People in Russia are withdrawing billions from the nation’s banks over fears that the Kremlin could begin to seize money to finance the war with Ukraine, a report says. According to The Washington Post, the country is seeing a record cash outflow amid intensifying drone strikes from Ukraine. Nearly 286.4bn rubles (worth $3.4bn) was withdrawn in the first two weeks of August, according to data from the Russian Central Bank, reported in The Post.
That follows $7.3bn withdrawn last month and more than $4.5bn in June. Alexandra Prokopenko, a former adviser to the Russian Central Bank, said the withdrawals illustrated a level of fear among the Russian public. His comments came after the Times newspaper reported on Saturday that British-made drones had been used for long-range strikes against Russia for the first time.
Following the report, Russia's embassy in London warned Britain of unspecified "consequences" for supplying drones to Kyiv. PM Andy Burnham said on Tuesday that Britain would support Ukraine "100%" in its fight against Russia and stand by Kyiv "in its hour of need". Moscow has previously accused British specialists of involvement in attacks on Russian territory, saying Britain's role would be taken "into account" in its response.
A thermal power plant in central Ukraine halted operations yesterday after it suffered significant damage from a Russian strike, power firm DTEK said. The company declined to name the plant involved. It said in a statement on Telegram that its thermal plants have been attacked more than 230 times by Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.
Estonia is investigating whether Russia was involved in an arson attack last week on a building housing a defence contractor, the Baltic country's prime minister said in a statement. The building used by Milrem Robotics, a maker of unmanned military weapons systems deployed in Ukraine and elsewhere, was targeted late on Friday, a prosecutor earlier told public broadcaster ERR. "The suspects have been identified.
One of the lines of investigation is a possible act of sabotage and the involvement of Russia," Estonian prime minister Kristen Michal said on X. Moscow has regularly denied accusations of planning or carrying out sabotage and other attacks on countries outside Ukraine, saying such reports are part of an anti-Russian propaganda campaign. European countries bordering or near Russia are concerned that the war in Ukraine is spilling over into Nato's northern borders.
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