Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was carrying out tests on a new weapon to intercept drones and had recorded a successful hit overnight.
Russian forces struck a cargo vessel in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Chornomorsk on Wednesday, Russia's Defence Ministry said.
The ministry said that the vessel was being used to supply Ukraine's military.
Reuters could not independently verify the claim.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged citizens to participate in the upcoming parliamentary election, linking the vote to public support for Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. Russia will hold a three-day election from 18 to 20 September to choose members of the 450-seat State Duma.
In a televised address, Putin said voter participation would demonstrate national unity and support for Russian troops. He also described the election as a response to external pressure and efforts that Moscow says are aimed at weakening Russia.
The vote will be the country’s first parliamentary election since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The ruling United Russia party currently dominates the State Duma.
Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces say they killed Russian Major General Anton Grunis in a drone strike in the Russian-held part of Donetsk region. Commander Robert Brovdi said Grunis was killed on September 12 in a nighttime attack on his position.
The general had received Russia’s Hero of Russia award just over two weeks earlier for his wartime service. A Russian commander, Apti Alaudinov, also said Grunis had died but did not provide details about the circumstances. Reuters said it could not independently verify Ukraine’s account of the strike.
Grunis had previously been praised by President Vladimir Putin for his role in operations around Kostiantynivka, a city whose capture Russia has claimed but Ukraine disputes.
Ukraine is proposing record defence spending of 4.89 trillion hryvnias, or about $110 billion, for 2027 as the cost of the war continues to rise. The planned defence allocation is around 12 per cent higher than this year and would account for roughly two-thirds of total state spending. Ukrainian officials say the daily cost of the war has climbed to about $190 million, compared with $116 million in 2022.
Kyiv expects to need more than $52 billion in international financial assistance next year, with around $20 billion already committed by partners. Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said frozen Russian assets held by Ukraine’s European allies could become an important source for covering the remaining budget gap. The draft budget will now be reviewed by parliament before a final vote later this year.
Two Rosneft-owned oil refineries in Russia’s Syzran and Saratov have halted crude processing following Ukrainian drone attacks, according to industry sources cited by Reuters.
The Syzran refinery stopped operations on Tuesday after several facilities, including its main crude distillation unit, were damaged. Sources said repairs there could take at least a month. The Saratov refinery has also suspended processing after suffering repeated drone strikes and equipment damage in recent weeks.
The shutdowns are expected to add further pressure to Russia’s domestic fuel supply, which has already prompted restrictions on exports of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Rosneft did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
A drone shot down over Lithuania by an Italian NATO fighter jet was probably intended for Ukraine, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said. He identified it as a Russian-used Gerbera drone, which can serve as a decoy or carry explosives.
Nauseda said the drone may have been diverted from its route by Ukrainian electronic warfare rather than deliberately sent towards Lithuania. The Lithuanian military is examining the drone’s electronics to determine its original target.
The incident marks the first suspected Russian drone intercepted by NATO’s Baltic Air Defence mission. Russia has not commented on the case.
The Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin will address the nation on Wednesday ahead of a parliamentary election being held from Friday to Sunday.
Russia’s Defence Ministry has confirmed that a Russian corvette fired two red signal flares towards a Danish helicopter in the Baltic Sea. Moscow said the action was intended to prevent what it described as a “provocation.”
According to the ministry, the Danish helicopter left the area following the incident. Russia also said the commander of the warship was decorated for his actions. The statement did not provide further details about what Russia considered provocative.
Ukraine is considering frozen Russian assets as a major source of financing for its 2027 budget shortfall. Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said the country will require more than $52 billion in international financial assistance next year.
Kyiv has already secured commitments worth around $20 billion from its partners. The government is now discussing how to cover the remaining funding gap. Marchenko made the remarks while presenting Ukraine’s draft 2027 budget to parliament.
A woman was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s Bryansk region, according to acting governor Yegor Kovalchuk. He said the attack took place in the region, which borders Ukraine. Kovalchuk announced the death in a statement posted on Russia’s MAX messaging app.
Russia says there is still time to prevent an arms race in space through a legally binding international agreement. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called for a treaty that would prohibit the deployment of strike weapons in outer space.
His comments followed a U.S. acknowledgement that the Pentagon is operating weapons in Earth’s orbit. Ryabkov said Moscow believes diplomatic measures can still prevent further militarisation of space. Russia has long advocated restrictions on the placement of weapons beyond Earth.
The latest comments come amid renewed debate over military competition and security risks in orbit.
The U.S. Justice Department has charged five people over an alleged network that sought to organise surveillance, attacks and targeted killings on behalf of Russian intelligence services. Prosecutors say the suspects include two Russian nationals, two Cuban nationals and a Venezuelan national, all of whom remain at large.
All five face charges of conspiracy to finance terrorism, while three are also accused of conspiracy to commit murder for hire. U.S. authorities allege that members of the network recruited people to monitor Russian dissidents in the United States and Lithuania and offered payments for planned killings.
The Kremlin said it would not comment without what it described as credible evidence based on tangible facts, while Russia has previously denied carrying out such operations abroad. The Justice Department stressed that the charges are allegations and that the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Ukraine is considering additional insurance coverage for commercial ships in an effort to restore food exports through the Black Sea. Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports and vessels have sharply disrupted maritime trade since the summer, with agricultural exports reportedly falling by around 60 per cent.
Shipowners have increasingly avoided ports in the Odesa region because of security risks, despite Kyiv not formally suspending Black Sea shipping. Farm groups warn that prolonged export disruption could create grain-storage shortages, push domestic prices lower and place further financial pressure on farmers.
Officials have discussed expanding ship-insurance mechanisms alongside existing war-risk schemes introduced since 2023. Farmers are also considering loans backed by grain stored in certified warehouses to help producers avoid selling crops at depressed prices.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has pledged what she called the EU’s “strongest-ever” support for Ukraine during the coming winter. Speaking in her State of the Union address in Strasbourg, she said the period ahead could be the toughest winter of the war and stressed that continued assistance remains a priority.
The EU plans to provide humanitarian assistance, support Ukraine’s electricity and heating supplies, and strengthen its air defences. Von der Leyen also called for urgent deliveries of Patriot interceptor missiles while arguing that Europe should reduce its reliance on a single supplier.
She backed the development of a more affordable and modular European missile-defence system in cooperation with Ukraine. Ukraine’s FREYJA anti-ballistic programme is already being developed with participation from several European countries.
Russia is expected to extend restrictions on diesel exports until the end of October, according to Vedomosti, citing two unidentified sources. The current measures are due to expire at the end of September and were introduced amidst domestic fuel shortages.
The shortages have been worsened by Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries, which disrupted production at several major facilities. Vedomosti reported that the decision was taken after a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, though the government has yet to make an official announcement.
Reuters calculations indicate that three of Russia’s six largest diesel-producing refineries either sharply reduced output or halted production in September because of strike-related damage. Despite reported understandings aimed at limiting attacks on energy infrastructure, both Russia and Ukraine have continued targeting energy facilities.
A Russian court has sentenced Russian-Canadian national Nikolai Zyuzev to seven years in a penal colony after convicting him of high treason, according to state news agency RIA. Authorities said Zyuzev worked abroad to train leaders of so-called “national liberation movements” linked to ethnic minority groups in Russia.
Russia’s Federal Security Service said the activity was directed against the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The FSB also accused him of distributing materials it described as “extremist” and said his work had been commissioned by European Union government bodies and think tanks.
RIA did not report how Zyuzev pleaded to the charge. He was arrested in Russia’s northern Komi region.
Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian railways, hitting 120 passenger wagons, 304 locomotives and 43 railway stations so far this year, the state rail operator told Reuters on Wednesday.
The company said that Russia has attacked 1,700 railway facilities in all since the start of the year. Last year it attacked 1,206 facilities and in 2024 it hit 842, the railway operator said.
A Russian drone attack on a bus in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region killed five people and wounded at least seven more, the regional governor said on Wednesday.
Russia's Defence Ministry said that it had hit a cargo vessel in Ukraine's Black Sea port of Chornomorsk, in the Odesa region.
Polish airports in Lublin and Rzeszów have resumed air operations after temporary closure due to operations of military aviation, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) said on X.
Russia attacked energy infrastructure in Ukraine's central region of Poltava overnight, the regional governor said on Wednesday, without giving any further details.
A Russian drone also hit an unnamed industrial facility, Vitalii Diakivnych said on the Telegram messaging app.
An explosion occurred in Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Wednesday morning, according to a Reuters witness.
The five people allegedly worked for Russian intelligence services to “conduct attacks and murders around the world, including in the United States,” the Department of Justice said in the indictment, adding the individuals were still at large.
Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters the plots included “efforts to murder a Russian dissident who investigators believed was located in the Washington, D.C., area.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the U.S. television network CBS that he was in Moldova on Ukraine's western border, at Chisinau airport, on his way to and from a trip abroad when the incidents occurred.
“In Moldova, my presidential jet was there, and that's why they attacked Moldova, the airspace of Moldova. Maybe they didn't want to attack me personally...,” Zelenskyy said.
“When we came back home, again through Chisinau, again they did the same.”
Follow for the latest updates from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
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Iran's Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad has resigned, with Hamid Bovard, chief executive of the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), appointed as acting oil minister, according to Iranian state media.
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Candidates elected to Bosnia and Herzegovina's three-member presidency declared victory after preliminary unofficial results showed Denis Becirovic leading the Bosniak seat, Darijana Filipovic ahead in the Croat seat and Zeljka Cvijanovic likely retaining the Serb seat.
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Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 6 October 2026. These are the top five things you need to know about the 2026 Nobel Prize.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said that the United States will 'help' Russia after a laboratory worker died at a plague research institute in Siberia.
The United States has warned foreign financial institutions that continued dealings with Iran's banking sector could expose them to sanctions, signalling a tougher approach as Washington seeks to further isolate Tehran from the global financial system.
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