Ukraine updates: Russia says 36 drones downed over Black Sea

Russians gathered in various cities to commemorate the victims of repression during the Soviet era, despite restrictions on public gatherings.

Ahead of the official commemoration day on October 30, several ambassadors from Western countries laid flowers at the Solovetsky Stone monument on Lubyanka Square in central Moscow.

The Soviet Union's KGB state security force had its headquarters on Lubyanka Square, and the FSB, which performs a similar role for Russia today, is currently based there.

Prominent Russian human rights activists also attended, including Svetlana Gannushkina and Oleg Orlov of the Memorial organization which was founded in 1989 to research crimes committed under Soviet rule. The group was ordered to close at the end of 2021.

Police allowed people through to the monument, which was cordoned off with railings, one at a time. The Solovetsky Stone is a monument to the millions of people who died under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin.

Russian authorities have maintained a ban on demonstrations as part of measures to counter the coronavirus pandemic, even though the government has long since dropped nearly every other pandemic restriction. 

Around 2,000 Ukrainians ran a one-kilometer race in Kyiv, wearing bibs displaying the name of a person instead of a number. Each runner chose one person to whom they dedicated their run.

Spouses, children, friends, siblings, neighbors, and colleagues ran for someone they knew who either was killed, taken captive or injured during Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

The organizers of the run called it the "World's Longest Marathon" — "because no race has lasted as long as Ukraine has been fighting for its freedom."

Around 13,000 people across the world registered for the event. Those competing remotely could run any distance they wanted and were encouraged to post about it on social media.

The race was hosted by Nova Post, Ukraine's most prominent private delivery company, with the dual purpose of honoring the defenders and raising funds to bolster Ukraine's air defense system.

Nova Post has delivered starter kits to 65 countries across all continents, said Inna Popereshniuk, co-founder of Nova Post. She dedicated her race to six colleagues who were killed and 17 injured in a Russian attack on the Nova Post depot in the Kharkiv region on October 21.

A blaze at an oil refinery in Krasnodar in southern Russia is being blamed on a drone attack, according to Russian media reports.

The reports cannot be independently verified.

"There were no casualties, no infrastructure was damaged, and there is no threat to the enterprise or residents of nearby settlements," the Krasnodar regional emergency administration authority said on its Telegram messaging app.

It provided no details as to what may have caused the fire.

Earlier on Sunday, Russia's Defense Ministry said that air defense systems had shot down 36 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.

Trade ministers from the Group of Seven have reiterated their criticism of Russia's war in Ukraine after meeting in Osaka, Japan.

In a joint statement, the ministers condemned "Russia's brutal, unprovoked, unjustifiable and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine."

The officials from the world's major industrialized countries also hit out at Russia's targeting of Ukraine's grain export infrastructure, along with Moscow's decision to "unilaterally" pull out of the Black Sea grain deal.

The deal had allowed the safe passage of grain from Ukrainian ports to the global market.

In July, Russia withdrew from the agreement, which was brokered by Turkey and the UN, complaining that Western sanctions were hindering the export of its own agricultural exports.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave his thanks to the representatives of more than 60 countries attending a peace summit in Malta.

"The unity of all those in the world who work with us and all our partners to restore the strength of international law and the real weight of UN principles and norms" will certainly be effective, Zelenskyy said in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. 

Zelenskyy is hoping to rally support for his 10-point plan to end Russia's war, and sees the growing list of participants as a signal that global support remains intact despite the US Congress halting new military aid for Ukraine.

The first round of talks in Denmark in June only managed to bring together 15 representatives.

The talks have been dismissed by Moscow, which described the gathering as "a blatantly anti-Russian event."

Russian forces shot down 36 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the northwestern part of the Crimean peninsula, Moscow's Defense Ministry said.

"On the night of October 29, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using air-type drones against facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation was stopped," the ministry said on Telegram.

"The air defense systems in place destroyed 36 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the Black Sea and the northwestern part of the Crimean peninsula," the statement said.

There has been no reaction from Ukrainian authorities.

Crimea was illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014 and is a key location — the peninsula's biggest city Sevastopol is the primary base for Russia's Black Sea fleet.

It is also an important supply route for Russian forces who are occupying southern and eastern Ukraine.