Russia's Navy Day scaled-down after Ukraine attack
St Petersburg usually holds a large-scale, televise parade on Navy Day, which features a flotilla of warships and military vessels sailing down the Neva River but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed this year's parade had been cancelled.
"It has to do with the general situation. Security reasons are of utmost importance," Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies.
Putin arrived at the city's historic naval headquarters on Sunday by patrol speed boat, from where he followed drills involving more than 150 vessels and 15,000 military personnel in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans and Baltic and Caspian Seas.
"Today we are marking this holiday in a working setting, we are inspecting the combat readiness of the fleet," Putin said in a video address.
The Russian Defence Ministry said air defence units downed a total of 291 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones on Sunday, below a record 524 drones downed in attacks on May 7, ahead of Russia's Victory Day parade on May 9.
A man was killed and three other people were injured by drone fragments in the region around St Petersburg, according to local authorities.
St Petersburg's Pulkovo airport was closed during the attack, with 57 flights delayed and 22 diverted to other airports, according to a statement. Pulkovo resumed operations later on Sunday.
Russian blogger Alexander Yunashev, part of an official group of reporters travelling with Peskov, said Peskov had told him their flight from Moscow to St Petersburg had been delayed by the drone attack for two hours on Sunday.
Russia continued to batter Ukraine with drone and missile strikes Sunday.
In Sumy in Ukraine's northeast, a drone attack damaged civil infrastructure objects, an administrative building and non-residential premises, leaving three people wounded. Elsewhere in the region, two men died after being blown up by a landmine and another woman was injured from a drone attack on another community in the region, the regional military administration said.
Separately, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to uphold independent anti-corruption bodies, with the Ukrainian leader signalling that supporting legislation could be adopted within days.
"Ukraine has already achieved a lot on its European path. It must build on these solid foundations and preserve independent anti-corruption bodies, which are cornerstones of Ukraine's rule of law," von der Leyen said in a post on X after a call with Zelenskiy.
After a rare outburst of public criticism, Zelenskiy on Thursday submitted draft legislation to restore the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies - reversing course of an earlier bill aimed at stripping their autonomy.
"I thanked the European Commission for the provided expertise," Zelenskiy said in a post on X after his call with von der Leyen.
"We share the same vision: it is important that the bill is adopted without delay, as early as next week."
Von der Leyen also promised continued support for Ukraine on its path to EU membership.
"Ukraine can count on our support to deliver progress on its European path," she added.
with AP and DPA
Vladimir Putin has visited his home city of St Petersburg to honour the Russian Navy despite the earlier cancellation of its naval parade due to security concerns, and the airport being forced to close after a wave of Ukrainian drone attacks on the city.
St Petersburg usually holds a large-scale, televise parade on Navy Day, which features a flotilla of warships and military vessels sailing down the Neva River but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed this year's parade had been cancelled.
"It has to do with the general situation. Security reasons are of utmost importance," Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies.
Putin arrived at the city's historic naval headquarters on Sunday by patrol speed boat, from where he followed drills involving more than 150 vessels and 15,000 military personnel in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans and Baltic and Caspian Seas.
"Today we are marking this holiday in a working setting, we are inspecting the combat readiness of the fleet," Putin said in a video address.
The Russian Defence Ministry said air defence units downed a total of 291 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones on Sunday, below a record 524 drones downed in attacks on May 7, ahead of Russia's Victory Day parade on May 9.
A man was killed and three other people were injured by drone fragments in the region around St Petersburg, according to local authorities.
St Petersburg's Pulkovo airport was closed during the attack, with 57 flights delayed and 22 diverted to other airports, according to a statement. Pulkovo resumed operations later on Sunday.
Russian blogger Alexander Yunashev, part of an official group of reporters travelling with Peskov, said Peskov had told him their flight from Moscow to St Petersburg had been delayed by the drone attack for two hours on Sunday.
Russia continued to batter Ukraine with drone and missile strikes Sunday.
In Sumy in Ukraine's northeast, a drone attack damaged civil infrastructure objects, an administrative building and non-residential premises, leaving three people wounded. Elsewhere in the region, two men died after being blown up by a landmine and another woman was injured from a drone attack on another community in the region, the regional military administration said.
Separately, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to uphold independent anti-corruption bodies, with the Ukrainian leader signalling that supporting legislation could be adopted within days.
"Ukraine has already achieved a lot on its European path. It must build on these solid foundations and preserve independent anti-corruption bodies, which are cornerstones of Ukraine's rule of law," von der Leyen said in a post on X after a call with Zelenskiy.
After a rare outburst of public criticism, Zelenskiy on Thursday submitted draft legislation to restore the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies - reversing course of an earlier bill aimed at stripping their autonomy.
"I thanked the European Commission for the provided expertise," Zelenskiy said in a post on X after his call with von der Leyen.
"We share the same vision: it is important that the bill is adopted without delay, as early as next week."
Von der Leyen also promised continued support for Ukraine on its path to EU membership.
"Ukraine can count on our support to deliver progress on its European path," she added.
with AP and DPA
Vladimir Putin has visited his home city of St Petersburg to honour the Russian Navy despite the earlier cancellation of its naval parade due to security concerns, and the airport being forced to close after a wave of Ukrainian drone attacks on the city.
St Petersburg usually holds a large-scale, televise parade on Navy Day, which features a flotilla of warships and military vessels sailing down the Neva River but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed this year's parade had been cancelled.
"It has to do with the general situation. Security reasons are of utmost importance," Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies.
Putin arrived at the city's historic naval headquarters on Sunday by patrol speed boat, from where he followed drills involving more than 150 vessels and 15,000 military personnel in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans and Baltic and Caspian Seas.
"Today we are marking this holiday in a working setting, we are inspecting the combat readiness of the fleet," Putin said in a video address.
The Russian Defence Ministry said air defence units downed a total of 291 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones on Sunday, below a record 524 drones downed in attacks on May 7, ahead of Russia's Victory Day parade on May 9.
A man was killed and three other people were injured by drone fragments in the region around St Petersburg, according to local authorities.
St Petersburg's Pulkovo airport was closed during the attack, with 57 flights delayed and 22 diverted to other airports, according to a statement. Pulkovo resumed operations later on Sunday.
Russian blogger Alexander Yunashev, part of an official group of reporters travelling with Peskov, said Peskov had told him their flight from Moscow to St Petersburg had been delayed by the drone attack for two hours on Sunday.
Russia continued to batter Ukraine with drone and missile strikes Sunday.
In Sumy in Ukraine's northeast, a drone attack damaged civil infrastructure objects, an administrative building and non-residential premises, leaving three people wounded. Elsewhere in the region, two men died after being blown up by a landmine and another woman was injured from a drone attack on another community in the region, the regional military administration said.
Separately, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to uphold independent anti-corruption bodies, with the Ukrainian leader signalling that supporting legislation could be adopted within days.
"Ukraine has already achieved a lot on its European path. It must build on these solid foundations and preserve independent anti-corruption bodies, which are cornerstones of Ukraine's rule of law," von der Leyen said in a post on X after a call with Zelenskiy.
After a rare outburst of public criticism, Zelenskiy on Thursday submitted draft legislation to restore the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies - reversing course of an earlier bill aimed at stripping their autonomy.
"I thanked the European Commission for the provided expertise," Zelenskiy said in a post on X after his call with von der Leyen.
"We share the same vision: it is important that the bill is adopted without delay, as early as next week."
Von der Leyen also promised continued support for Ukraine on its path to EU membership.
"Ukraine can count on our support to deliver progress on its European path," she added.
with AP and DPA
Vladimir Putin has visited his home city of St Petersburg to honour the Russian Navy despite the earlier cancellation of its naval parade due to security concerns, and the airport being forced to close after a wave of Ukrainian drone attacks on the city.
St Petersburg usually holds a large-scale, televise parade on Navy Day, which features a flotilla of warships and military vessels sailing down the Neva River but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed this year's parade had been cancelled.
"It has to do with the general situation. Security reasons are of utmost importance," Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies.
Putin arrived at the city's historic naval headquarters on Sunday by patrol speed boat, from where he followed drills involving more than 150 vessels and 15,000 military personnel in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans and Baltic and Caspian Seas.
"Today we are marking this holiday in a working setting, we are inspecting the combat readiness of the fleet," Putin said in a video address.
The Russian Defence Ministry said air defence units downed a total of 291 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones on Sunday, below a record 524 drones downed in attacks on May 7, ahead of Russia's Victory Day parade on May 9.
A man was killed and three other people were injured by drone fragments in the region around St Petersburg, according to local authorities.
St Petersburg's Pulkovo airport was closed during the attack, with 57 flights delayed and 22 diverted to other airports, according to a statement. Pulkovo resumed operations later on Sunday.
Russian blogger Alexander Yunashev, part of an official group of reporters travelling with Peskov, said Peskov had told him their flight from Moscow to St Petersburg had been delayed by the drone attack for two hours on Sunday.
Russia continued to batter Ukraine with drone and missile strikes Sunday.
In Sumy in Ukraine's northeast, a drone attack damaged civil infrastructure objects, an administrative building and non-residential premises, leaving three people wounded. Elsewhere in the region, two men died after being blown up by a landmine and another woman was injured from a drone attack on another community in the region, the regional military administration said.
Separately, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to uphold independent anti-corruption bodies, with the Ukrainian leader signalling that supporting legislation could be adopted within days.
"Ukraine has already achieved a lot on its European path. It must build on these solid foundations and preserve independent anti-corruption bodies, which are cornerstones of Ukraine's rule of law," von der Leyen said in a post on X after a call with Zelenskiy.
After a rare outburst of public criticism, Zelenskiy on Thursday submitted draft legislation to restore the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies - reversing course of an earlier bill aimed at stripping their autonomy.
"I thanked the European Commission for the provided expertise," Zelenskiy said in a post on X after his call with von der Leyen.
"We share the same vision: it is important that the bill is adopted without delay, as early as next week."
Von der Leyen also promised continued support for Ukraine on its path to EU membership.
"Ukraine can count on our support to deliver progress on its European path," she added.
with AP and DPA
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