A Russian warship in the Black Sea, the Sergei Kotov, was sunk by Ukrainian special forces, Ukraine’s defence intelligence directorate announced on Tuesday morning. “On the night of March 4-5, 2024, the special unit of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine ‘Group 13’ attacked the patrol ship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation ‘Sergei Kotov’ … As a result of the attack by Magura V5 naval drones, the Russian ship of project 22160 ‘Sergei Kotov’ suffered damage to the stern, right and left sides. The ‘Kotova’ was damaged by fire in the territorial waters of Ukraine, near the Kerch Strait. The cost of the sunken ship is about 65 million dollars.”
The claim from Ukraine came after the Kerch bridge from Russia to illegally occupied Crimea was reportedly closed to traffic overnight and explosions were reported in the area. Social media channels suggested Ukrainian aerial and/or naval drone attacks had taken place. The announcement by Ukrainian intelligence appeared to confirm events.
Russia launched 22 attack drones against Ukraine, with air defence systems destroying 18 of them over the Odesa region, Ukraine’s air force said on Tuesday morning.
Ukraine’s military said it contained a Russian advance outside Avdiivka, the city captured last month, but Russian troops were regrouping further south around Novomykhailivka. Ukraine’s emergency services reported that two firefighters were killed near the eastern Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk – north of Avdiivka – when they came under Russian shelling at the scene of a fire.
Britain has urged Germany to supply long-range Taurus missiles to the Ukrainian military despite an embarrassing leak to Russian television of a top-secret call involving German air force officers. A 38-minute recording was released on Friday by the Kremlin propagandist Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of TV network RT. The UK toughened up its lobbying on the Taurus missiles, which have a 300-mile range, twice that of Anglo-French Storm Shadow/Scalp weapons system already given to Kyiv. However, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, saidon Monday he would not donate missiles that could strike at the strategic Kerch bridge linking Russia and occupied Crimea.
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency launched a cyber-attack against the servers of the Russian defence ministry, and said it gained access to “a bulk of classified service documents”.
A civilian US air force employee has been charged in Nebraska with transmitting classified information about Russia’s war with Ukraine on a foreign online dating platform, according to the US justice department. David Franklin Slater, 63, allegedly shared details about military targets and Russian capabilities on an online messaging platform with an unindicted co-conspirator who claimed to be a woman living in Ukraine and called him “my secret informant love.” Slater was expected to make an initial court appearance on Tuesday.
The European Commission will on Tuesday propose how the EU can boost its arms industry and shift to “war economy mode”. Thierry Breton, the European industry commissioner, will lay out proposals to encourage EU countries to buy more weapons together from European companies, and to help such firms increase production capacity, according to EU officials.
Breton, a French former tech company CEO, has said the possibility of another US presidential term for Donald Trump – who has undermined and threatened to quit Nato – means Europe has to do more to protect itself. Breton’s package is expected to include about €1.5bn in new money through the end of 2027. Breton has called for a special EU fund of €100bn for defence projects.
Jack Teixeira, who leaked classified documents about Russia’s war in Ukraine onto the online chat service Discord, has pleaded guilty in federal court. Prosecutors said they would seek nearly 17 years in prison for Teixeira, a Massachusetts air national guard member. A defence attorney said he would push for a sentence of 11 years, describing Teixeira, 22, as a “kid” whose youth was partly to blame for his conduct.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, said he and Oleksandr Syrskyi, the armed forces commander, discussed the frontline situation and supply of weapons with the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, on Monday. Syrskyi said separately that they also spoke to the British defence secretary, Grant Shapps, and Britain’s chief of defence staff, Sir Tony Radakin, discussing the needs of the Ukrainian military and the development of Ukraine’s naval capabilities.
Ukraine said it had not seen the €16bn (£13.7bn) in proceeds from two donor conferences held in Poland in 2022. The two events in 2022 had raised €10bn and €6bn respectively, said the Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal.
The UN nuclear watchdog chief, Rafael Grossi, said he intends to discuss Russia’s plans for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant it is occupying in Ukraine when he meets this week with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.
