Russia warns of “countermeasures” against more U.S. drones

Russia will protect its “special regime” in the Black Sea associated with the war in Ukraine “by all means available,” Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday. Last week, a Russian jet damaged a United States drone, saying it had flown into restricted airspace. U.S. officials said the drone was conducting a surveillance flight in international airspace. Ryabkov told Russian state media that further drone flights, reconnaissance or otherwise, would not shake Russia’s “determination.”

What’s happening in Ukraine? Russian drones blasted a dorm in the Kyiv region on Tuesday night, killing three people and injuring at least 20. Police evacuated more than 200 people, but five remain missing. Russia launched 21 drones from the north shortly before midnight, the Ukrainian military said, and they shot down 16 of them. Other drones launched Wednesday morning killed at least one person and injured 25 more in a Zaporizhzhia apartment building. 

Dig deeper: Read Leo Briceno’s report in The Stew on a recent congressional analysis of the arsenal U.S. officials have delivered to Ukraine.