It is day 555 of the war in Ukraine. The governor of Russia’s Pskov region has reported “taking measures to neutralise an unidentified object” near the city’s airport. Authorities of Moscow and the Kursk region have reported drone attacks.
The court has refused to consider three lawsuits Alexey Navalny, an opposition politician, had filed against his penitentiary. NASA has revealed pictures of the alleged Luna-25 crash site.
Novaya-Europe’s news round-up will brief you on the main developments overnight.
Pskov governor reports ‘neutralising an unidentified object’ near city’s airport
Pskov residents have reported gunfire overnight again. According to what a local Telegram channel reported in the early hours of Friday, machine gun shots were heard in the vicinity of the city’s airport, although it is unclear what kind of targets were fired upon.
Mikhail Vedernikov, the local governor, has revealed that a single unidentified object was spotted in the sky in the airport area.
“The video shows our actions to neutralise it. And there were no casualties or damages on the ground,” he stated.
Drones attacked a military airfield in Pskov on 30 August. Dozens of blasts and gunfire were reported. Four Il-76 transport aircraft were damaged, according to news agency TASS. The airport was cordoned off by the police.
Drone attempts to attack Moscow, over 20 flights cancelled in capital’s airports
A drone was taken down near Lyubertsy, a town near Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin, the mayor of the Russian capital, revealed Friday morning. “There are response teams working in the area, no casualties or damages were reported,” Sobyanin said.
Over 20 flights were cancelled in Moscow’s airports, according to news outlet RBC; an incoming emergency protocol was implemented.
Drones have also attacked Kurchatov in the Kursk region, a town known for its nuclear power station. An administrative building and a house were damaged, according to what the local governor says.
Another drone was taken down in the Belgorod region, as per local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. “A fixed wing drone was downed by our air defence. Preliminary reports are that no people were hurt and no property was damaged,” he revealed.
Court rejects Navalny’s lawsuits against his prison
A court in Kovrov has rejected three lawsuits filed by Alexey Navalny, an opposition politician, his team revealed Thursday evening.
Navalny is trying to sue the prison he serves time in. He is discontent with having his meal time almost halved; in addition, his family is not allowed to come and visit him. “Even the convicts sentenced for life are allowed to have people come and visit them, while Navalny has been deprived of this for an entire year,” the politician’s team revealed.
In his third lawsuit, Navalny stated that the prison “destroys the food” he buys for his own money and does not provide him any refunds.
NASA reveals alleged Luna-25 crash site
NASA has published photos of a crater on the moon’s south pole that was allegedly created by Luna-25, a Russian lunar lander that crashed into the moon on 19 August.
The lander was launched on 11 August and was scheduled to reach the moon’s south pole on 21 August. It was supposed to perform a soft landing and extract samples of moon soil for analysis.
Russia coined Luna-25 “the first Russian lunar station in almost 50 years”. Its predecessor, Luna-24, was launched in 1976 and managed to deliver samples of lunar soil to the Earth.