European leaders denounce Moscow over attacks

**Paul Moss** (0:00)
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
I'm Paul Moss, and at 14 Hours GMT on Wednesday, the 2nd of September, these are our main stories. European leaders have condemned Russia, as it's held responsible for the attack on a German airport. Meanwhile, a Russian strike on the city of Odessa has left more than 300,000 Ukrainians without power. The man accused of murdering the American conservative activist, Charlie Kirk, last year, has appeared in court and pleaded not guilty. Also in this podcast, the Hong Kong democracy activist facing a possible lifetime jail sentence and the simple cancer test, which could save thousands of lives.

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**Paul Moss** (0:55)
Europeans are faced with a hard truth ahead of the EU, said. This is the new normal. Ursula von der Leyen was speaking after Russia was blamed for an attempted attack on a German airport last month, when a drone full of explosives was found near a Ukrainian cargo plane in Leipzig. Ms von der Leyen was joined at a news conference by the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, with a similar message and a similarly grim warning.

**Mark Rutte** (1:21)
Russia has grown increasingly reckless.
As they continue their terrible war against Ukraine, we have seen more drones and missiles crossing into our airspace along our eastern flank, creating increased risk. We have also seen an increase in malign activities, targeting our territory directly, whether it is fires set in factories, producing defense equipment for Ukraine, or indeed the Russian hybrid attack in the Black Sea.

**Paul Moss** (1:51)
On the ground in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky says Russian drones have struck targets across his country. Reports suggest hundreds of thousands have been left without electricity in Odessa on the Black Sea.
Oleksandr Kolossiuk from the emergency services there described what happened.

**Oleksandr Kolossiuk** (2:11)
Throughout the night, Russia carried out a massive attack on Odessa and the region. Residential buildings and energy infrastructure came under attack.
A 24-story residential building was hit. The blasts also damaged nearby parked cars.

**Paul Moss** (2:28)
So more attacks both in Ukraine and, it seems, on NATO member states, this time Germany.
But amidst all the protesting, what are Western leaders actually going to do? A question I put to our diplomatic correspondent, James Landale, who's in Kyiv.

**James Landale** (2:43)
I think initially what they're trying to do is to be more explicit in trying to attribute responsibility to Russia for alleged actions against Western countries. The so-called hybrid war, one of the key defining characteristics, is that a lot of the actions are unattributable. It's unclear who was responsible. Was it a Russian proxy?
Was it, you know, we got mysterious parcels exploding in warehouses? You've got cyber attacks, information campaigns. Where are they coming from? That's the space in which Russia is accused of operating. And I think what we're seeing is a clear attempt with Germany, and now the EU and NATO waiting behind it, is to say, well, on this case, the alleged attack on Leipzig airport, they are trying to attribute responsibility by saying, look, there is clear evidence that Russia was behind this, essentially, to try and impose greater cost on Russia to try and deter future attacks.

**Paul Moss** (3:36)
But what are they actually going to do? I mean, yes, attributing it to Russia, not mincing their words or beating around the bush, but is there any action that they promise they'll actually take now?

**James Landale** (3:45)
In the short term, there will be diplomatic maneuverings. Various Russian ambassadors will be summoned. I think relations between Germany and Russia will deteriorate. There'll be a pulling back. There'll be any kind of cultural connections. They might be damaged by it. But in the longer term, I think the interesting question is whether or not any European nations use this to try and galvanize greater support for Ukraine. Because at the moment, so for example, there is more talk about having another look at whether or not European nations can use all those frozen Russian assets that are trapped largely in Belgian financial institutions.
Can they get a greater unity within Europe to use those to exploit that money to support Ukraine? Beforehand, Europe has been pretty divided on that. So I think it will be interesting to see in coming days how various European nations use this greater unity against Russia to actually have policy decisions as a result.

**Paul Moss** (4:42)
What's going on in Kiev where you are? We've heard of sirens, we've heard reports of explosions there.

**James Landale** (4:47)
Well, there's another alert going on right now at the moment. There have been alerts all morning. We've spent the day so far going around seeing some of the outcome of those strikes. We've seen strikes pretty close down the road from where we are here, where a building quite close to the centre was hit. We know that a university has been hit in the city here. We've also been to see a customs warehouse that was struck, clouds of smoke pouring out. In other words, this is day seven of consecutive Russian daytime attacks. It's their new tactic.