Europe

MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/: The Russian forces have liberated the Novoselovskoye settlement in the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said.

"The settlement of Novoselovskoye in the LPR was liberated in the Kupyansk area thanks to the competent and professional actions of the western battlegroup," he pointed out.

MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/: A Russian fighter jet Su-30 has escorted an American reconnaissance drone MQ-9A Reaper, Russia’s National Defense Control Center told reporters.

MOSCOW, August 5. /TASS/: Russia strongly condemns the terrorist attack committed by the Kiev regime against a Russian civilian ship in the Kerch Strait, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement published on the ministry’s website.

"We strongly condemn the terrorist attack on a civilian ship which not only put the lives of its crew in danger, but also posed the threat of a massive environmental disaster," she said.

MOSCOW, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday suggested Moscow would launch more strikes against Ukrainian ports in response to Kyiv's attacks on Russian ships in the Black Sea, and threatened to hand Ukraine "an ecological catastrophe".

Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, a body chaired by President Vladimir Putin, spoke after Ukrainian sea drone attacks on a Russian warship in the port of Novorossiysk, and against a tanker near Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

FATIMA, Portugal, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Pope Francis visited the revered Catholic Shrine of Fatima in Portugal on Saturday, praying the rosary for world peace with about 200,000 people at the site where the Church says the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in 1917.

The 86-year-old pope skipped reading a speech that was on the programme of his two-hour visit to the world-famous shrine north of Lisbon, and which was expected to have been the centrepiece of the day.

KIEV, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's conflict-related budget expenditures will reach about 1.8 trillion hryvnia (about 49.2 billion U.S. dollars) this year, the government press service reported Friday, citing Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

"A hundred percent of taxes paid by businesses and citizens go to support the needs of the security and defense forces," Shmyhal said.

Besides, Ukraine has already attracted 28 billion dollars in financial aid from partners this year, he added.

RHODES, Greece (AP) — Tourists at a seaside hotel on the Greek island of Rhodes snatched up pails of pool water and damp towels as flames approached, rushing to help staffers and locals extinguish one of the wildfires threatening Mediterranean locales during recent heat waves.

The quick team effort meant that “by the time the fire brigade came, most of the fire actually was dealt with,” said Elena Korosteleva from Britain, who was vacationing at the Lindos Memories hotel.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian drones hit a Russian tanker in the Black Sea near Crimea, according to Russian officials and video circulating on social media.

The late Friday night strike was the second sea attack involving drones in one day, after Ukraine struck a major Russian port earlier Friday.

As Kyiv’s naval capabilities grow, the Black Sea is becoming an increasingly important battleground in the war.

04 August 2023; MEMO: Russia does not believe a US promise that Washington will help ensure Moscow can freely export food if it returns to the Black Sea grain deal, state news agency, RIA, quoted the Kremlin as saying on Friday, Reuters reports.

MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/: The Ukrainian military has lost over 43,000 troops and about 5,000 items of military hardware, including 26 combat aircraft and 25 Leopard tanks since it launched its counteroffensive, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Friday.

"The Ukrainian army’s losses in combat operations already exceeded 43,000 personnel in June-July since the Kiev regime launched its so-called offensive," the spokesman said.