Today's World Briefing is a short one, with good reason. I'm in the Black Sea region, and today Russia struck Palanca, the main crossing linking southern Ukraine to Moldova. A Moldovan border guard was reportedly wounded on Moldovan soil. As far as I can tell, that's rare, possibly unprecedented: a uniformed member of a third country's security services physically hurt on that country's own soil by spillover from a Russian attack on Ukraine. I was scheduled to cross there around the same time.
In the video below available to World Briefing Plus subscribers, I wrap up what happened, why this crossing matters, and what it tells us about where this war may be heading. I also mention signs that people are leaving Kyiv ahead of what could be a brutal winter. New data from the property portal LUN backs this up: rental listings in Kyiv have jumped 66 per cent in two months and more than tripled in Odesa, while listings in western cities have dropped by roughly 60 per cent. People appear to be heading west, toward relative safety.
After I finished filming, more news came in from the other end of Russia’s western frontier. The Moscow Times reports that the Kremlin brushed off news that Estonia is moving its main combat units to within about 50 km of the Russian border. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov’s response was a pointed reminder that Russian intelligence is watching.
On the same day, Germany's foreign intelligence chief warned that Russia could launch "low-intensity military activities" in the Baltic states. And Poland announced it is beefing up its military presence in the Lublin region near the Ukrainian border, including a new drone brigade and, for the first time, a Patriot air-defence battery there.
Moldova in the south, Poland in the middle and the Baltics in the north. Moscow is probing Europe’s edges, and the pressure is building on both flanks at once.
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