John Ratcliffe Reportedly Advised Vladimir Putin Against Attacking NATO Member States During a Visit to Moscow, According to the Wall Street

The message was sent after a US intelligence assessment suggested Putin could order a very limited attack in the coming years to test the Alliance's reaction capacity. Ratcliffe also discussed the war with Iran, warning of further sanctions if the Strait of Hormuz does not reopen to maritime traffic, CBS reported. He is one of the highest-ranking US officials to visit Russia since the war with Ukraine began in 2022. Explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in the early hours of Thursday, a witness reported.

Russia attacked an industrial facility in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih with ballistic missiles, wounding two people, according to Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city's defense council. Kryvyi Rih is a steel and mining hub in the Dnipropetrovsk region and the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russia claimed a drone attack on a cargo ship and three fuel tanks in the Ukrainian port of Izmail, in the Odessa region.

"Attack drones struck a bulk carrier transporting military material destined for Ukraine and three fuel tanks destined for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as port infrastructure used for unloading military material, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. The attack comes as Moscow and Kyiv accuse each other of striking shipping and infrastructure in the Black Sea. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a phone call with his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty, expressed concern over Ukrainian attacks on civilian ships and Russian energy infrastructure.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot that Russia is "intensifying" attacks in the Black Sea, with consequences for Ukraine's economy during the grain harvest season. A Ukrainian attack on a passenger bus in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine killed nine people, according to local authorities in the Moscow-controlled Lugansk region. "Following a horrible attack, eight people died on the spot, while a 20-year-old woman died in hospital from her injuries, said Leonid Pasechnik, commander of the Russian occupation forces in Lugansk.

Ratcliffe traveled to Russia for a series of meetings in Moscow on Tuesday, according to US media citing anonymous sources. CBS News and Axios reported the visit of the former director of national intelligence under President Donald Trump, who now heads the country's spy agency. The media did not specify who Ratcliffe met or what topics were discussed.

CIA representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and Kremlin representatives were not immediately reachable. Vatican envoy Paul Richard Gallagher met Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday and stressed the importance of diplomacy and dialogue in what he called a difficult moment for international relations. Gallagher said the world needs diplomacy more than ever.

Lavrov and Gallagher had previously discussed the Ukraine conflict by phone last year. Moscow has rejected the possibility of creating a US-administered free economic zone in the Donbas.