Russia’s defense ministry said Ukrainian forces attacked the Kerch Strait bridge overnight with seaborne drones — the latest bid to damage to span that connects he annexed Crimean peninsula to Russia’s mainland. All three attempts were repelled and the drones destroyed in Black Sea waters, Russia said. Car traffic on the 19-kilometer span was briefly halted. The bridge has been a target of multiple attacks by Ukraine and most recently suffered significant damage in July, when a roadway section buckled. Ukraine hasn’t commented on the latest incident. Russia has intercepted 25 drones and two HIMARS missiles in the occupied territories in the past day, the ministry said.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby on Friday said Kyiv’s forces made “notable progress” in their two-month-old counteroffensive this week. Kyiv’s forces continue to take offensive action on the Orikhiv axis in southern Ukraine, where units have reached the first Russian main defensive line, the UK defense ministry said. Kremlin troops “are likely seeking to distract Ukraine from its counteroffensive, thereby forcing it to divide its forces between Orikhiv and Kupiansk” in the northeast, the UK said — a move that risks dividing Russia’s efforts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet in Sochi, southern Russia, on Monday and are expected to discuss reviving the Black Sea grain deal after Moscow abandoned the agreement in July. Separately, a meeting on the effort by Poland and four other EU countries to extend their ban on Ukrainian grain imports is expected in Brussels on Tuesday, Polish radio reported.
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Coming Up
- Putin, Erdogan meet in Sochi on Monday
Markets
Wheat traders are watching for movement on Black Sea grain exports when Putin and Erdogan meet on Monday. Ukraine is pushing back on an effort by Poland and four other EU countries to extend a ban on its grain.
Oil prices surged above $85 as a months-long effort by OPEC+ to reduce supplies gripped the physical market and China showed a new resolve to bolster its economy, a key engine of global crude consumption.