Sea on fire as naval drone hits oil tanker off Russian resort city Sochi & former German spy chief arrested for treason

Francis Dearnley (0:09)

I'm Francis Dearnley, and this is Ukraine, The Latest. Today, as Putin marks another birthday, Ukraine is hit by deadly attacks exposing once again Europe's vulnerability to the same ballistic missiles and drones. We hear of one solution being debated in London before turning to an extraordinary development in Germany, the arrest of the country's former spy chief on treason charges.

Then we bring you our regular update on Russia, post-election tax raids, growing fears of mobilisation, and the latest on the alleged plague outbreak that prompted several countries to adopt precautionary measures.

David Knowles (0:46)

Bravery takes you through the most unimaginable hardships to finally reward you with victory.

SPEAKER_3 (0:57)

First of all, we defend with our help for Ukraine our freedom and our European values.

Dominic Nicholls (1:17)

We can't, as Europeans, let Russia win in Ukraine. Nobody is going to break us.

Francis Dearnley (1:23)

We are strong.

SPEAKER_3 (1:24)

We are Ukrainians.

Francis Dearnley (1:26)

It's Wednesday, the 7th of October, four years and 225 days since the full-scale invasion began. And today, I'm joined by our associate editor of defence and my co-host, Dom Nicholls, and our Russia analyst, James Kilner.

But first, the updates. On Putin's birthday, Russian generals brought him his favourite present, war crimes. But his ultimate present will be a doc in the Hague. The words of Kiev's foreign minister, Andrei Sibya, earlier, as Vladimir Putin passes 74 years old, 74 times longer than the babies who have lost their lives in his war on hospital strikes, and those unborn to others killed for both sides. When one of the few birthday cards one receives is from Kim Jong-un, it might be time to reconsider one's life choices. The North Korean leader was gushing, calling Putin his dearest friend and vowing to further deepen ties with Moscow and open up a new chapter for the development of relations between our two countries. He also reaffirmed his invariable support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which he described as the Russian people's sacred war of justice, saying it will surely end with their victory.

That sacred war of justice led to at least 15 civilians killed across Ukraine overnight. In the city of Priluki in Chernihiv Oblast, a Russian missile hit a residential building killing at least nine, including three children and wounding at least 38 Five apartment buildings were also damaged in Dnieper and four high-rise buildings in Kremlinchuk, killing two and injuring eight. Two more people were killed in Oleksandry. Civilian buildings were also damaged in Zaporizhzhia. In his address yesterday evening, Zelensky had warned that intelligence indicated Russia was preparing a massive attack and urged people to take shelter. Explosions were heard around 3.15am in Kiev. Later, Zelensky wrote, One of the key targets was our energy infrastructure. The Russians wanted to strike painfully and demonstrably. This was one of the most vile strikes. Seventy missiles in total, many of them ballistic as well as sheheads. Unfortunately, only some of them were shot down. Russian ballistic missiles remain the greatest challenge.

But Moscow didn't have it all its own way. Authorities in Russia's Black Sea Resort, city of Sochi and neighbouring territory had to close their beaches after a tanker caught fire offshore. The blaze reportedly started after an attack by Ukrainian naval drones. Dramatic footage shows it burning off the coast with huge plumes of smoke rising into the air. In one video, a Russian man is playing guitar to an audience while the horizon burns behind him. Two women walk by as if nothing is happening. A surreal and perhaps telling image. Ambry Intelligence reports it was a Liberia-flagged crude oil tanker travelling from Novorossiysk to Istanbul. The 23 crew members, all Indian nationals, were rescued with no injuries reported.

Now, Dom, as I mentioned at the top, these kind of attacks are ones that more countries in Europe are feeling they need to be prepared for in the worst case scenarios. You've just come back from Conservative Party Conference here in Britain. Now, that is the opposition party led by Kemi Badnok.

What announcement has she made in the last 24 hours or so that would have potential consequences for Britain on that score? I know it's caught a lot of attention around the world.

Dominic Nicholls (4:52)

Hello, Francis. I haven't seen you for a few days.

So yeah, and the big announcement yesterday was they've talked about this thing called Britannia Shield, which is a drone and ballistic missile shield. Now in the press release, which I have here, I can show you the press release they put out, literally the first bullet point. So under the heading, they got the first bullet point, which talks about ballistic missile and drone defences. In effect, a British Iron Dome, it says that, it says Iron Dome. They had got all wrapped around the axle yesterday with being asked about this Iron Dome. She said, well, we're not calling it Iron Dome. We're not going to do that, we're not going to do that. It's like, he literally did, he literally did. The plan is for a, as I say, this ballistic missile shield, not for the entire country, although they say military sites and critical national infrastructure, which is quite a lot. I mean, there's a lot of military sites. And do you mean, are you going to protect like the big garrisons, the kind of, you know, Tidworths or Cattericks, where there's thousands of people, or Andor, the sensitive sites, like obviously the nuclear submarine base, but what about our SF bases and all that kind of stuff. So all that kind of other bits and pieces. And then critical national infrastructure, because where does the list end? So if you're saying we're not going to cover the entire country, but we're going to cover all this, a big ask. And then also in their announcement, they said that they highlighted the Leipzig-Halle drone attack what last month or a couple of months ago. And again, that didn't come from abroad. That wasn't a drone flying 200 kilometers into the country. That was a hobby drone. If I had a munition, an effective munition on it, but it was hopped over the fence. That was flown from inside the country. So they got themselves a little bit mixed up about quite what it is they're going to develop here if they get back into power.