Russia foils a major Ukrainian drone attack

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (center) poses for photos with Ukrainian soldiers in front of a Leopard 2 tank on the front line in the Kharkiv region. Pic/AP

Russian air defenses shot down 31 Ukrainian drones in a nighttime attack on border regions, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday, in what appeared to be Kyiv's largest single cross-border drone assault reported by Moscow since it launched its invasion 20 months ago.

The Defense Ministry didn't provide any evidence for its claims nor any details about whether there were any damage or casualties.

It also said Russian aircraft thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to deploy a group of soldiers by sea to the western side of Russian-annexed Crimea. The force attempted to land on Cape Tarkhankut, on Crimea's western end, using a high-speed boat and three jet skis, the ministry said.

Ukraine is pressing on with a slow-moving counteroffensive it launched three months ago, even as uncertainty grows over the scale of the future supply of weapons and ammunition from its Western allies.

Admiral Rob Bauer, the head of NATO's Military Committee, sounded the alarm about depleted stockpiles. With the war of attrition likely continuing through winter into next year, Bauer said of weapons systems and ammunition supplies: "The bottom of the barrel is now visible."

Former Russian journo charged for protest

A court in Moscow has handed a former state TV journalist an 8 1/2-year prison term in absentia for protesting Russia's war in Ukraine, the latest in the crackdown against dissent that has intensified since Moscow's invasion 20 months ago. Marina Ovsyannikova was charged with spreading false information about the Russian army.

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