Ukraine updates: Moscow says drone hit finance center tower

Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the Ukrainian ambassador to discuss the "comments of representatives of Ukrainian authorities," it said on social media.

It comes after Ukraine's foreign ministry called in Poland's ambassador to Kyiv earlier in the day.

The dispute appears to be over remarks made by Marcin Przydacz, the foreign policy adviser to Poland's president, that Kyiv should show more appreciation for Warsaw's support in its war with Russia (See earlier entry).

Kyiv and Warsaw have been firm allies throughout Russia's war in Ukraine, but the exchanges reflected contentious issues. 

As Russia accuses Ukraine of orchestrating drone attacks on Moscow, international law expert David Scheffer told DW that Kyiv has the right to defend itself by striking military targets inside Russia.

"Ukraine is a country under attack," Scheffer said. "Under those circumstances — cross-border aggression — Ukraine does have the right of self-defense, and that right of self-defense includes military strikes on Russian territory in order to seek to deter, prevent, repel the acts of aggression.

Scheffer formerly served as the United States' first ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues and is now a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations.

"It is a legitimate act of self-defense for Ukraine to actually strike very deep into Russia, including into Moscow, as long as those strikes hit military targets. If any of those drone strikes hit civilian targets in Moscow, then that would be illegal," Scheffer said.

Ukraine has not officially claimed responsibility for the recent drone attacks in Moscow.

On Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address: "War is returning to the territory of Russia — to its symbolic centers and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process."

Russian news websites and officials have reported a rise in arson attacks against several conscription offices in the country.

Conscription offices have been attacked in the cities of Podolsk, Severodvinsk, Kazan, Kaluga, Mozhaysk, Voronezh, and Omsk since Saturday, as well as on the illegally occupied Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

Video footage published on the internet reportedly shows the incidents taking place.

According to the independent internet website Moscow Times, there were arson attacks in six cities on Monday alone.

In some cases, senior citizens were responsible for the attacks, with a 76-year-old man in the northern Russian city of Severodvinsk allegedly throwing an incendiary device at a recruitment office. A 62-year-old woman reportedly attacked such a facility in Kazan on Saturday.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry summoned the Polish ambassador to Ukraine to protest "unacceptable" comments made by the Polish president's foreign policy adviser.

"During the meeting, it was emphasized that statements about the alleged ungratefulness of Ukrainians for Poland's help are untrue and unacceptable," Ukraine Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenkso said.

Polish media quoted Marcin Przydacz, the foreign policy adviser to the president, about a discussion on the possible extension of a Polish ban on imports of Ukrainian agricultural goods.

"What is most important today is to defend the interest of the Polish farmer." Przydacy was quoted as saying. 

"I think it would be worthwhile for (Kyiv) to start appreciating what role Poland has played for Ukraine over past months and years," he added.

Poland has been one of Kyiv's strongest allies in the war against Russia, but has prohibited the entry of agricultural goods from Ukraine tosoothe the rising anger of Polish farmers.

Polish parliamentary elections are due later this year.
 

Iceland has suspended operations at its embassy in Moscow. Reykjavik made clear pausing operations did not mean it was severing diplomatic ties with Russia.

"The decision to suspend the operations of the Embassy of Iceland in Moscow does not constitute a severance of diplomatic relations," the Icelandic Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"As soon as conditions permit, Iceland will prioritize the resumption of operations," it added.

Iceland had announced the decision in June, saying commercial, cultural and political ties with Russia had reached at an "all-time low" amid the war in Ukraine.

The situation did "not make it viable for the small foreign service of Iceland to operate an embassy in Russia," Foreign Minister Thordis Gylfadottir wrote at the time.

Ukraine says Russian assertions that it attacked civilian ships on the Black Sea are false, and it has no plans to do so.

Ukrainian presidential official Mykhailo Podolyak was responding to a Russian statement that Kyiv had targeted civilian vessels headed to Turkey's Bosphorus Strait with three unmanned boats. 

"Undoubtedly, such statements by Russian officials are fictitious and do not contain even a shred of truth," said Podolyak. 

"Ukraine has not attacked, is not attacking, and will not attack civilian vessels, nor any other civilian objects."

The Ukrainian spokesman did not respond to Moscow's earlier claim that it had attacked Russian naval ships with three unmanned drone boats. 

Russia has previously said it would attack any ships, including civilian ones, entering or leaving Ukrainian ports as valid targets after the expiry of a deal allowing the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea last month. 

Moscow says its Defense Ministry will take protective measures after the latest drone attack on Moscow's business district.

"The danger exists, it is obvious, measures are being taken," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

A drone crashed into the same glass tower in the Moscow City skyscraper district as it did on Sunday, destroying the glass facade over an area of 150 square meters. No one was reported to have been injured. The building houses several government ministries connected with business.

Peskov, who a day earlier said the drone attacks were an "act of desperation" on Kyiv's part, said it was the duty of the Defense Ministry to make sure Moscow was protected. 

Ivan Stupak, who worked for Ukraine's SBU intelligence service, told Ukrainian state television that Russia's defense system could not repel such attacks. 

"The attacks against the Moscow City building are considered incredibly painful for the Kremlin because this shows the inability to protect the heart of the capital," said Stupak.

Russian forces have shelled the city of Kherson killing a doctor and wounding one nurse at a medical facility, regional officials said.

"Today at 11:10 [0810 GMT], the enemy launched another attack on the peaceful residents of our community," regional Governor Roman Mrochko wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Mrochko said the doctor was young, having only worked in his job for a few days, and that medics were fighting for the nurse's life.

The surgery department of the facility was said to have been damaged in the shelling. 

A photo posted online showed a gaping hole in the side of the wall of a tiled room, with debris strewn across the floor. 

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said it reached an agreement with Croatia on exporting its grain via ports on the Adriatic Sea.

The foodstuffs are to be shipped via the Danube River to Croatia and subsequently taken to the Adriatic Coast by rail, according to the ministry.

However, the amount of grain that could be exported this way was not disclosed.

Ukraine hopes the route will help it circumvent a blockade by Russia in the Black Sea after Moscow canceled a grain export agreement in mid-July. 

The United Nations and Turkey brokered that deal over a year ago.

Kyiv hopes to increase exports by land via the European Union.

However, several neighboring countries, such as Poland, are also blocking such an overland transport route. Many farmers fear a drop in prices if Ukrainian grain reaches the market.

Russia's Defense Ministry said Ukraine tried to attack two patrol ships that form part of its Black Sea fleet with unmanned explosive boats, but that the attempt was thwarted.  

The ministry said its vessels, the Sergei Kotov and Vasily Bykov, used on-board weapons to destroy the drone craft. 

It added that the ships would continue their patrols in the Black Sea, some 340 kilometers (about 210 miles) southwest of the port city of Sevastopol on the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula.

Tensions in the Black Sea have ratcheted up since Russia's cancellation of an agreement to allow shipments of grain to be exported from Ukrainian ports.

Western intelligence services have said that the Kotov patrols between the Bosporus and the Ukrainian port city of Odesa as part of a Russian naval blockade.

Russia's Defense Ministry says anti-aircraft units scuppered a Ukrainian drone attack but that an aerial device hit the same high-rise building center that was struck previously.

The IQ-Quarter, some 7.2 kilometers (4.5 miles) from the Kremlin, contains the offices of several government ministries, including the Ministry for Economic Development.

It was hit early on Sunday and again on Tuesday morning, according to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, resulting in extensive damage to the facade.

The facade has been damaged on the 21st floor, said Sobyanin, adding that "glazing was destroyed over 150 square meters." An explosion and fire were also reported.

The Russian military said that, in both incidents, it had jammed the drones before they crashed into the skyscraper. While experts assessed the damage, a ministry adviser said employees were working remotely. 

The building also contains offices of the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Kyiv has not commented on whether it was involved in the attack, following its standard policy.

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that Moscow "is rapidly getting used to a full-fledged war, which, in turn, will soon finally move to the territory of the 'authors of the war' to collect all their debts."

Over the weekend, Zelenskyy said: "The war is gradually coming back to Russian territory."

rc/wmr (dpa, AFP, AP, Reuters)