Russian drones kill at least nine in strikes targeting warehouses and ports in Ukraine – Europe live

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Nato allies interrupted a Russian plot training to unleash a secret weapon designed to disable critical undersea cables without leaving any fingerprints.

Two ۱,۴۰۰ km subsea fiber-optic cables linking Svalbard to mainland Norway lie as deep as ۲,۷۰۰ metres below the sea’s surface. They carry ⁠vast amounts of satellite data downloaded at the SvalSat satellite ground station, the world’s largest and part of NASA’s Near Space Network.

The clandestine Russian operation looking to disable them was reportedly discovered and interrupted by Nato allies Britain, Norway and the US earlier this spring, when they tracked and confronted the Russian vessels at sea.

Russia didn’t damage any cables. The exercise focused on simulating the deployment of the technology in the event of a conflict with Nato, the officials said. They declined to detail how the technology works.

Britain and Norway disclosed in April that they had uncovered a covert Russian operation in Arctic waters. But the discovery of the ⁠new weapon, the location of the operation and the US involvement have not been reported.

“Through our joint operation, we sent a clear message to Russia that they cannot operate covertly,” Norway’s defence minister Tore Sandvik said in a statement.

“We have made it unequivocally clear to Russian authorities that any attempt to target our critical infrastructure will be detected and met with consequences,” he said. “It is in no one’s interest to escalate tensions in the High ‌North.”

Russia’s defence ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment on the incident. The Kremlin consistently denies conducting sabotage operations in Nato countries or plotting any confrontation.

At least nine people died in overnight Russian strikes on Ukraine, targeting warehouses and ports across the country.

Five people were reported dead and ۲۴ injured in the Sumy region, with four killed and ۱۹ injured in a separate attack on Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Mykolaiv.

The latest wave of attacks come as president Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues his international diplomacy tour with talks on air defence and winter preparations in Canada.

In a statement this morning, he highlighted Ukraine’s ability to conduct retaliatory strikes against Russia, as he said:

“Over the past ۲۴ hours, our warriors struck eight Russian infrastructure facilities supporting the war. An oil refinery in the Yamalo-Nenets region and a seaport in Dagestan were hit. Sites in the Moscow, Voronezh, Astrakhan, and Bryansk regions were also struck.

Russia continues its daily terror against Ukraine. And every day, it receives a just response. I thank every warrior and everyone who enables our long-range capabilities and precision.”

Late last night, Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre said that Zelenskyy’s plane was almost hit by a drone when leaving Moldova for Oslo earlier this week. “That is just the reality he lives in,” he told broadcaster NRK.

The alleged incident happened during a previously reported drone incursion into Moldova and Romania on Tuesday night (Europe Live, Tuesday). The Ukrainian side did not comment on what happened.

Separately, Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte is meeting with Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul this morning, with the pair set to discuss Ukraine and Germany’s own experience with Russia in recent weeks after an attempted drone attack in Leipzig.

I will bring you the key lines from their talks, and other news across Europe.

It’s Thursday, ۱۰ September ۲۰۲۶, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.