Bulgaria: ‘Drones have struck two ships off the Black Sea coast’. Two Romanian F-18s take off

“The situation in the Black Sea is becoming increasingly worrying. Commercial vessels – and their innocent crews – are being targeted, with lives already lost at sea. Today, two commercial vessels were struck in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea. This comes just one day after a Turkish vessel carrying Ukrainian wheat was struck and sunk off the Romanian coast.” This was posted on social media by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. “Although the exact circumstances of these incidents are still being investigated, these developments are very worrying. Attacks on civilian shipping are unacceptable. We stand in full solidarity with our Member States on our eastern flank,” she added.

Meanwhile, on the Ukrainian battlefield, Russian forces struck a bridge over the Dnieper in Zaporizhzhia this morning, temporarily closing it to traffic. This was reported by the regional authorities. Five people were injured, including two Red Cross staff members who were on their way to work. On Sunday, Kyiv was hit by an attack on a bridge. Two of the capital’s eight bridges spanning the Dnieper have been targeted in recent days by Russian jet-powered drones, which are difficult to intercept. In response, for the first time, Ukraine has begun installing anti-drone nets on bridges in Kyiv. Large nets have been erected along the sides of Kyiv’s main bridge, the North Bridge, using measures similar to those already widely employed near the front line in eastern and southern Ukraine to protect transport routes from small explosive drones.

The Russians also attacked the grounds of a hospital in the centre of Kryvyi Rih, injuring a man and a woman. A hospital employee is in a serious condition. This was reported by the regional authorities, as quoted by Ukrainska Pravada. The Russians attacked the city centre – where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was born – with two missiles.

Seven people have been killed and a further 80 injured, including three children, in Russian attacks on Kharkiv and ten other towns in the region over the past 24 hours, according to the regional governor, Oleh Synehoubov. In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which has been under heavy Russian attack for days, six people were killed and 59 were injured. An 85-year-old woman was also killed in Raivka.

According to the regional authorities, Russia deployed a missile, three guided aerial bombs, multiple rocket launchers and nearly 200 drones of various types. In Kharkiv, four residential buildings, several homes, two businesses, a number of warehouses and around 45 vehicles were also damaged.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones have struck a large oil facility in the Moscow Oblast. According to reports from Russian monitoring channels, the facility in question is the Volodarsk Linear Production and Distribution Centre, near the village of Konstantinovo. Footage from eyewitnesses in Konstantinovo, situated about 40 kilometres from the centre of Moscow, appears to show flames blazing from the Volodarsk facility as smoke rises. The site is located about 450 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.

According to a report from the Russian Ministry of Defence, last night, ‘the air defence forces intercepted and shot down 868 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over the territories of the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Oryol, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tver and Tula regions, in the Moscow region, in the Republic of Crimea and over the waters of the Sea of Azov’, the Russian ministry reported on Telegram.

Kiev is therefore on the offensive and must defend itself against internal enemies. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), in collaboration with the National Police, has arrested an alleged Russian collaborator who, by installing ‘mesh’ radio repeaters, was helping to direct long-range missile attacks against the Ukrainian capital. This is reported by the Kyiv Independent.

The man, believed to have been recruited by the Federal Security Service (FSB), is suspected of having “gathered information on defence facilities and critical infrastructure to orchestrate large-scale attacks against Kyiv between 21 and 24 September this year”, the SBU announced on Telegram.

According to the investigation files, the individual monitored potential ‘targets’ for four days with a view to directing Geran-5 jet-powered drones and ballistic missiles towards the capital. According to the Ukrainians, the precision of daytime attacks using this type of drone is due to the use of ‘mesh’ radio networks (or ‘mesh’ nodes), based on a decentralised network of ‘mesh’ radio repeaters that allows both the drones in flight and the ground-based repeaters to constantly exchange radio and control signals in real time.

The Polish government intends to allocate over 102 billion zloty (23.4 billion euros) to public safety and civil defence between 2027 and 2031. The announcement was made by the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

This initiative forms part of the wide-ranging effort to strengthen security launched by Warsaw following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As a NATO member, a neighbouring country and a key ally of Ukraine, Poland has stepped up its investment in defence, cyber security and the protection of critical infrastructure in recent years. According to the government, the programme will prioritise civil protection facilities, rescue equipment and bases, the continuity of water and energy supplies, and the establishment of reserves for crisis situations.

The planned expenditure will also cover cybersecurity and the state’s secure communication systems. “I am convinced that, once these projects have been implemented, every Pole will feel that, month by month, we are becoming a safer place, even in critical situations,” Tusk told the press. The programme aims to ensure stable and long-term funding for civil protection systems and will build on the measures implemented in 2025 and 2026, to which the government says it has allocated almost 34 billion zloty (7.8 billion euros).

The European Commission today adopted a series of documents on policy review in the context of future enlargement, setting out the strategic guidelines and measures needed to prepare the Union for the accession of new members.

“The measures proposed today aim to prepare the Union’s governance, policies and budget for enlargement, whilst strengthening the protection of the Union’s values and the rule of law,” the statement reads.

Commenting on the proposed measures, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “Europe’s future depends on the choices we make today”. “Enlarging our Union is a geopolitical imperative. Today we are laying the foundations to ensure that a larger Union is also a stronger one: more resilient, more effective and firmly grounded in the values and rules that define us. Whilst the countries aspiring to join the EU are pushing ahead with reforms, the Union must be ready to welcome them. This means preparing our institutions, adapting policies to new realities and ensuring that our budget reflects our shared ambitions,” said the European leader.

“The Commission calls on the European Council and the European Parliament to promote discussions, institutional preparations and policy measures,” reads a statement from Brussels, adding that “within the framework of 2026 enlargement package, the Commission will present indicative roadmaps for Montenegro, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine, provided they maintain the momentum of reforms. It will also present a coherent approach to gradual integration, including a mapping of strategic areas”.