said air defences were operating.

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An AFP reporter heard at least three loud explosions in the centre of Kyiv around 5am local time (0200 GMT).

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Emergency services had also deployed to the southern Darnytskyi district, where debris had fallen onto a commercial building, Popko wrote on Telegram.

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Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko reports that explosions have been heard in Kyiv and that emergency services had been called to the Shevchenkivskyi district of the city.

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“In the Darnytskyi district, debris fell on the roof of a commercial premises. In Shevchenkivskyi – also falling debris. All services follow in place,” Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko wrote on Telegram.

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“Medics went to calls at two addresses in Shevchenkivskyi district. Details – later.”

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Meanwhile US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced a new package of military assistance to aid Ukraine.

The package includes additional mine clearing equipment, missiles for air defense, ammunition for artillery and high bar systems, and over three million rounds of small arms ammunition, Blinken said in a statement.

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Russia’s Defence Ministry has reported what it says are Ukrainian drones of targeting six Russian regions in the early hours of Wednesday in what appears to be the biggest drone attack on Russian soil over the course of this phase of the war – in other words, since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

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Drones hit an airport in the western Pskov region and were shot down over the regions of Moscow, Oryol, Bryansk, Ryazan and Kaluga.

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The strike in Pskov started a massive fire and four Il-78 transport aircraft were damaged, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials.

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Pskov regional Governor Mikhail Vedernikov ordered all flights to and from the Pskov airport canceled Wednesday, citing the need to assess the damage during daylight.

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Footage and images posted on social media overnight showed smoke billowing over the city of Pskov, and a large blaze. Vedernikov said there were no casualties, and the fire has been contained.

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Russia’s Tass news agency reports, citing Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin, that a drone was “destroyed” in the Ruzsky district of the Moscow region.

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“Tonight, an attempt was made to mass attack drones in the Central Federal District. One of the UAVs heading for Moscow was destroyed by air defense forces in the Ruzsky district. There were no preliminary casualties and no damage,” Sobyanin wrote in his Telegram channel.

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The attack happened at around 2.30 Moscow time (two hours ago), Russia’s defence forces said on Telegram.

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Reuters: Russia has informed Brazil’s aircraft investigation authority that it will not probe the crash of the Brazilian-made Embraer jet that killed mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin under international rules “at the moment”, the Brazilian agency told Reuters on Tuesday.

Prigozhin, two top lieutenants of his Wagner Group and four bodyguards were among 10 people who died when the Embraer Legacy 600 crashed north of Moscow last week.

He died two months to the day after staging a brief mutiny against the Russian defense establishment that posed the biggest challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s rule since he rose to power in 1999.

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Brazil’s Center for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (Cenipa), in the interests of improving aviation safety, had said it would join a Russian-led investigation if it were invited and the probe held under international rules.

Russia’s aviation authority was not obligated to say yes to Cenipa, but some former investigators said it should, as the US and other Western governments suspect the Kremlin of being behind the crash of the Embraer Legacy 600, which has a good safety record. The Kremlin denies any involvement.

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Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko has said online that there has been a ‘“rocket attack” on Odesa with explosions heard at around 3.30 am local time:

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Rocket attack on Odesa region. Explosions were heard 10 minutes ago. We are waiting for information from the Air Force.

— Oleksiy Goncharenko (@GoncharenkoUa) August 30, 2023

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The governor of Russia’s Orlov region, Andriy Klychkov, has said on Telegram that two Ukrainian drones were shot down tonight:

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n

Tonight, while repelling an attack by Ukrainian UAVs, two unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down over the territory of the Orlov region by means of air defence. There is no information about damage or casualties. All operational services are involved to ensure security.

n

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Russia’s military initially reported that one drone had been shot down over the region.

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Air raid sirens are active in Kyiv and other regions in Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s emergency services on Telegram.

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“In Kiev and the lower regions, the signal “At the alarm” has been announced!”,” the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Telegram.

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Russia’s military, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said early on Wednesday that one of its aircraft had destroyed four rapid Ukrainian vessels carrying up to 50 paratroops in an operation on the Black Sea.

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Writing on Telegram, the military said:

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n

On August 30, at about 00.00 Moscow time, a naval aviation aircraft of the Black Sea Fleet in the Black Sea destroyed four high-speed military boats with landing groups of servicemen of the Ukrainian special operations forces totaling up to 50 people.

n

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Russia’s military said on Telegram early on Wednesday it had downed three Ukrainian drones over southern Bryansk region and one over central Orlov region.

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There were reports of explosions in Bryansk, as well as the Tula region.

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Bellingcat researcher Aric Toyler said online: “About every local Bryansk channel just now wrote, almost simultaneously, that they heard a loud explosion. Similar reports in Tula with reports of drones being fired at.”

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The region of Pskov was previously targeted by drones in late May.

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In recent weeks Moscow and other Russian regions have been targeted by a barrage of Ukrainian drone attacks after Kyiv vowed this summer to “return” the conflict to Russia.

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A drone attack on the city of Pskov in northwestern Russia has damaged four heavy transport planes, state media reported early on Wednesday, amid reports of explosions in regions south of Moscow.

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“The defence ministry is repelling a drone attack in Pskov’s airport,” regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov said on social media, posting a video of a massive fire, with the sounds of explosions and sirens in the background.

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Pskov is located about 800km (nearly 500 miles) from Ukraine’s border and the surrounding region borders EU member states Latvia and Estonia.

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In Moscow, news agency Tass reported that airspace above Vnukovo airport closed briefly in response to the attacks on Pskov, before reopening to air traffic.

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There were also reportedly explosions in Russia’s Bryansk and Tula regions, according to the investigative news outlet Bellingcat.

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There was no immediate comment from the defence ministry on the Pskov attack, but four transport planes were damaged, Tass news agency reported, citing emergency services.

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Vedernikov said he was at the scene of the attack. “According to preliminary information, there are no victims,” he said, adding that the scale of the damage was being assessed.

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Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.

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In breaking news, a drone attack on the city of Pskov in northwestern Russia has damaged four heavy transport planes, state media reported early on Wednesday, amid reports of explosions in regions south of Moscow.

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“The defence ministry is repelling a drone attack in Pskov’s airport,” regional governor Mikhail Vedernikov said on social media, posting a video of a massive fire, with the sounds of explosions and sirens in the background.

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Pskov is located about 800km (nearly 500 miles) from Ukraine’s border and the surrounding region borders EU member states Latvia and Estonia.

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Separately, Russia’s military said early on Wednesday that one of its aircraft had destroyed four Ukrainian rapid vessels carrying up to 50 paratroops in an operation on the Black Sea.

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We’ll have more developments shortly.

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Tech giants such as TikTok and Twitter failed to effectively tackle Russian disinformation online, says EU

Tech giants, including TikTok and Twitter, failed to effectively tackle Russian disinformation online during the first year of the war in Ukraine, according to a study published on Wednesday by the European Union.

The European Union has previously warned against online manipulation and interference by Russia targeting the European internet in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The independent study for the EU comes after tougher rules under the Digital Services Act (DSA) kicked in this month for the world’s biggest online platforms.

The report focused on risks from pro-Kremlin disinformation on six platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (rebranded X), YouTube, TikTok and Telegram – and whether the companies’ actions complied with elements of the DSA, reports AFP.

Except for Telegram, all must currently comply with the DSA’s stricter rules that demand a more aggressive approach to policing content – including disinformation and hate speech – from “very large” platforms with at least 45 million monthly active users.

Tech companies signed a code of practice on disinformation before the DSA that would have “mitigated some of the Kremlin’s malign activities”, the report said.

“The evidence suggests that online platforms failed to implement these measures at a systemic level,” the study wrote.

Most major platforms signed the code last year but Twitter withdrew in June. The report also criticised the Telegram social network, but it has not signed up to the code.

The authors warned that Russian online disinformation has increased in 2023, especially after SpaceX and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk took over Twitter late last year.

“The reach and influence of Kremlin-backed accounts has grown further in the first half of 2023, driven in particular by the dismantling of Twitter’s safety standards.”

Musk unleashed a wave of sackings when he took over, firing many moderators who vetted Twitter content for disinformation and harmful messages.

He has said, however, that Twitter/X is “working hard” to meet the DSA rules.

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and his Turkish counterpart will discuss a proposal by Moscow for an alternative to the Black Sea grain deal when they meet this week, Lavrov’s ministry said on Wednesday.

Under the plan, Russia would send a million tonnes of grain to Turkey at a discounted price, with financial support from Qatar, to be processed in Turkey and sent to countries most in need, the Foreign Ministry said, according to Reuters.

“We consider this project as the optimal working alternative to the Black Sea deal,” it said, referring to the arrangement that Russia quit in July.

The announcement comes as a senior US state department official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said US and Romanian officials had been working to “potentially trying to double” the exports that go via the Danube River.

The Wagner group is expected to remain operational in Africa, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and vice-president of the European Commission has said.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of EU defence ministers in Spain, Josep Borrell said that despite the death of the group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a plane crash, he was “sure they’ll quickly find a replacement”.

“They will remain operational in Africa because it is the armed wing of Russia,” Borrell said.

“They [Wagner] will continue to serve Putin and do what they do, which is certainly not contributing to peace in the Sahel or defending rights and freedoms in the Sahel.”

There have been more than 190 suspected drone attacks in Russia and in Russian-controlled Crimea since the start of the year – based on tracking reports in Russia media – according to analysis by BBC Verify.

The latest strikes, which reportedly targeted at least six Russian regions, are the most widespread so far in 2023, the BBC reports.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has tweeted a picture of himself and the French president, Emmanuel Macron. He said they discussed further military support and other topics.

I was honored to be received by @EmmanuelMacron following his contacts with @ZelenskyyUa. Discussed further military support, expanding the Peace Formula coalition and our grain exports to countries in Africa and beyond. I thanked him for reaffirming France’s continued support. pic.twitter.com/Xat5DE2VCg

— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) August 30, 2023

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I was honored to be received by @EmmanuelMacron following his contacts with @ZelenskyyUa. Discussed further military support, expanding the Peace Formula coalition and our grain exports to countries in Africa and beyond. I thanked him for reaffirming France’s continued support. pic.twitter.com/Xat5DE2VCg

— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) August 30, 2023

Russia says it has destroyed two Ukrainian speedboats

Russia’s defence ministry said in two separate statements on Wednesday that its aircraft had destroyed two Ukrainian speedboats east of Snake Island, in the Black Sea, Reuters reports.

Neither Reuters nor the Guardian was able to verify the reports, which followed a similar incident on 22 August when Russia said it had destroyed a US-made speedboat carrying Ukrainian military personnel in the same area.

Snake Island is a small Ukrainian outpost in the north-west part of the Black Sea where tensions have escalated since Russia last month pulled out of a deal that had enabled Ukraine to ship grain from its southern ports.

Lithuania has summoned the Vatican’s top diplomat to the country after Pope Francis told Russian young people to remember they were the heirs of “the great Russian empire”, Reuters reports.

In response to the impromptu remarks by Francis on Friday, in a live video address to Catholic young people gathered in St Petersburg, the Lithuanian foreign affairs ministry invited the apostolic nuncio for “a talk” after the archbishop returned from holiday, a ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The Vatican said on Tuesday that the pope did not intend to glorify Russian imperialism in the speech, in which he also extolled the Russian emperors Peter the Great and Catherine II, who expanded the Russian empire.

Large parts of the territories of Lithuania and Poland were annexed into the Russian empire in the 18th century by Catherine II. The countries broke away after the first world war, after two 19th century revolts against the empire were brutally suppressed.

Francis’s intent was “to preserve and promote all that is positive in the great Russian cultural and spiritual heritage”, said the Vatican.

Ukraine, once part of the same empire, said the comments were “deeply regrettable”. The Kremlin described them as “very gratifying”.

Russia says Black Sea grain deal on agenda for Lavrov’s talks with Turkish counterpart

The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said on Wednesday that the Black Sea grain deal would be one of the items on the agenda of the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov’s, talks on Thursday and Friday with his Turkish counterpart.

Russia pulled out of the Turkish-brokered deal, which had enabled Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports, in July.

So far, more than 40m tonnes of grain, oil seeds and related products are estimated by officials to have been exported through alternative routes via Poland and Romania, providing an important lifeline to Ukraine.

Summary of the day so far …

• The Kremlin said on Wednesday that investigators were considering the possibility that the plane carrying the Wagner mercenary head Yevgeny Prigozhin was downed on purpose, the first explicit acknowledgment that he may have been assassinated.

• Ukrainian drones struck targets in at least six regions deep within Russia on Wednesday, including an airfield where they destroyed military transport planes. Russian officials described attacks on targets in the Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan and Moscow regions. The Russian foreign ministry said the attacks would “not go unpunished” and could not have reached so far into Russian territory without western help.

• The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia was working out where the drones had been launched from to prevent further strikes.

• The attacks came as authorities in Kyiv reported at least two people killed in what they described as the heaviest series of Russian airstrikes on the Ukrainian capital for months.

• Across Ukraine, Ukrainian air defences shot down all 28 Russian missiles and 15 out of 16 drones launched overnight, Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, said on Wednesday.

Russia tells Brazil’s aircraft investigation authority it will not probe crash of jet ‘at the moment’

The Kremlin has responded to questions about the inquiry relating to the plane crash that killed the mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhinon (see post at 11.22).

Russia has informed Brazil’s aircraft investigation authority that it will not investigate the crash of the Brazilian-made Embraer jet under international rules “at the moment”, the Brazilian agency told Reuters.

Asked about that report, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said: “First of all, the investigation is under way, the investigative committee is engaged in this.

“In this case there can be no talk of any international aspect,” he added.

The private Embraer jet on which Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg from Moscow crashed north of Moscow, killing all 10 people on board on 23 August.