Three people have been killed and 16 injured as a result of a drone attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AVF) against Crimea. This was reported by the head of the republic, Sergei Aksyonov, on his Telegram channel, quoted by TASS.
"According to current information, three people have been killed and 16 injured as a result of a drone attack near the city of Foros," he wrote.
Earlier, Aksyonov reported that in the village of Foros, located near the border with Sevastopol, several buildings on the territory of the "Foros" sanatorium and a school building were damaged by a strike by an enemy drone. Preliminary reports indicate that the school's auditorium was destroyed and the library was damaged.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that at around 19:30 Moscow time on September 21, Ukrainian armed forces carried out a strike using unmanned aerial vehicles in a resort area of Crimea, where there are no military facilities.
Russia and Ukraine launched drone strikes tonight, causing casualties and damage, DPA reported, citing local authorities and media reports.
Shortly after, air raid sirens sounded in the port city of Sevastopol and Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev urged residents to seek shelter. Three drones were shot down over the port.
Ukrainian officials had earlier reported a series of Russian drone attacks. Explosions from drones in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava have caused fires and property damage, the head of the regional military administration, Volodymyr Kohut, said. Drone attacks have also been reported in surrounding towns.
The UK government is considering financing a new wave of loans to Ukraine using billions of pounds of Russian state assets frozen in the country, Politico reports, quoted by FOKUS.
It is noted that British Finance Minister Rachel Reeves presented this plan, which may be similar to the plan proposed by the European Union, at a meeting in Copenhagen on Saturday.
At the same time, she did not provide specific details on how the plan would work, but noted that the loans would be in accordance with international law and would not involve the permanent confiscation of Russian state assets.
It is noted that while the lion's share of Russian assets - 185 billion euros - is frozen in the EU in the Belgian depository Euroclear, about 25 billion pounds are stored in the UK.
The money will fund a scheme for “reparations loans“ in the UK, which the Treasury says will “work in unison“ with the EU programme. The ministry added that the proposals under consideration could unlock loan financing up to the full value of Russian assets in the UK.
Under the EU scheme, Brussels would provide Ukraine with loans of up to 172 billion euros by exchanging Russian money linked to frozen Russian assets for zero-interest bonds.
The EU hopes the proposal will avoid accusations of outright confiscation of the money.
Under the EU scheme, Ukraine would only have to repay the loan after Moscow pays war reparations, which is considered unlikely.
Earlier, a bipartisan group of US senators introduced a bill that would transfer frozen Russian assets held in the US to Ukraine every 90 days.
Ukraine faces a tense week of high-level diplomacy as the UN General Assembly opens in New York on Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as quoted by DPA and BTA.
In his evening video address tonight, Zelensky said his schedule includes more than two dozen meetings with world leaders.
"We can achieve a lot if our partners listen to us and support proposals that really contribute to ending the war," he said.
Zelensky added that a meeting with US President Donald Trump was also planned, although he did not give a specific date.
"It is important this week to show the world our determination for decisive action, because without force there will be no peace," Zelensky said, highlighting the European Union's latest package of sanctions against Russia.
The new EU measures aim to step up pressure on Russia's illegal oil fleet and restrict trade in Russian energy resources in order to limit the military resources of Moscow, he said.
The European Commission proposed new sanctions against Russia on Friday over its invasion of Ukraine. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Brussels intends to move the date for a complete ban on imports of Russian liquefied natural gas into the EU to early 2027 - a year earlier than previously planned.
Russia has been under sanctions since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In this way, the West is trying to limit Russia's oil revenues, but in reality Moscow has found a way to profit from oil despite oil price gouging and import restrictions, writes The New York Times, quoted by FOCUS.
The authors of the publication analyze how Russia evades sanctions and continues to make money, thanks to which it creates a huge fleet of old ships with unclear ownership (the Russian shadow fleet) and secretly transports fuel to distant markets with them.
The article states that the expansion of the 'shadow fleet' is already becoming apparent, as are the serious and potentially long-term consequences of this. The authors note that old ships pose a serious threat to the environment and this trend has created a huge illegal economy in maritime transport. Some experts believe that this trend could survive the war and pave the way for countries that continue to circumvent the existing order. In particular, with Russia and Iran as carriers and China and India as customers.
"Many want to do the easy part - impose sanctions - but in reality we have created an even bigger problem. Sanctions do not put them out of business. They put them out of legitimate business,“ says Ian Ralby, a maritime security expert and founder of research firm I.R. Consilium.
The publication cites data from research firm S&P Global Market Intelligence, which shows that the 'shadow fleet' makes up about 17% of all oil tankers sailing the oceans today. The company said its fleet numbered 940 ships at the start of this year, up 45% from a year earlier.
Russia also wanted to avoid price caps.
“The G7, the European Union and Australia banned companies from providing insurance and other services when Russian crude was selling for more than $60 a barrel, and the European Union and the UK later lowered the limit even further,” the article said.
As a result, Russian-linked ships have begun using questionable insurance or refusing it altogether. They have begun flying third-party flags and sending false location information to hide where they loaded their cargo.
By making it difficult to determine the origin of Russian oil, they have created an atmosphere of plausible deniability for oil buyers.
These vessels have become vital to Russia’s oil economy, but they also carry a huge risk of oil spills or other maritime disasters. The average age of the vessels is about 20 years, compared with 13 years for the oil fleet as a whole, according to S&P.
The ‘shadow fleet’ has another, even more obvious flaw: it has “limited the effectiveness of the restriction,” the US government watchdog concluded in a report this month. The report says the fleet provides money to the Russian treasury and helps finance its war in Ukraine.
That doesn't mean the sanctions are a mistake, the newspaper cited experts. In particular, Ben Harris, a former Treasury official in the Biden administration and an architect of the price cap, said that the sanctions, even if imperfect, are costly for Russia. He explained that shipping oil to India or China and creating a hidden fleet is a costly endeavor.
That's why Western countries are imposing even more sanctions to combat the 'Russian shadow fleet'. The European Union has already sanctioned more than 500 ships from the hidden fleet. The United States, Britain, Canada and Australia are also pursuing these ships. The goal is to turn these ships into 'maritime criminals'. But Russia continues to add ships to replace them.
An article in The Economist notes that the Russian economy has begun to slow down. This is putting pressure on stock markets and slowing real wage growth. The next round of sanctions is expected to exacerbate this effect, the newspaper believes.