‘Russia ready to launch attacks in Italia, France and Spain’. Crosetto: no confirmation

According to the map published by El Mundo, the whole of Italy – with the exception of the north-east – is within the range. Lithuania, like other countries, was made aware of this information shortly after the mysterious trip to Moscow by CIA Director John Ratcliffe on 25 August. According to sources familiar with the alert, the governments of Spain, France and Italia were also informed that Russia was preparing a possible drone operation against one of these countries. Spain, France and Italy, writes El Mundo, “will have election campaigns and elections in 2027 and are home to radical forces capable of exploiting fear and disillusionment regarding Ukraine. Particularly in France and Italia, there are links or positions clearly aligned with the Kremlin’s interests”.

Lab24 / The hybrid war launched by Russia

However, El Mundo’s account has been refuted by the Italian Defence Minister, Guido Crosetto, who stated that ‘the alarm raised this morning by a Spanish newspaper, speculating about possible attacks on Italia, Spain and France by Russian ships and drones, serves no purpose and is completely unfounded. We are already living in difficult and ‘tense’ times, and adding further fuel to the fire serves no one’s interests.”

The city authorities in Kyiv have announced that a conference centre housing the headquarters of Volodymyr Zelensky’s party was hit by a Russian attack just as the Ukrainian leader was delivering a speech today at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. This was reported by CNN. The attack was the latest in a series of raids against the country that took place throughout the day. Furthermore, another Russian airstrike hit a farm in the village of Stara Hnylytsia, in the Kharkiv region, killing seven people and injuring a further 12, announced Oleg Synegubov, head of the Kharkiv region.

Furthermore, Moldovan President Maia Sandu reported on X that ‘Russia’s massive attack on Ukraine has once again reached Moldova this morning: four Russian drones have violated our airspace and at least one has exploded in the north’. “Russia’s war is endangering the whole of Europe. We condemn this war and stand with Ukraine,” Sandu added.

The authorities in Warsaw, for their part, have reported that the fire which broke out last night in Poland at a ground station used by Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, was started ‘deliberately’. This was stated by the Polish Minister for Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Gawkowski, who said that “the modus operandi in this case is clearly Russian”. Investigations are still ongoing. Police officers and officials from the Internal Security Agency have also been sent to the scene. “The fire was intended to target critical telecommunications infrastructure that affects the functioning of the internet,” Gawkowski told the broadcaster TVN.

The Kremlin accuses the European Union of having unfrozen 8 billion euros from Russian assets (totalling 200 billion, ed.) and of having transferred that money to Ukraine. “We have already repeatedly assessed actions such as this. We consider them illegal. We regard this as theft and will act accordingly,” said the spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov.

The EU has added Xenia Fedorova, a prominent figure in the Russian media and former executive at Russia Today (RT) France, on its sanctions list for her role in Russia’s hybrid activities and, in particular, in foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI), thereby undermining democracy and stability in Member States. This was announced by the EU Council in a statement. Fedorova is alleged to have contributed to the dissemination of pro-Russian narratives in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The measures include the freezing of assets and a ban on EU citizens and companies making funds available to her.