Ukraine war latest: Kyiv targets Moscow with largest ever drone attack

Ukraine had not consulted Berlin about its shock incursion into Russia, said German chancellor Olaf Scholz, adding that he expected the military operation to be limited in terms of both time and territory.

“Ukraine has prepared its military operation in the Kursk region very secretly and without feedback, which is certainly due to the situation,” Mr Scholz said. “This is a very limited operation in terms of space and probably also in terms of time.”

Separately Mr Scholz said Germany would continue to be what he said was Ukraine’s biggest supporter in Europe after controversy in recent days over what some have called wavering German support for Kyiv over domestic politicking.

Speaking at a press conference after talks with Moldovan president Maia Sandu in Chisinau, Mr Scholz said Berlin was monitoring further developments around the incursion closely.

Ukrainian leaders have cast the attack as proof that their military can still succeed in offensive operations, and still surprise. Russia has vowed to repel the incursion.

Ukraine said it had destroyed Russian pontoon bridges with US-made weapons to defend its incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, while Moscow said its forces had halted Kyiv’s advance there and gained ground in eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv has announced a string of battlefield successes since it crossed unexpectedly into Kursk region on 6 August. Moscow has steadily inched forward in eastern Ukraine, pressuring troops worn down by two and a half years of fighting.

The Ukrainian statement said US-manufactured HIMARS rocket systems had been used as part of operations to disrupt Russian logistics in the Kursk region, Kyiv’s first official statement acknowledging its use of the weapon during its incursion.

Washington has not commented directly on the use of US-made weapons in Kursk region, while saying US policies have not changed and Ukraine was defending itself from Russia’s ongoing all-out invasion.

A video posted by Ukrainian special forces showed strikes on several pontoon crossings in Kursk region, where Russia has reported that Ukraine has destroyed at least three bridges over the Seym river as it seeks to hold the captured land.

“Where do Russian pontoon bridges ‘disappear’ in the Kursk region? Operators… accurately destroy them,” Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces said on Telegram.

Kyiv’s attack on Russia’s Kursk region was intended to protect Ukraine, the country’s defence minister Rustem Umerov told a visiting delegation of US Congressmen.

Referring to Kursk region, Mr Umerov said in a statement released by his ministry: “Our goals there are to clear the border from Russian military threats and make enemy shelling and attacks on our towns and villages impossible.”

A close ally of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin warned the US risked triggering a global war if it continued to “provoke” the conflict in Ukraine.

Sergei Chemezov, CEO of the Rostec corporation which supplies many of Russia’s arms for the war, said the world could be drawn into a mass conflict and Moscow was ready for confrontation.

“In a situation where the West, led by the United States, provokes war, we must be ready. The third year of the special operation is under way. Russia feels confident,” Mr Chemezov said.

“The further it goes, the greater the risk that the world will be drawn into a global conflict. It looks strange, but Western countries do not seem to understand just how fraught this is for them.”

Switzerland’s government said on Wednesday it has decided to join further European Union measures in the bloc’s 14th sanctions package against Russia.

The measures contain a clarification of the bans on Russian diamonds, which are thus being internationally harmonized, the Swiss Federal Council said in a statement.

It said it had also extended deadlines for granting exemptions regarding the withdrawal of investments from Russia.