Russia says Ukraine attacked Kremlin with drones in failed bid to kill Putin

Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday of attacking the Kremlin with drones overnight in a failed bid to kill President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin said two drones had been used in the alleged attack on Putin's residence in the Kremlin citadel, but had been disabled by electronic defences, reports Reuters.

It said Russia reserved the right to retaliate – a comment that suggested that Moscow might use the alleged incident to justify a further escalation in the 14-month-old war with Ukraine.

There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian authorities.

"Two unmanned aerial vehicles were aimed at the Kremlin. As a result of timely actions taken by the military and special services with the use of radar warfare systems, the devices were put out of action," the Kremlin said in a statement.

"We regard these actions as a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the president's life, carried out on the eve of Victory Day, the 9 May Parade, at which the presence of foreign guests is also planned …"

"The Russian side reserves the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit."

It said fragments of the drones had been scattered on the territory of the Kremlin but there were no casualties or material damage.

RIA news agency said Putin had not been in the Kremlin at the time, and was working on Wednesday at his Novo Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow.

An unverified video circulating on Russian social media including the channel of the military news outlet Zvezda showed pale smoke rising behind the main Kremlin Palace in the walled complex after the purported incident.

Meanwhile, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday it had arrested seven people connected with Ukrainian intelligence and accused them of planning "a series of high-profile sabotage and terrorist acts" in Russian-annexed Crimea.

In a statement, the FSB said the group had planned attacks against Russian-installed officials including local governor Sergei Aksyonov. It said it had seized explosives identical to those used to attack railways in the peninsula in February.

Huge fires at oil depots in Russia and Ukraine as sides press drone war

Oil depots were ablaze in both Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday as both sides escalated a drone war targeting infrastructure ahead of Kyiv's planned spring counter-offensive to try to end Moscow's all-out invasion.

Scores of firefighters battled a huge fire that Russian authorities blamed on a Ukrainian drone crashing into an oil terminal on Russia's side of the bridge it built to occupied Crimea.

In Ukraine, a fuel depot was also on fire after a suspected Russian drone strike on the central city of Kropyvnytskyi.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, an administrative building in the southern Dnipropetrovsk region was hit by a drone and set on fire. Ukraine said it had shot down 21 of 26 Iranian-made drones.

The two sides have been launching long-range strikes since last week in apparent anticipation of Ukraine's upcoming counteroffensive, expected to be one of the most decisive phases of the war.

After a lull of nearly two months, Russia fired a wave of missiles before dawn last Friday, including one that killed 23 civilians while they slept in an apartment building in the city of Uman hundreds of miles from the front.

Ukraine's Zelenskyy visits Finland to meet Nordic premiers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is on a surprise visit to Finland on Wednesday to join Nordic leaders in discussing efforts to help his country against Russian aggression, reports Bloomberg.

The visit, announced by the office of Finland's President Sauli Niinisto, comes as Finland is scheduled to host the premiers of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland to talk about current security issues, Nordic cooperation and support for Ukraine.

Zelenskyy, who has made rare foreign visits since the start of the war, is scheduled to hold bilateral discussions with Niinisto and the Nordic prime ministers, followed by a joint summit. The leaders' talks will include their support for Ukraine as well as the developments in its relationship with the European Union and Nato, and "Ukraine's initiative for a just peace," according to a statement from the Finnish president's office.

Since December, the Nordic nations have increased their aid to Ukraine most notably among the international donors, with Finnish pledges of new aid rising 165% and Norwegian assistance increasing 90%, according to data compiled by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

The gathering in Helsinki follows Finland's entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation last month, one of the biggest shifts in the European security landscape sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Finland's addition extended Nato's border with Russia by more than 1,300 kilometers (800 miles), doubling its eastern flank.

Finland had applied to join the alliance together with Sweden, which was left behind in the process due to objections from Turkey and Hungary, keeping it out of the 31-member bloc as the last Nordic nation. Sweden's Foreign Minister, Tobias Billstrom, said in April he hopes his country will join Nato before its upcoming Vilnius summit in July.

EU plans to boost ammunition production to aid Ukraine

The European Union's executive wants to set aside more than 500 million euros ($550 million) to increase ammunition production to help Ukraine and replenish the stocks of EU member countries, according to Reuters.

Under a plan to be presented by the European Commission on Wednesday, the EU would give subsidies to European arms firms for investments that increase production of ammunition and missiles.

"When it comes to defence, our industry must now switch to war economy mode," Thierry Breton, the commissioner for the EU's internal market, said in remarks released before the official announcement.

The plan will need approval from EU governments and the European Parliament to become reality.

The scheme is the third part of a broader EU effort to get more ammunition and arms to Ukraine, particularly 155-millimetre artillery shells, which Kyiv is pleading for as the fight against Russia's invasion has become a war of attrition.

As part of the push to supply 1 million shells to Ukraine within 12 months, the EU has already agreed to set aside 1 billion euros ($1.10 billion) for ammunition and missiles that its members send to Ukraine from stockpiles.

It has allocated another 1 billion euros for the joint procurement of such munitions - although that part of the plan has been held up by wrangling over the extent to which they should be produced in Europe.

The latest element of the ammunition drive aims to give arms firms incentives to increase their production.

It would set aside 500 million euros from the EU budget to part-finance projects that increase capacity. It would also allow EU regional development cash, known as cohesion funds, and coronavirus pandemic recovery funds to be used for such projects.

Breton said the EU had a substantial industrial base for the production of ammunition but "it does not have the scale today to meet the security needs of Ukraine and our Member States."

"We can and must revitalise it to adapt it to the needs of high-intensity conflict," Breton said.