Ukraine Drones Strike Crimea, Moscow, Oil Depot, Russia Says

 Smoke rises in the sky over a residential building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine September 13, 2023. (Reuters)
Smoke rises in the sky over a residential building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine September 13, 2023. (Reuters)
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Ukraine Drones Strike Crimea, Moscow, Oil Depot, Russia Says

 Smoke rises in the sky over a residential building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine September 13, 2023. (Reuters)
Smoke rises in the sky over a residential building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine September 13, 2023. (Reuters)

Russia said it thwarted a coordinated Ukrainian attack on Crimea early on Sunday, while drones also targeted Moscow, disrupting air traffic in the capital, and caused a fire at an oil depot in the southwest of the country.

Ukraine in recent days has launched a series of strikes on Russian military targets in occupied Crimea and the Russian Navy Black Sea Fleet's facilities, seeking to undermine Moscow's war efforts in the critical region.

Attacks deep inside Russia, far from the front lines, have also increased, with Moscow's mayor saying at least two drones were shot down in the capital region early on Sunday.

Reuters could not independently verify Sunday's reports and there were no immediate comment from Kyiv.

In an opinion piece late on Saturday, Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's Security Council, urged Kyiv's allies to speed up the delivery of weapons, saying this was the only way to end the war.

"For example, the complete or partial elimination of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which is a doable task, should significantly accelerate the process of Russia's search for a way out of the ongoing war," Danilov wrote on the Ukrainska Pravda news site.

Russian air defense systems destroyed at least six drones targeting Crimea from different directions, Russia's defense ministry said on Sunday.

The report on the Telegram messaging app did not say whether there was any damage or casualties in the peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in a broadly condemned move in 2014, eight years before Moscow's full-fledged invasion.

In the Moscow region, a drone was destroyed over the Istra district and another over the Ramensky district, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram, adding there were no casualties or damage from drone debris.

At least 30 flights were delayed and six cancelled at Moscow's major airports, Russian state news agencies said - a frequent move by aviation authorities during drone strikes.

In southwestern Russia, a Ukrainian drone damaged an oil depot early on Sunday, sparking a fire at a fuel tank that was later extinguished, the regional governor said.

"There are no casualties, all emergency services are working on the territory of the facility," the governor of the Oryol region, Andrei Klychkov, said on Telegram.

He did not specify whether the depot was hit by debris or targeted by the drone.



France Plans to Take Iran to Int’l Court over Citizen Detentions

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025.  EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
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France Plans to Take Iran to Int’l Court over Citizen Detentions

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025.  EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (R) during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Brussels, Belgium, 03 April 2025. EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

Two French citizens held in Iran for almost three years have not had consular services for more than a year prompting Paris to prepare a complaint at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), France's foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Cecile Kohler and her partner Jacques Paris have been held since May 2022. Iranian state television aired a video later that year with them appearing to confess to acting on behalf of French intelligence services, something categorically denied by Paris.
Held in Tehran's Evin prison, France has accused Iran of keeping them in conditions akin to torture.
French officials have toughened their language towards Iran, notably over the advancement of its nuclear program and regional activities, but also the detention of European citizens in the country.
Speaking after a rare cabinet meeting to broadly discuss Iran on Wednesday, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot indicated Paris would soon take the matter of violating the right to consular protection to the ICJ.
"We are putting together a complaint that we will file at the ICJ," Foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine told reporters at a news conference on Thursday, adding that the Kohler and Paris were being held in "shocking" conditions.
According to Reuters, Lemoine declined to say when it would be filed and acknowledged that procedures at the ICJ were long, but insisted that Tehran needed to be called out on the issue because the embassy and consulate had not had access to their citizens for more than a year.
"It's in violation of Iran's obligations," he said, citing the Vienna convention on consular relations.
In recent years, Iran's Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mostly on charges related to espionage and security.
Rights groups have accused Iran of trying to extract concessions from other countries through such arrests.
Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, denies taking prisoners to gain diplomatic leverage.