Russia has struck a cargo vessel in the Black Sea allegedly used by the Ukrainian military, Russian state news agencies reported, citing the defence ministry.

The ministry claimed the vessel was being used to support Ukraine’s armed forces.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has announced plans for a joint air defence project with the Netherlands following talks with Dutch prime minister Rob Jetten and business leaders from both countries.

The two leaders met executives from Ukrainian and Dutch companies in the defence, energy and software sectors to discuss strengthening economic and technological cooperation.

His visit came as the Netherlands is preparing a new €500 million military aid package to help Ukraine defend against air attacks.

“Our teams have been tasked with working out a specific air defence project, Bliksem. We have already started this work,” he said in a post on X.

“The amount is 500 million euros. The package being prepared now, this fall. And this is something that truly matters. In particular, for repelling Russian air attacks,” he added.

Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine is facing a critical shortage of interceptor missiles for its US-made Patriot air-defense systems.

Vladimir Putin hailed Elon Musk as a “genius” and said he was in contact with the tech billionaire as Russia develops its answer to his ⁠Starlink satellite internet system.

It comes just weeks after Ukraine, which uses a version of Starlink as a key component of drone operations and battlefield communications, complained of speed restrictions that hampered its ability to intercept Russian attack drones and forced the cancellation of some operations.

The Russian president made the remark about Mr Musk on Wednesday as he listened to a presentation by digital development minister Maksut Shadayev, ⁠who said Russia had launched more than 30 satellites ​as ⁠it builds its own Starlink equivalent.

“Just a second, I want to point out this is just our first step. Elon Musk is a genius, he’s just a real genius,” said Mr Putin.

“Over 5,000 while we are only taking our first steps. But we are proud that we have begun to do this, and started to do it independently,” Mr Putin said, adding that the task now was “to move from quality to quantity”.

“We are in close contact with our American partners — including ⁠Mr Musk — because it is very important, in orbit, not to get in each other’s way and to maintain a certain level of discipline and order,” he said.

Starlink, which does not work in Russia, uses a constellation of satellites that orbit far lower than traditional geostationary communications satellites, reducing signal travel time.

Moscow faced an onslaught of drone attacks overnight, the mayor said, prompting authorities to shut down airports.

Russian air defence units intercepted nearly 60 drones bound for the capital over 90 minutes, Sergey Sobyanin said.

An additional 57 drones were intercepted in Moscow Oblast.

He later reported another 15 interceptions, with subsequent updates bringing the total number of drones reportedly downed to 166.

The total number of drones launched remains unclear, as Russian authorities have only reported those intercepted.No casualties or damage have been reported, and the intended targets remain unknown. Emergency services were deployed to the sites where drone debris fell, Sobyanin said.

Russia’s aviation authority imposed temporary flight restrictions at Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports.

Restrictions were subsequently lifted at Zhukovsky, while those at the other two airports remained in place.

Two flights travelling from Istanbul to Moscow were forced to turn back because of restrictions at Vnukovo airport, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

A Russian network of brokers backed by Pyongyang has been sending North Koreans to work in exploitative conditions in Russia, including at factories producing supplies used in Moscow’s war in Ukraine, according to a new investigation.

The Hague-based rights group Global Rights Compliance (GRC) said North Korea was pocketing much of the workers’ wages, while labourers were forced to work 12-hour shifts with just two days off a month under threats of punishment against them and their families.

The workers reportedly entered Russia on student visas to circumvent UN sanctions banning the employment of North Korean nationals overseas. Brokers received commissions of up to 150,000 roubles (£1,400) per worker.

Undercover investigators posing as prospective employers found North Koreans being recruited for production sites, including a factory manufacturing military rations.

“This investigation exposes a dangerous convergence between two states’ military ambitions,” said the group’s legal adviser, Elise Lauriot Prevost.

These were “North Korea’s use of overseas forced labour to finance ⁠its weapons programme, and Russia’s growing reliance on labour to sustain its war economy,” she added.

EU energy ⁠ministers will meet on Thursday to discuss energy security ahead of the winter heating season as the wars in Iran, Ukraine and Yemen send oil and natural gas prices soaring.

Fighting has damaged refineries across the Middle ⁠East and Russia, and hampered oil ​and ⁠gas flows through vital shipping lanes in the Black Sea, Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz.

“We are in a ⁠very serious situation now. It does not look like we have ​a ⁠security of supply issue ‌but I would warn against neglecting that,” EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen told reporters on Wednesday. He said affordability was just as ‌urgent an issue, arguing that available supply meant ‌little to households and businesses that could not afford it.

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen will meet US ⁠Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington ⁠on ​Thursday for ⁠talks about Russia’s ⁠war in ​Ukraine and ⁠bilateral relations, ‌Finland’s foreign ministry said.

During her ‌visit, Valtonen ‌will also hold talks ⁠with other US administration officials on foreign and security policy as well as international ‌economic and ​technology ‌issues, the ministry ⁠said in ⁠a statement.

European representatives will not take part in the next round of ⁠talks between Russia, the United States and Ukraine on a settlement ⁠of the ​conflict ⁠in Ukraine, Interfax news agency quoted ⁠Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri ​Ushakov ⁠as saying.

Ushakov ‌said the possible participation of European countries in ‌the negotiations was ‌not discussed during President Vladimir Putin’s phone conversation ⁠on Tuesday with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere.

Speaking about the timing of the talks, ‌which are expected to ​be held ‌next month ⁠in Abu Dhabi, ⁠Ushakov said no date had ‌yet been ​agreed.

Germany’s permanent brigade ​in Lithuania will use electronic warfare capabilities to provide early warning of military activity in Kaliningrad and Belarus, the military’s cyber chief said.

The brigade, due to be fully deployed next year, ⁠will also collect data on Russian and Belarusian military emitters and radar systems to update electronic-warfare databases used by German and allied forces, Vice Admiral Thomas Daum told Reuters.

“If anything happens, these units will identify that”, he said.

“We’ll ⁠put (the data) into electronic warfare ​databases which ⁠will then inform all our systems if there is a new radar on the Belarusian side.”