Crimea

Four senior officials of the Ministry of Defense told this to the members of the Armed Forces Committee during a "confidential briefing".
This assessment will certainly frustrate Kyiv, which has reiterated on numerous occasions that the return of the peninsula is one of its main goals, "Politico" reports.

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said Kosovo was "annexed" and "stolen" from Serbia by the international community and that comparisons between Belgrade and Moscow should not be made, while also trying to defend Russia's point of view.

The war in Ukraine is a storm raging in Europe's east. But its consequences will be felt in the south. The Eastern Mediterranean is likely to be affected in a variety of ways, with particular implications for Greece and its neighbors. Russia's presence and actions are one element in this equation. The effects of the war on the global order and the aspirations of regional powers are another.

For years, the United States has insisted that Crimea is still part of Ukraine. Yet the Biden administration has held to a hard line since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, refusing to provide Kyiv with the weapons it needs to target the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia has been using as a base for launching devastating strikes.

Moscow would like, he says, for today's wave of missile attacks to be seen as punishment for the Ukrainian drone attack on Russian military targets in Crimea, which took place on Saturday.
The Kremlin wants this to be taken as a warning: You dare attack us in Crimea? Here's what you can expect in response.

The Russian army accused Ukraine of a "massive" drone attack on its Black Sea Fleet in Crimea on Oct. 29, claiming the UK helped in the strike that damaged a ship.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

The Russian Navy prevented a drone attack near Sevastopol

Russian naval forces have prevented a drone attack near Sevastopol on the annexed Crimean peninsula, reports Russian-appointed governor Mikhail Razvozhaev.

"Everything is clear with Kherson. The Russians are bringing in reserves, strengthening their grouping there. This means that they are not planning to retreat. On the contrary, the hardest battle will be fought for Kherson," Arestoych said yesterday in a video posted on the Telegram social network.

The White House said Thursday that Iranian troops are "directly engaged on the ground" in Crimea supporting Russian drone attacks on Ukraine's power stations and other key infrastructure, claiming it has troubling evidence of Tehran's deepening role assisting Russia as it exacts suffering on Ukrainian civilians just as the cold weather sets in.

In a sign that continuing and sustained Ukrainian military gains along the southern front are worrying the Kremlin, Russia is promising free accommodation to residents of the partially occupied Kherson region who want to evacuate to Russia.