Moscow

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he will press the case for Ukraine to use long-range missiles on targets inside Russia when he visits Washington this week.

Zelensky was speaking hours after confirming that the United States and Britain had still not authorized Kyiv to use such weapons in this way.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that more than 100 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down over the territory of Russia overnight, in raids that it said caused limited damage but no casualties.

“101 Ukrainian drones were intercepted and destroyed by anti-aircraft defense systems on duty,” the ministry said via Telegram.

The Russian government has published a list of countries deemed to exhibit “destructive behaviors contrary to Russian spiritual and moral values,” which includes Greece and Cyprus. This decision was made under the directive of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will attend the 79th U.N. General Assembly where he will address other world leaders on current global issues, particularly the ongoing Israeli massacres against civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Russia today warned the West and Ukraine of “catastrophic consequences” if Kiev moves against Russia’s close ally Belarus, making clear it will intervene to defend a country in which it has regularly deployed nuclear weapons.

The EU plans to lend Ukraine 35 billion euros ($39 billion), backed by the revenues of Russian assets frozen in the bloc, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Friday.

Outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg will caution the United States and Europe against "isolationism" in his parting speech on Thursday, as Donald Trump vies to return to the White House.

"We have heard voices on both sides of the Atlantic calling for America and Europe to part ways," he was to say in a speech on Thursday afternoon in Brussels, according to excerpts seen by AFP.

Russia's counteroffensive to retake Ukrainian-held territory in the Kursk region has been "stopped", a spokesman from Ukraine's military administration there told AFP on Wednesday, after Moscow said it was beginning to repel the surprise incursion.

A U.S. P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance plane flies near Chinese structures and buildings on the man-made Fiery Cross Reef at the Spratlys group of islands in the South China Sea are seen on March 20, 2022. (AP photo)

A massive explosion was caused by a Ukrainian kamikaze drone attack on a seemingly “invulnerable” weapons warehouse in Russia, with a smoke-mushroom rising above the area.

The explosions occurred in two missile and ammunition warehouses, 235 miles west of Moscow, causing incalculable damage.