Restrictions were introduced tonight in the work of a number of Russian airports due to the threat of Ukrainian drones, TASS reported, quoted by BTA, citing the authorities.
The measure was imposed in Sochi, Krasnodar, Gelendzhik and Nizhny Novgorod. The local airports are temporarily not serving flights.
Similar restrictions were previously introduced in Saratov. However, the local airport has already resumed operations.
An air alert has been declared in a number of Russian regions.
Russia and Ukraine attack each other with drones practically every night.
Five people were killed in a major Russian air strike on the neighboring country last night. Ukraine, for its part, has recently been targeting energy infrastructure in Russia.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has again criticized the European Union's approach to Russia. He said he does not want to see Moscow defeated, but to prevent another major war in Europe, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
The war in Ukraine "is not our war," the Slovak prime minister told public broadcaster STVR. The interview was broadcast yesterday on the occasion of the anniversary of the Battle of Dukla Pass between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1944, which marked the beginning of Slovakia's liberation from Nazi rule, DPA notes.
The battle was the largest and bloodiest battle on the territory of present-day Slovakia during World War II.
The removal of monuments to Soviet soldiers is a mistake, given their role in the liberation of Slovakia, Fico said.
At EU summits, he said, they discuss how to defeat Russia. "I don't know if these people are aware of what war really means. "Maybe someone should remind the public of the terrible suffering that (the war) caused at that time," the Slovak prime minister said.
Fico promised that Slovakia would not be drawn into any "military adventure" while he is prime minister.
Polish National Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kościńska-Kamiś said his country had scrambled F-16 fighter jets during the "biggest attack" on the Ukrainian city of Lviv since Russia's full-scale invasion of the neighboring country, the Polish Press Agency (PAP) reported.
Speaking at a congress of his Polish Peasant Party, he confirmed that Polish F-16 fighter jets and Dutch F-35s had been deployed in response to another nighttime attack on Ukraine. Poland has also activated all its ground-based air, missile and drone defense systems.
"They have completed their operations and no violations of the airspace over the territory of the Republic of Poland have been recorded," Koszyniak-Kamiś said. It was "one of the most difficult days" for Ukraine since it began defending itself in February 2022, he noted at the same time.
Four people were killed and as many wounded in the attack on Lviv overnight, local authorities reported.
Koszyniak-Kamiś also announced that "Eastern Guard" - NATO's operation launched after numerous incursions of Russian drones over Poland last month - is expanding, with Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the United States and the Czech Republic declaring their commitment to it.