<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Ukraine's Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula was targeted by a drone attack on Tuesday, Kremlin-installed authorities said, adding that Moscow's forces there were "on alert".</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The strike came as Kyiv claimed another territorial victory and just days after Moscow said it was strengthening its position on the Crimean peninsula.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"There is an attack with drones," the governor of the Sevastopol administrative region in Crimea, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said on Telegram.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"Our air defence forces are working right now."</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Razvozhayev said no civilian infrastructure had been damaged and called on residents to "remain calm."</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014 after nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations that led to the ouster of Ukraine's Kremlin-friendly president.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Moscow says on alert after Crimea hit by 'drone attack'</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">It used the peninsula, which hosts several important Russian military bases, as a launching pad for its February invasion of Ukraine.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">But in recent months Ukrainian forces have been pushing a counter-offensive in the south towards Crimea and earlier this month reclaimed Kherson, the capital of the region bordering the annexed peninsula.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">There have been several explosions at or near Russian military installations in Crimea since February, including a coordinated drone attack on a key Russian naval port at Sevastopol in October.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Last week the Moscow-aligned governor of the territory, Sergei Aksyonov, said authorities were strengthening positions on the peninsula.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"Fortification work is being carried out... with the aim of guaranteeing the security of all Crimeans," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>- 'Not tired' -</b></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Ukraine said Tuesday it had recaptured almost the entire region of an isolated peninsula off the Black Sea, where fighting is ongoing.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"We are restoring full control over the region. We have three settlements left on the Kinburn Split to officially no longer be a region at war," said Mykolaiv regional governor Vitaly Kim on social media.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The southern split jutting into the Black Sea is divided in two: in the west, as part of the Mykolaiv region and to the east as part of the Kherson region.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">It is cut off from territory controlled by Ukraine's forces by the Dnipro river, which flows through the Kherson region.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the European Union in an online press conference that its support was crucial, warning against "fatigue" towards the war.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"If we Ukrainians are not tired, the rest of Europe has neither moral nor political right to be tired," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b><br></b></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>- Aid and gas -</b></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Kuleba called on the EU to implement a fresh round of sanctions against Russia, urging particular attention to measures that slow down and stop Russia's missile industry.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"I call on my colleagues in the EU... to put aside any doubts or, as the fashionable phrase goes, 'fatigue' and to start and quickly conclude the ninth sanctions package," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The US government said Tuesday it would provide another $4.5 billion in financial backing for "supporting core government services."</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">As much of Ukraine's energy grid is pounded by Russian strikes, the World Bank has warned the country faces severe energy supply disruption amid frigid weather.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"The Kremlin wants to transform the cold this winter into a weapon of mass destruction," Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky told a meeting of French mayors in a video message.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Meanwhile Russian energy giant Gazprom accused Ukraine of diverting natural gas supplies transiting to Moldova, and threatened to curtail deliveries through a key pipeline to Europe in response.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The allegations marked the latest point of tension over energy deliveries between Kyiv, European capitals and Moscow -- which has reduced consignments to Europe in response to Western sanctions over the conflict.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Ukraine denied the allegations, saying that all the gas bound for Moldovan consumers had been transferred in full. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>