Russia thwarts new attacks and Ukraine plans to reach Crimea after its forces advance in the south

 Russia announced that it had thwarted new Ukrainian attacks today, Thursday, with drones and missiles. In contrast, a Ukrainian official said that his country's forces are looking to reach the borders of Crimea, after making progress on the southern front.

And the mayor of Moscow said that the air defenses shot down this morning a drone that was flying towards Moscow, without causing any losses.

Russian newspaper "Kommersant" quoted a flight tracking website that more than 40 flights were delayed this morning at Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports in the Russian capital, without specifying the reason for the delay.

Later, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that its forces had shot down a Ukrainian drone that tried to attack the Bryansk region near the border with Ukraine.

In turn, the Crimean authorities said that the air defenses shot down last night a Ukrainian-winged missile east of the peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.

The authorities added that the missile fragments caused damage to a high-voltage power line.

This comes after a day that witnessed widespread Ukrainian drone attacks targeting several areas in northwestern Russia, including the bombing of military transport aircraft at Pskov Airport.

Today, air traffic at Pskov Airport resumed normally, according to the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency.

In response to yesterday's attacks, Moscow announced that its forces targeted Ukrainian leadership and intelligence centers, hours after it launched a drone and missile attack on Kyiv that was described as the most violent since last spring.

Recently, Ukrainian attacks with marches on Moscow escalated, and the Russian authorities were repeatedly forced to temporarily stop shipping traffic at the capital’s airports.

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Ukrainian army announced on Monday that it had taken control of the strategic village of Robotin, but the Russian army did not confirm this and spoke of violent battles still taking place in the region.

Tokmak, along with Melitopol and Berdyansk, located on the Sea of Azov, is among the main cities in the Russian-controlled part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

On the same front, the Ukrainian General Staff announced on Thursday that its forces continued their offensive operations towards Melitopol and fortified the positions they controlled.

On the Donetsk Front (east), the Ukrainian General Staff announced that its forces were making progress south of the city of Bakhmut and strengthening their positions there, and spoke of thwarting Russian attacks toward the towns of Bakhmut and Liman.

In this context, the Ukrainian army announced early Thursday that 6 pilots and soldiers were killed on Tuesday aboard two Mi-8 helicopters while carrying out missions around Bakhmut, which has been under Russian control since last May.

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European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday that the bloc will look at ways to provide security guarantees for Ukraine in the long term, not just now, during the war.

Regarding military aid, Der Spiegel magazine reported that Germany provided Ukraine with 10 additional Leppard 1 tanks, as well as the TRML air surveillance system - which is used in the IRIS air defense system - in addition to ammunition, a field hospital, and 16 reconnaissance drones.