Ukraine war briefing: Arctic attack extends Kyivs strike reach into Russian gas heartland

Ukraine's special forces said â they attacked two crucial natural gas plants in the Arctic about 3,000km (1,800 miles) from the Russian-Ukrainian border. Both lie in the heartland of Russian gas production: Novy Urengoy is Russia's unofficial gas capital, â located in the Yamal-Nenets region in north-western Siberia. The other plant is in the Purovsky district of Yamal-Nenets. A Ukrainian statement described the ‌two plants as “crucial for the gas condensate industry … Previously, this was considered an absolutely safe area away from the front ​for the aggressor.â€

Fire Point, a Ukrainian company that makes deep-strike weapons including the Flamingo cruise missile, posted: “Guess who just travelled over 3,300km and successfully hit the target?†Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, praised the strikes for their effect on the Russian ​economy. The Russian regional governor confirmed the attack and said the damage was being assessed. About 80% of all natural gas in Russia is extracted in the Yamalo-Nenets region, according to the Interfax news agency.

Ukrainian forces also targeted Novorossiysk, a Black Sea port in Russia's Krasnodar region. The attack hit the Russian naval base, including a terminal used to load oil, military port facilities, and warships carrying cruise missiles, Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine and neighbouring Moldova played down reports that a plane carrying Volodymyr Zelenskyy was almost hit by a drone as it flew to Oslo. In fact, Zelenskyy's departure for Norway was delayed when authorities closed Moldovan airspace due to a drone â alert, a Moldovan â government ​spokesperson said. The president's plane was cleared for take-off from Moldova on Tuesday once it was established â that the drone had come down. In all, three â departures and four arrivals were delayed. Norway's prime minister was among those who thought Zelenskyy's plane had been attacked.

The Moldovan president, Maia Sandu, denounced the drone intrusions as a “serious threat to people's lives†and condemned an earlier Russian drone attack on a border crossing with Ukraine that killed two people. Three other people were injured in the strike on the Starokozache border crossing with Moldova. One person was killed and at least four people injured when a Russian drone struck an apartment building in Kyiv, while more strikes were reported in Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Zhytomyr. A Russian drone strike on a shopping centre â in the â northern ​Ukrainian city of Sumy killed two people and injured â 20, four of them seriously, said the regional governor.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared “there has been too little response from the international community to these strikesâ€. He added: “A response is needed – Moscow must not go into the winter believing that it can get away with missile and drone terror without consequences. The aggression must be stopped here and now, before it spreads any further.†He called for “effective†sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine, saying “the partners who can help know exactly what is needed every dayâ€.

A Ukrainian couple got married anyway after a Russian air raid on the eve of their wedding wrecked their Kyiv apartment. Before going to bed, Liudmyla Ryzhak had hung on the bedroom door her dress, white skirt and her soldier fiance Leonid's traditionally patterned shirt. As they slept a Russian strike hit a warehouse across the street from their building. They fled with Liudmyla's six-year-old daughter and two guinea pigs to a bomb shelter – but soon returned to dig their wedding clothes out of the rubble of their ruined apartment. In the morning, amid more air raids, they forged ahead with the ceremony – only possible after Leonid had been able to make it back from the frontlines in eastern Ukraine. “If God gave me a continuation of life, then why should I put it off?†the bride said. “At least for now, I have the right to be happy. Both him and me.†– Associated Press