Europe

NEAR KREMINNA, Ukraine, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Istoryk, a 26-year-old soldier in eastern Ukraine, finally managed to fall asleep one morning, exhausted from the relentless battles against Russian forces in the pinewood forests near Kreminna.

His rest was cut short just an hour later when a fresh firefight broke out, forcing the senior combat medic back into action in a fierce and lengthy exchange.

MILAN (AP) — Record-breaking rain produced floods in a vast swath of Italy’s Tuscany region as Storm Ciarán pushed into the country overnight trapping residents in their homes, inundating hospitals and overturning cars. At least five people were killed, bringing the storm’s death toll in western Europe to 12 on Friday.

MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/: The Ukrainian shelling attack on Donetsk, which affected journalists from TASS, Izvestia and the Zvezda TV channel, provides direct evidence of the Kiev regime’s terrorist logic, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/: The US has expanded its sanction list and added Russia’s Sistema holding to it, the US Treasury Department said.

New sanctions were introduced also against Russian banks and companies. In particular, AEON Corporation, drones producer ZALA, Post Bank, Arctic LNG 2 plant, the Bauman State Technical University, and HCF Bank were added to the list. In total, thirty Russian individuals and almost two hundred legal entities were hit by restrictions.

MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/: Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has warned that Poland's actions may lead to a direct confrontation with Russia and Belarus and launch World War III.

"Poland's own military buildup and Polish military presence in Ukraine may trigger a direct confrontation between Warsaw and Belarus and Russia," Medvedev said in an article for the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper. "In this case, the allied group will give an appropriate response to prevent threats that stem from the evil ambitions of the Polish establishment," he stressed.

MOSCOW, November 2. /TASS/: Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet at an airfield in the Poltava Region over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.

"A Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 plane was destroyed at the Mirgorod airfield in the Poltava Region," the ministry said in a statement.

In addition, Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian Bukovel electronic warfare station near the settlement of Yantarnoye in the Kherson Region, the ministry said.

NOVO-OGAREVO, November 2. /TASS/: Russian business shows interest in working in Africa in general and in Equatorial Guinea in particular, President Vladimir Putin said at expanded format talks with Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

MOSCOW, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that Israel's recommendation that its citizens leave Russia's North Caucasus region after a violent anti-Israeli protest in Dagestan on Sunday was "anti-Russian".

In a briefing with reporters, Zakharova said that an Israeli warning against travel in the mostly Muslim regions of the North Caucasus bore "no relation to reality".

MOSCOW, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Thursday revoking the country's ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), according to an officially published document.

The Kremlin had stated earlier that Russia's withdrawal from the treaty would not imply the restoration of nuclear tests.

Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said Moscow had been waiting for Washington to ratify the treaty for 23 years, but the United States had demonstrated its irresponsible approach towards global security issues.

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a bill revoking Russia’s ratification of a global nuclear test ban, a move that Moscow said was needed to establish parity with the United States.

Putin has said that rescinding the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, also known as the CTBT, would “mirror” the stand taken by the U.S., which has signed but not ratified the nuclear test ban.

Both houses of the Russian parliament voted last month to revoke Moscow’s ratification of the bill.