Shafaq News – Moscow / Kyiv / Budapest

On Friday, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the arrest of two alleged Ukrainian intelligence operatives in occupied Donetsk, as Moscow and Kyiv exchanged overnight drone and missile strikes.

In a statement, the FSB claimed the suspects—both Russian nationals—carried out two car bombings last year that killed a Kherson government worker and a former Donetsk prison official, alleging one had been recruited in 2022 to coordinate attacks, recruit locals, and transfer explosives via instructions from a Ukrainian handler on Telegram.

Authorities also accused the pair of plotting assassinations targeting a Donetsk mayor and a volunteer battalion commander.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported intercepting five Ukrainian drones in the morning—two over Belgorod, two over Ryazan, and one over Lipetsk—adding that 54 others were neutralized overnight across regions including Bryansk, Volgograd, and Rostov.

Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed Russia launched a wave of 55 Shahed-type and decoy drones from sites in Russia and Crimea, with air defenses downing 46 and the remaining nine hitting targets in four regions.

Meanwhile, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto accused Ukrainian forces of striking the Druzhba oil pipeline overnight, temporarily halting Russian crude deliveries to Hungary and prompting warnings that Budapest may reconsider electricity exports to Ukraine.

Szijjarto, posting on X, called it the third such strike in recent weeks, noting that this is “another attempt to drag us into the war. It will not succeed!”

The pipeline had just resumed operations after drone attacks disrupted flows earlier in the week.