Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,298

NATO fighter jets headed to eastern Europe under new ‘Eastern Sentry’

Here is how things stand on Sunday, September 14:

Fighting

• Russian attacks on Ukraine killed at least three people in the Donetsk region and another in Kharkiv, the Kyiv Independent reported on Saturday, citing local officials.
• A drone breached Romanian airspace during a Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure, prompting Romania to scramble fighter jets, the country’s defence minister, Ionut Mosteanu, said. He added that the F-16 pilots came close to taking down the drone as it was flying very low before it left national airspace towards Ukraine.
• Poland also deployed aircraft and closed an airport in the eastern city of Lublin because of the threat of Russian drone strikes. The moves came three days after Poland shot down Russian drones in its airspace with the backing of aircraft from its NATO allies.
• On the front line, the Russian Ministry of Defence claimed its troops had taken control of the village of Novomykolaivka in Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region.
• In Russia, a local official said two Ukrainian drones hit one of the country’s largest oil refining complexes in the Bashkortostan region, sparking a fire and causing minor damage. Regional Governor Radiy Khabirov said that despite the attack, operations would continue at the facility operated by Bashneft, a subsidiary of Russia’s largest oil producer, Rosneft.
• An explosive device detonated on a section of railway in Russia’s western Oryol region, killing two people and wounding another, Governor Andrei Klychkov wrote on Telegram. Russia’s railway network has been repeatedly rocked by derailments, blasts and fires that authorities blame on Ukrainian sabotage.
• The Russian Defence Ministry said its troops shot down 340 Ukrainian drones over the past day and also struck Ukrainian long-range drone infrastructure.

Politics and diplomacy

• United States President Donald Trump said the US is prepared to impose new energy sanctions on Russia, but only if all NATO nations stop buying Russian oil and implement similar measures.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also urged allies to stop buying Russian oil and not to “look for excuses” to avoid sanctions.

• US lawmakers Lindsey Graham and Brian Fitzpatrick, both Republicans, have sponsored a bill to impose tough sanctions on Russia over its war on Ukraine, and said they would urge fellow legislators this week to tie their bill to must-pass legislation on keeping the federal government operating. The measures include secondary sanctions on India and China for buying Russian oil.
• Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi criticised the US’s calls for action against buyers of Russian oil, saying that Beijing did not participate in wars or plot them. He said that war cannot solve problems and that sanctions only complicate them.
• Poland’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, accused Hungary of blackmailing the European Union by obstructing Ukraine’s bid to join the 27-member bloc. Ukraine had applied to join the EU days after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, but has been unable to advance accession talks due to vetoes imposed by Hungary’s Kremlin-friendly leader, Viktor Orban.

• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace this week was unacceptable but that it remained unclear if Russia had deliberately sent the drones into Polish territory. Poland had shot down the drones, the first known shots fired by a member of the Western alliance since the war began.

Military

• Ukraine will need at least $120bn for its defence in 2026 as the war with Russia drags on into its fourth year, Minister of Defence Denys Shmyhal said. Ukraine now spends more than 31 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on its military. This year’s state budget plans at least $63bn in defence spending, plus in-kind weapons from Kyiv’s Western allies.
• Russia’s MiG-31 fighter jets, equipped with hypersonic ballistic missiles, completed a four-hour flight over the neutral waters of the Barents Sea as part of ongoing “Zapad 2025” (West 2025) military exercises, the Interfax news agency reported. Russia and Belarus are holding joint drills days after Poland shot down suspected Russian drones over its airspace.

Economy

• Ukrainian officials and a team from the US International Development Finance Corporation will carry out site visits to identify investment projects as part of Kyiv’s minerals deal with Washington, Ukraine’s Minister of Economy Oleksii Sobolev said. The two countries had signed a deal giving the US preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals projects in exchange for investment.

Source:

Al Jazeera and news agencies