Ukraine war: Russia retaliates, Wagner in Belarus, frontlines 'dynamically changing'

The Russian Defence Ministry is claiming to have struck back against Ukraine overnight by destroying sites located in Odessa - which were used by Kyiv to prepare Monday morning's attack on the Kerch bridge in Crimea.

"During the night, the Russian armed forces launched a retaliatory group strike (...) on facilities where terrorist acts against Russia were being prepared using naval drones," the ministry said in a statement, adding that "the location of their manufacture in a shipyard near the city of Odessa" was also hit.

Following the attack on the bridge - which links Russia and the annexed Ukrainian peninsula - Russian President Vladimir Putin had promised a "response" on Monday.

Speaking in a televised government meeting, Putin suggested the West could be "complicit" in the attack if it had supplied the drones and intelligence that were allegedly used. He also called for enhanced security measures on the bridge.

"Given that this is the second terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge, I expect concrete proposals to improve the security of this important and strategic transport infrastructure," Putin declared in a televised government meeting.

The attack on the bridge was carried out by Ukrainian special services and naval forces using "naval drones", according to a source in the Ukrainian security services (SBU). It caused extensive damage to the road section of the structure, which is also used to transport military supplies to the Russian army fighting in Ukraine.

Russian air defence shot down 28 Ukrainian drones over Crimea on Monday night, according to the country's Defence Ministry. 

"Seventeen Ukrainian drones were destroyed by air defence," the ministry wrote on Telegram. "Eleven other drones were neutralised" and