🔴 Live: Russia downed three drones en route to Moscow, says Mayor

Issued on: 05/09/2023 – 05:15

3 min

05:50am: Cuba uncovers human trafficking for Russia’s war in Ukraine

Cuba has identified an alleged human trafficking ring aimed at recruiting its citizens to fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine, the foreign ministry said Monday.

The government was working to dismantle a “trafficking network that operates from Russia to incorporate Cuban citizens living there, and even some from Cuba, into the military forces involved in military operations in Ukraine”, the ministry said in a statement.

The Cuban government had initiated criminal proceedings against those carrying out the trafficking, it added.

Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that  the government was “acting with the full force of the law” against trafficking operations.

“Cuba is not part of the war in Ukraine,” the ministry said, adding it would take action against anyone “who participates in any form of human trafficking for the purpose of recruitment or mercenarism for Cuban citizens to use arms against any country”.

There was no immediate reaction from Moscow.

05:00am: Russia downs three drones en route to Moscow, says mayor

Russia’s air defence systems destroyed three drones early Tuesday which were trying to reach Moscow, the Russian capital’s mayor said.

Sergei Sobyanin said there had been “no casualties”, according to initial information.

Air defence forces “destroyed drones which were trying to carry out an attack on Moscow”, he said on Telegram.

Russia’s defence ministry said one was flying over the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, while a second was destroyed northwest of the capital above the Moscow region’s Istrinsky district.

A third was also destroyed in the Tver region, northwest of Moscow.

“Air defence systems on duty destroyed an unmanned aerial vehicle over the territory of Kaluga region,” the ministry said on Telegram.

03:58am: Russia says it downed Ukraine-launched drones targeting Moscow

Russia shot down Ukraine-launched drones targeting Moscow in Istra district of the capital region and the Kaluga region early on Tuesday, the defence ministry and Moscow’s mayor said.

The Russian defence ministry said that its air defence systems destroyed a Ukraine-launched drone around 3 a.m. (0000GMT) over the Kaluga region which borders with the Moscow region to its southwest.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the Telegram messaging app that drones were downed over Kaluga region and closer to Moscow over the Istra district, and that they “were trying to carry out an attack on Moscow.”

01:00am: Washington says North Korea’s Kim set for arms talks with Putin

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expects to make a rare trip abroad to meet with President Vladimir Putin in Russia to discuss providing arms to Moscow for its war in Ukraine, the United States said Monday.

The White House’s National Security Council (NSC) spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said that “arms negotiations between Russia and the DPRK are actively advancing,” using an acronym for North Korea.

“We have information that Kim Jong Un expects these discussions to continue, to include leader-level diplomatic engagement in Russia,” she added.

The United States last week warned that Russia was already in secret talks with the North to acquire a range of munitions and supplies for Moscow’s war effort.

Kim is likely to head by armored train later this month to Vladivostok, on Russia’s Pacific coast not far from North Korea, to meet with Putin, according to The New York Times.

Key developments from Monday, September 4:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain safely through the Black Sea won’t be restored until the West meets Moscow’s demands to facilitate Russian agricultural exports. Putin made the statement after talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Russian port city of Sochi. 

Read yesterday’s live blog to see how the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)