Ukraine updates: Deterring 'Putin's Russia' a must — Germany

Russian warplanes prevented two US strategic bombers from crossing the Russian state border over the Barents Sea, Russia's Defense Ministry says.

In a statement, the ministry said the military had scrambled MiG-29 and MiG-31 fighter jets to intercept the planes.

"As the Russian fighter jets approached, the American strategic bombers adjusted their flight course ... and subsequently turned away from the state border of the Russian Federation," the ministry said.

Russia has reported similar incidents before in which its planes have confronted military aircraft from NATO countries flying close to its border amid the high tensions caused by Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia's Defense Ministry says Moscow's invading forces have captured — or, in the Kremlin's terminology, "liberated" — two frontline villages in Ukraine.

The small villages — Andriivka in the eastern Luhansk region and Pishchane in the northeast Kharkiv region — lie less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) from each other.

The ministry said Russian army units had also "occupied more favorable lines and position" as Moscow continues to make grindingly slow advances in its eastern offensive.

Kyiv was the target of a fifth Russia drone attack overnight, but Ukraine's air defense systems succeeded in destroying all the weapons before they reached the city, Ukraine's military has said.

No casualties or damage were immediately reported, according to Serhiy Popko, the head of the military administration in the Ukrainian capital.

"These systematic attacks... with drones, once again prove that the invader is actively looking for an opportunity to strike Kyiv," Popko said.

"They're testing new tactics, looking for new approach routes to the capital, trying to expose the location of our air defense," he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

In the face of the massive overnight drone and missile attacks by Russia, which also targeted other Ukrainian regions, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated his calls for long-range weapons to protect both civilians and troops.

"Our sufficient long-range capabilities should be a fair response to Russian terror. Everyone who supports us in this supports the defense against terror," Zelenskyy said.

In all, five people were injured by Russian drone or shelling attacks overnight, three in southern Ukraine's partly occupied Kherson region and two in the northeastern Kharkiv region, officials said.  

Drone attacks in partlicular have been a prominent feature of the conflict in Ukraine, with Russia often employing Iranian-made Shahed "kamikaze drones" or domestically produced variants of the weapon.

Germany's top diplomat, Annalena Baerbock, has given her backing to the stationing of long-distance missiles in Germany as Russia under President Vladimir Putin expands its arsenal.

"We have to defend ourselves and our Baltic partners against this, by means of increased deterrence and additional long-range weapons," Baerbock, a member of the Green Party, told papers of the Funke Media Group.

She said that although Germany wished for a different sort of relationship with Russia, the country under Putin was the greatest security threat to Germany and peace in Europe. 

During the NATO summit in Washington from July 9 to July 11, the White House and the German government announced that the US would again temporarily deploy missile systems in Germany that could reach Russia. These include nuclear-capable Tomahawk cruise missiles, SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles and newly developed hypersonic missiles.

A 1988 treaty between the US and the former Soviet Union would have banned such missiles, but that pact broke down five years ago. The US last had missiles stationed in Germany during the cold ar.

Germany's Green Party has its roots partly in the peace movements of the late 20th century, but its politicians have been forced to take leave of some pacifist notions in the face of recent world events.

tj/fb (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)