LIVE UKRAINE. Russia shoots down Ukrainian drone in Bryansk border region | War Ukraine and Russia

Russian anti-aircraft defense shot down a Ukrainian drone over the Bryansk border region on Monday night. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced this on the Telegram messaging service. There would be no damage or casualties.

Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory have increased in recent months. The Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, is a regular target, as are Russian border areas.

Ukrainian city of Kharkiv will build the country’s first underground school to protect the city’s students from frequent Russian bombings and rocket attacks. The mayor of the city said this on Telegram.

“Such a shelter will ensure that thousands of children in Kharkiv can receive education even during the rocket attacks,” wrote Mayor Ihor Terekhov. While many frontline schools have been forced to offer many online classes, Kharkiv has built some 60 classrooms in metro stations for the start of this school year, allowing more than 1,000 children to study there .

According to the mayor, the new school meets “most modern requirements for protective structures.” It is not clear exactly how big the school is or when it will actually start.

The US government will “soon” send another military aid package to Ukraine. This was announced by Karine Jean-Pierre, spokeswoman for the White House. Russian President Vladimir Putin “is mistaken if he thinks he will outlast us,” Jean-Pierre said.

The Kremlin said on Monday that “fatigue” among Western countries for support for Ukraine will increase. That statement comes a day after a provisional budget agreement was approved in the US Congress, without military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

Bulgaria is also now closing its borders to cars registered in Russia. According to the Bulgarian border police, the ban will come into effect today.

The southeastern EU country is thus following the example of Finland, the Baltic states and Poland. A similar measure will also come into effect in Norway on Tuesday. The ban is in line with European Commission guidelines in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Belgian Minister Hadja Lahbib (MR) today assured Zelensky of “Belgium’s unwavering support, for as long as necessary”. “We remain by your side in your resistance and defense of our common European values,” Lahbib said. She said this today in the context of a summit meeting between the Ukrainian president and the foreign ministers of the EU member states.

“The Ukrainian people are the first to pay the price of this war, but let us not forget that the consequences of this conflict are worldwide and also have a direct impact on, for example, Belgian citizens and companies. We all wish that this war will end as soon as possible ends by giving Ukraine the means to negotiate a just and lasting peace,” Lahbib said.

The deliberations in Kiev came at a time when some doubts have arisen about Western support for Kiev in the longer term. Due to budget wrangling, the American parliament was unable to make a decision on additional aid last weekend and in Slovakia the elections were won by the Eurosceptic populist Robert Fico, who had promised in the campaign to stop his country’s arms deliveries to Ukraine.

It prompted the Kremlin to comment on Monday that war fatigue “will increase in various countries”. “Vladimir Putin’s greatest hope is precisely that the West and the world will grow tired of siding with Ukraine in this war. Russia is spending enormous resources on this,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba, who asked Europeans to ” not to get into this game.”

Kuleba also launched an appeal to Europeans to jointly facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain through a secured corridor on the Black Sea. The grain issue has been causing tensions with Poland and other EU member states bordering Ukraine for some time. They have restricted the export of grain through their territory to protect their farmers from falling prices.