BERLIN, Sept 9 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday that an attempted drone attack at Leipzig/Halle airport had been prepared in Russia over an extended period and that a disaster was only narrowly averted.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is criticizing the international community for not taking a tougher stance against Russia's attacks on civilian areas.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that the German consulate in St. Petersburg will have to close, a tit-for-tat move that reflected the simmering tensions between the two countries.

The German government blamed Russia for an attempted attack at Leipzig airport last month using a drone laden with explosives. It announced that it would shut down a Russian consulate among measures.

Russia will shutter the German consulate in St. Petersburg, deepening a diplomatic dispute that began with Germany accusing Moscow of responsibility for a failed drone attack.

Pakistan, Sept. 9 -- Russia has intensified drone attacks on Kyiv with new jet-powered weapons, putting additional pressure on Ukraine's air defence network. The drones fly higher and faster than earlier models.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported this on Telegram, Ukrinform says. “An enemy combat drone was confirmed to have struck a high-rise building in the Kyivskyi district,” he wrote. Earlier, the Mayor reported that a warehouse building in the Kholodnohirskyi district had also been hit.

A suspected Russian Shahed-type drone violated Moldovan and Romanian airspace on Sept. 8, forcing airspace closures, emergency alerts, and the scrambling of NATO fighter jets. The Moldovan military detected an "unmanned aerial vehicle" at 4:20 p.