Ukraine war latest: US scrambles jets to intercept Russian military planes off Alaska

Moscow has banned gas exports till the top of the yr as petrol stations throughout Russia and occupied territories run dry following a wave of Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries, pumping stations and gas trains.

The shortages, which officers as soon as dismissed as “logistical,” have deepened in latest weeks. Ukraine’s air power stated it struck a number of websites this week, together with a serious Gazprom-operated refinery in Bashkortostan.

The Kremlin first curbed some gasoline exports in March earlier than widening the ban in July. This newest transfer is its most sweeping try but to stabilise home provides.

Deputy prime minister Alexander Novak stated Russia will introduce a partial ban on diesel exports till the top of the yr and lengthen an current ban on gasoline exports as a consequence of a slight scarcity of petroleum merchandise, however stated this was “being lined by collected reserves.”

Initiating a routine interception, the Nato pilots rocked their wings back and forth. In response, the Russian pilots mirrored the manoeuvre and gave a pleasant wave, in keeping with the Telegraph.

The Italians then trailed the pilots to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad for an unprecedented 12 minutes.

Throughout this time, the three Russian nuclear-capable MiG-31 jets and two Italian F-35 pilots had no radio contact with one another.

The US and Canada scrambled fighter jets to establish and intercept 4 Russian navy planes off Alaska, amid rising concern over Moscow’s incursions into Nato airspace.

The North American Aerospace Protection Command (NORAD) stated it had detected and tracked two Russian Tu-95s and two Su-35s working within the Alaskan Air Defence Identification Zone. They didn’t enter US or Canadian sovereign airspace.

9 US plane – an E-3 Sentry command and management plane, 4 F-16s and 4 KC-135 tankers – scrambled to positively establish and intercept the Russian jets, it stated.

It’s the third time in a few month and the ninth time this yr NORAD has reported such an incident involving Russian plane flying close to Alaska.

The Russian plane remained in worldwide airspace and didn’t enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace, it stated.

Russia’s international minister Sergei Lavrov has accused Nato and the European Union of utilizing Ukraine to wage a “actual struggle” in opposition to Moscow.

Lavrov claimed the West had provoked the battle — a cost Britain dismissed as “false fantasy world distortions.”

Delivering his remarks at a G20 assembly of international ministers in New York, Lavrov repeated Moscow’s long-standing declare that it was Western actions that triggered the struggle, which started with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“One other clear instance is the disaster in Ukraine provoked by the West, by which NATO and the EU have … already declared an actual struggle on my nation and are immediately concerned in it,” he stated.

He made no reference to Donald Trump’s feedback earlier this week, as a substitute repeating Russia’s place that it was the West’s actions that provoked the struggle in Ukraine.