KYIV: The European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said Monday that Russia was “gambling with war,” after a spate of Russian drones and military jets crossing into the bloc’s airspace.
NATO has boosted its defenses along its eastern borders as it accused Moscow of testing the alliance’s air defenses with drone incursions into several members and by flying military jets in Estonian airspace.
“Every time a Russian drone or plane violates our airspace, there is a risk of escalation, unintended or not. Russia is gambling with war,” Kallas said during a visit to Kyiv.
“To keep war at bay, we must translate the economic power of Europe into military deterrence,” she added.
Kallas was in Kyiv for talks on military and financial support for Ukraine, and especially its energy infrastructure, as Russia has resumed attacks on power plants ahead of winter.
Ukraine on Monday was forced to introduce power cuts across seven central and eastern regions as a result of the attacks, which Kyiv has called “cynical.”
“The enemy wants to affect the spirit and mood of our population,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said during a joint press conference with Kallas.
“This is especially cynical on the eve of winter,” he added.
Ukraine retaliates by targeting Russian oil refineries, aiming to hamper funding of its war machine.
It has launched more than 30 strikes on Russian energy sites since the beginning of August, also triggering a spike in petrol prices inside Russia.
An oil depot was struck overnight in Russian-occupied Crimea, sparking a large fire, according to the region’s Moscow-installed governor and a source in Ukraine’s security services.
Meanwhile, a Russian drone struck a car carrying a married couple in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, killing them both, local authorities said.
Kallas also indicated that Brussels backed the delivery of US long-range Tomahawk missile supplies to Ukraine.
“We welcome all tools that make Ukraine stronger and Russia weaker,” she said.
US President Donald Trump said Sunday he may warn Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that Ukraine could get the cruise missiles if Moscow does not end its invasion.
Moscow has warned against supplying Ukraine with Tomahawks, saying it would be a major escalation.
EU says Russia ‘gambling with war’ with airspace violations
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EU says Russia ‘gambling with war’ with airspace violations
- NATO has boosted its defenses along its eastern borders as it accused Moscow of testing the alliance’s air defenses with drone incursions into several members and by flying military jets in Estonian airspace
- Ukraine on Monday was forced to introduce power cuts across seven central and eastern regions as a result of the attacks, which Kyiv has called “cynical”
Indian police carry out sweeping raids in disputed Kashmir
- There has been no confirmation that the searches this week are connected to Monday’s explosion which killed at least 12 people in New Delhi
- The blast was the most significant security incident since April 22 attack in Pahalgam which killed 26 people, triggered clashes with Pakistan
New Delhi: Indian police have carried out sweeping raids targeting a banned political party in Indian-administered Kashmir, days after the deadliest blast in the Indian capital for more than a decade.
There has been no confirmation that the searches this week are connected to Monday’s explosion — which killed at least 12 people near the historic Red Fort in the capital’s Old Delhi quarter.
But the raids represent a renewed effort by police to tighten security after the explosion, which the government called “a heinous terror incident” and blamed on “anti-national forces.”
Many of the raids have taken place since Wednesday, according to district police statements from across the Indian-administered part of the Himalayan territory.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, and both claim the Himalayan territory in full. Tensions remain high between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Police, including in Kashmir’s Awantipora, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Shopian and Sopore districts, issued statements about the raids, which they said targeted the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) party.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government banned the Kashmir branch of Jamaat-e-Islami in 2019 as an “unlawful association.”
'Large-scale operations'
Officers carried out “extensive raids at multiple locations” to “dismantle the terror ecosystem and its support structures,” the police in Awantipora said in a statement.
The department in Bandipora said they had seized “incriminating material,” while the Sopore police said it had carried out “large-scale operations against Jamaat-e-Islami-linked networks,” adding that more than 30 locations were searched.
Officers also raided Al-Falah University in Faridabad, on the southern outskirts of the capital, while security forces on Friday demolished a house in Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Police have not commented on the demolition, although law enforcement agencies have carried out such destruction against those accused of launching attacks in the past.
India’s anti-terrorism National Investigation Agency is leading the probe into Monday’s blast, and the government has vowed to bring the “perpetrators, their collaborators, and their sponsors” to justice.
But officials, so far, have given little further information on who that might be — and whether it was a homegrown group or had links from abroad.
Indian media have widely connected the November 10 blast with a string of arrests just hours before, when they seized explosive materials and assault rifles.
Police said those arrested were linked with Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), an Al-Qaeda linked group, and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, a Kashmir offshoot linked to JeM.
Concerning those arrests, India’s Jammu and Kashmir police said on Monday — shortly before the explosion — that their investigations had “revealed a white collar terror ecosystem, involving radicalized professionals and students in contact with
foreign handlers, operating from Pakistan and other countries.”
The blast in Delhi was the most significant security incident since April 22, when 26 mainly Hindu civilians were killed at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, triggering clashes with Pakistan.
