Europe

MOSCOW, July 28 (Reuters) - Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who remains active despite leading a failed mutiny against the Russian army's top brass last month, has hailed Niger's military coup as good news and offered his fighters' services to bring order.

A voice message on Telegram app channels associated with Wagner which they said was Prigozhin did not claim involvement in the coup, but described it as a moment of long overdue liberation from Western colonisers and made what looked like a pitch for his fighters to help keep order.

ROME, July 28 (Reuters) - The wreck of an ancient Roman cargo ship from more than 2,000 years ago has been found off the coast near Rome, the arts squad of Italy's Carabinieri police said on Friday.

The ship was located off the port of Civitavecchia, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) north-west of the Italian capital, on a sandy seabed at a depth of about 160 metres (525 ft), a statement said.

MOSCOW, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Russian forces have thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack targeting facilities in the Moscow region, the country's defense ministry said Friday.

"This morning, the country's forces thwarted an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack with the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle on facilities in the Moscow region," the defense ministry said in a Telegram post.

It added that there were no casualties or damage following the attack.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin courted leaders from Africa at a summit on Friday, hailing the continent’s growing role in global affairs and offering to expand political and business ties.

Addressing the two-day Russia-Africa summit, Putin said Moscow will closely analyze a peace proposal for Ukraine that African leaders have sought to pursue.

“This is an acute issue, and we aren’t evading its consideration,” Putin said, emphasizing that Russia is treating the African initiative with respect and “looking at it attentively.”

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Authorities are maintaining an exclusion zone around an air force base in central Greece where wildfires have triggered powerful explosions at an ammunition depot.

The blasts late Thursday at the 111th Combat Wing base facilities — among the largest in the country — shattered windows in nearby towns and prompted an evacuation of more than 2,000 people, while fighter jets nearby were moved to another base.

A civilian traffic ban and evacuation order remained in effect in a 3-kilometer (2-mile) radius of the blast site.

A Ukrainian drone was shot down early Friday outside Moscow, Russia’s defense ministry said. It was the third drone strike or attempt on the capital region this month.

The ministry said there were no injuries or damage in the early morning incident. It didn’t give details about where the drone was shot down, but said it took place in the Moscow Oblast, a region that surrounds but doesn’t include the city itself.

The shootdown adds to concern about Moscow’s vulnerability to attack as the war drags into its 18th month.

MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/: Putin holds first meetings with guests of Russia-Africa Summit; Kiev asks NATO to overturn Russia’s ban on maritime traffic to Ukrainian ports; and EU may introduce yet more sanctions against Russia before year-end. These stories topped Thursday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.

MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/: The units of Russia’s Battlegroup South repelled the attacks of the assault groups of the Ukrainian armed forces in the directions of Lisichansk, Aleksandr-Kalinovsk and Soledar-Artyomovsk, head of the group’s press center Vadim Astafyev told TASS.

"The units of the Battlegroup South successfully repelled the attacks of the assault groups of the Ukrainian armed forces in the directions of Lisichansk, Aleksandr-Kalinovsk and Soledar-Artemovsk," he said.

MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/: Russia is calling on the parties to the conflict in Niger to settle their dispute through dialogue, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a comment on Thursday.

"We are calling on the conflicting parties to refrain from the use of force and resolve all controversies through a peaceful and constructive dialogue," the Russian diplomat said.

MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/: Trade turnover between Russia and Africa reached $18 bln in 2022, which is one of the results of the Russia-Africa summit in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a plenary session of the Russia-Africa forum.

"I would like to note that last year trade turnover between Russia and Africa reached $18 bln," he said. "This is one of obvious results of the Russia-Africa summit in Sochi," Putin added.

"I am confident that we all can scale up trade more massively in the foreseeable future," he stressed.