Another night of drones in the Ukraine war. This time it was Ukraine that launched an attack against its aggressor with over 50 drones, which were destroyed by Russian air defense units. The attack focused on five Russian regions, as reported on Wednesday by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Half of the drones were destroyed over the border region of Kursk, while the rest were shot down over the regions of Bryansk, Smolensk, Oryol, and Belgorod, according to a ministry report that does not mention the Tver region, where authorities said the Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire and partial evacuation of the city of Toropets.
Access to the Russian city of Toropets reopens
Authorities in the Tver region, in western Russia, reopened access to the city of Toropets on Wednesday, the target of a massive Ukrainian drone attack that forced the evacuation of part of the city's population.
"Since noon today, we have opened access to the city of Toropets. So, all those who want to return to their homes will be taken there by buses," said local governor Igor Rudenia, as quoted by the regional government's Telegram channel.
Rudenia stated that all municipal services in the city are operational, allowing the return of evacuees.
Ukraine allocates an additional ¤10.8 billion to its Army
The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) approved on Wednesday allocating an additional 500 billion hryvnias (about ¤10.8 billion) to cover the Army's financing needs until the end of the year, as reported by Ukrainian lawmakers on their social media.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal had previously explained that the original budget for 2024 would not be sufficient, as it was calculated considering the war would end this summer.
Ukraine allocates 100% of its nationally collected taxes to military and defense expenses, covering public services and other civilian expenses through international aid.
Kremlin deems Stoltenberg's comments on missile attacks on Russia "dangerous"
The Kremlin on Wednesday described as "dangerous" comments made by Jens Stoltenberg, the outgoing head of NATO, suggesting that a Western decision to allow Ukraine to use long-range Western weapons to attack Russia would not be a red line for Moscow.
Ukrainian President Zelensky has been urging his allies for months to allow Ukraine to fire Western missiles, including long-range American ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles, towards Russia to limit Moscow's ability to launch attacks.