Estonia blames Russian security services for arson attack on defence firm

Estonian authorities said on Tuesday that an arson attack carried out last month on a defence company that provides military vehicles to Ukraine was an act of sabotage commissioned by Russian security services.

Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said that “such actions are absolutely unacceptable” and that Russia’s charge d’affaires in Tallinn was being summoned to his ministry.  A fire broke out overnight on August 15 at a building in the Estonian capital used by Milrem Robotics, but was quickly brought under control, the BNS news agency reported.  On August 17, two Latvian suspects were detained in neighbouring Latvia, and a third followed the next day. The suspects were handed over to Estonia.

Milrem has supplied TheMIS unmanned ground vehicles to Ukraine.

The Estonian Internal Security Service said that it has concluded that the arson attack “was a deliberate and pre-planned act commissioned by Russian security services.” It said in a statement that “the modus operandi of the Milrem attack is consistent with other acts of sabotage carried out in Europe on behalf of Russia,” adding that it “assesses that the attack is directly attributable to the Russian Federation.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “such statements are unfounded, ill-considered, absolutely not reflecting the reality, not containing any substantiation whatsoever.” “We cannot take such statements seriously, and we won’t,” Peskov said.

Moscow has been widely accused by Western officials of running a campaign of sabotage and disruption with the aim of undermining support for Ukraine and destabilising European nations.

In a recent case that pointed to an escalation of such activity, Germany blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport in early August using a drone laden with explosives. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal wrote on X that “we will not be intimidated.”

Russia fired ballistic missiles and dozens of jet-powered drones at

Kyiv, Ukraine’s air force said on Tuesday, as Moscow seeks to make Ukraine buckle under the pressure of day-and-night bombardment of its capital and other cities.

The Russian onslaught has used new jet-powered drones that fly too fast and too high for Ukrainian ground-based air defences to shoot down. Ukraine is scrambling to keep pace by developing faster interceptor drones, in the latest example of how the war has driven military innovation, but making and deploying new weapons takes months.

Russia’s ballistic missiles have also got through as Ukraine is desperately short of US-made Patriot air defence interceptor missiles, which are the only reliable way of stopping Moscow’s ballistic attacks.

Patriot stockpiles are low, largely because of the Iran war, and Ukraine has received only small numbers of them this year despite President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s pleading. Ukraine said that its air defences shot down two ballistic missiles overnight, which suggested that Kyiv had recently received some more Patriots.

Air defence needs are mounting with the approach of the bitter winter months, which in the years since Russia’s full-scale invasion began on Feb 24, 2022 have brought an escalation of strikes on Ukraine’s power grid.

That strategy denies Ukrainian civilians heating and running water, among other things.

The Russian Defence Ministry said that its forces hit data processing centres in Kyiv that Moscow says are used by the Ukrainian military, which is increasingly deploying artificial intelligence on the battlefield.

Other Russian targets included facilities in the Ukrainian capital and the Kyiv region where drones and cruise missiles were stored, as well as an electrical substation, a drone manufacturing facility, and port infrastructure facilities in the southern Odesa region, the ministry said.

Ukrainian authorities said that the barrage hit apartment buildings, houses and public transportation in Kyiv, wounding one person.

In Odesa, the attack wounded eight people overnight and damaged residential buildings, civilian infrastructure, a school, an animal shelter and port infrastructure, local officials said.

Ukraine hasn’t sat back in the face of the Russian blitz. Its long-range drones have targeted Russian missile and drone manufacturing plants and launch sites. It also has hit Russian oil refineries, causing fuel shortages.

The two armies are largely deadlocked on the long front line in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Zelenskyy says that Moscow intends to increase recruitment for another battlefield push.

He said late Monday that another 10,000 North Korean troops are heading to Russia, adding to the 8,000 he said are already there.

Russia and North Korea have made no secret of their military cooperation.