Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow threatens direct strike on Germany in escalating tensions with Europe and UK

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has threatened Germany with a “direct strike” on its military production facilities after Berlin accused Moscow of being behind a drone attack on Leipzig Airport last month.

In an ominous addendum he suggested: “Every terror has sponsors. At the moment, these are the heads of Western countries, primarily European ones. And they often travel to Kyiv by train...”

Airport workers last month found a drone laden with explosives and a detonator at the airport, an important civilian freight and Nato logistics hub in eastern Germany that is also a base for several giant Ukrainian Antonov An-124 cargo planes.

Germany has blamed Moscow for the attack, characterising it as part of hybrid warfare meant to intimidate and cause divisions in countries that have supported Ukraine over the Russian invasion.

Russia denies involvement and has vowed to respond to what its foreign ministry spokesperson called “anti-Russian action”.

Vladimir Putin has issued an ominous new warning over the UK’s support for Ukraine saying that it is a “military secret” whether or not Russia is weighing up possible strikes on British military sites.

Last month, Andy Burnham announced that the UK government would release the blueprints for British-made components for the Scalp missile, which is the French version of the UK’s Storm Shadow cruise missile, so Ukraine could produce its own version.

But Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, ​Maria Zakharova, told Britain to back off on its hostile stance towards Ukraine and said the UK risked taking the conflict to a new level. She told the same Moscow news briefing that Britain and France were "playing with fire" by supplying sensitive missile technology to Ukraine.

Expansionist desires, aggressive military actions, and the consolidation of power in its internal affairs used to attack political enemies, Keir Giles explains how, while writing his new book, he came to realise the two countries are becoming exceedingly hard to tell apart:

Russian former president Dmitry Medvedev has threatened Germany with a “direct strike” on its military production facilities after Berlin accused Moscow of being behind a drone attack on Leipzig Airport last month.

In an ominous addendum he suggested: “Every terror has sponsors. At the moment, these are the heads of Western countries, primarily European ones. And they often travel to Kyiv by train...”

Airport workers last month found a drone laden with explosives and a detonator at the airport, a Nato logistics hub that is also a base for several Ukrainian Antonov An-124 cargo planes.

Russia denies involvement and has vowed to respond to what its foreign ministry spokesperson called "anti-Russian action".

Russian forces struck two cargo vessels on Wednesday, one in Ukraine's port of Chornomorsk and another in the Black Sea, Russia's Defence Ministry said.