Russia exit with pride

Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic is prepared to make changes for Sunday's World Cup final against France if some of his players have not recovered from their exertions in reaching football's biggest game.

Dalic's men have been forced to go through three periods of extra-time against Denmark, Russia and England to become the smallest country in 68 years to make the final.

"Tomorrow is the World Cup final. Simply, the players know what that is," Dalic said on Saturday.

"One thing that brings me happiness is that all my players tell me if they are not 100 percent fit. They will concede and say they are not fit. They know what is at stake, but if they are unable to give their all they will tell us. They have such an attitude."

Ivan Perisic, who scored and set up Mario Mandzukic's winner in a 2-1 semi-final win over England, was among five Croatian players to miss training on Friday.

"We have nothing to train. We need relaxation and rest to gain freshness for tomorrow. We have some minor injuries, minor problems, and I hope my players will be ready. If not, I have great players on the bench who will be raring to go."

Ukraine attacked Moscow on Sunday with at least 34 drones, the biggest drone strike on the Russian capital since the start of the war in 2022, forcing flights to be diverted from three of the city's major airports and injuring at least one person.

Russian air defences destroyed another 36 drones over other regions of Western Russia in three hours on Sunday, the defence ministry said.

"An attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using an airplane-type drones on the territory of the Russian Federation was thwarted," the ministry said.

Russia's federal air transport agency said the airports of Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky diverted at least 36 flights, but then resumed operations. One person was reported injured in Moscow region.

Moscow and its surrounding region, with a population of at least 21 million people, is one of the biggest metropolitan areas in Europe, alongside Istanbul.

For its part, Russia launched a record 145 drones overnight, Ukraine said. Kyiv said its air defences downed 62 of those. Ukraine also said it attacked an arsenal in the Bryansk region of Russia, which reported 14 drones had been downed in the region.

Unverified video posted on Russian Telegram channels showed drones buzzing across the skyline.

The 2-1/2-year-old war in Ukraine is entering what some officials say could be its final act after Moscow's forces advanced at the fastest pace since the early days of the war and Donald Trump was elected 47th president of the United States.

Trump, who takes office in January, said during campaigning that he could bring peace in Ukraine within 24 hours, but has given few details on how he would seek to do this.

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called Trump to congratulate him on his presidential election victory, Tesla CEO and Trump supporter Elon Musk joined the call, according to media reports. Musk owns SpaceX, which provides Starlink satellite communication services that are vital for Ukraine's defence effort.

MOSCOW 'UMBRELLAS'

Kyiv, itself the target of repeated mass drone strikes from Russian forces, has tried to strike back against its vastly larger eastern neighbour with repeated drone strikes against oil refineries, airfields and even the Russian strategic early-warning radar stations.

While the 1,000 km (620 mile) front has largely resembled grinding World War One trench and artillery warfare for much of the war, one of the biggest innovations of the conflict has been drone warfare.

Moscow and Kyiv have both sought to buy and develop new drones, deploy them in innovative ways, and seek new ways to destroy them - from using farmers' shotguns to advanced electronic jamming systems.

Moscow has developed a series of electronic "umbrellas" over Moscow, with additional advanced internal layers over strategic buildings, and a complex web of air defences which shoot down the drones before they reach the Kremlin at the heart of the Russian capital.

Both sides have turned cheap commercial drones into deadly weapons while ramping up their own production. Soldiers on both sides have reported the visceral fear of drones - and both sides have used macabre video footage of fatal drone strikes in their propaganda.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has sought to insulate Moscow from the grinding rigours of the war, has called Ukrainian drone attacks that target civilian infrastructure such as nuclear power plants "terrorism" and has vowed a response.

Moscow, by far Russia's richest city, has boomed during the war, buoyed by the biggest defence spending splurge since the Cold War.

There was no sign of panic on Moscow's boulevards. Muscovites walked their dogs while the bells of the onion-domed Russian Orthodox churches rang out across the capital.

China on Wednesday urged "calm" and "restraint" after Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a nuclear threat and Ukraine fired longer-range US missiles at its territory for the first time.

Moscow has reacted furiously to a decision by US President Joe Biden to change policy on Ukraine and allow Kyiv to use US-supplied long-range missiles to strike Russian territory for the first time.

On Tuesday, Putin signed a decree that enables Moscow to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states such as Ukraine if they are supported by nuclear powers.

Following the decree, a senior official told AFP that a strike on Russia's Bryansk region earlier on Tuesday "was carried out by ATACMS missiles" -- a reference to the US-supplied Army Tactical Missile System.

On Wednesday Beijing called for a cooling of tensions.

"Under the current circumstances, all parties should remain calm and exercise restraint, working together through dialogue and consultation to ease tensions and reduce strategic risks," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said when asked about the decree and the strikes inside Russia.

"China's stance of encouraging all parties to de-escalate the situation and commit to a political resolution of the Ukraine crisis remains unchanged," Lin added.

"China will continue to play a constructive role in this regard," he said.

The White House, UK and European Union condemned Putin's nuclear decree as "irresponsible".

Speaking to journalists after the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, French leader Emmanuel Macron said he had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting at the G20 to "use all his influence" with Putin to try to achieve a de-escalation.

Macron said Russia ally China had "the capacity to negotiate with President Putin so that he halts his attacks" on Ukraine.

China presents itself as a neutral party in the Ukraine war and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.

But it remains a close political and economic ally of Russia and NATO members have branded Beijing a "decisive enabler" of the war, which it has never condemned.

Croatian media on Monday hailed their team as heroes after the small country's historic success in reaching the World Cup final where France beat them 4-2.

"Thank you, heroes! - You gave us everything!" read the Sportske Novosti frontpage.

"'Vatreni' (the "Fiery Ones" in Croatian), you are the biggest, you are our pride, your names will remain written in gold forever!" the newspaper said.

It showed a photo of captain Luka Modric who was awarded the Golden Ball for the best player at the tournament, holding a trophy, although with a sad face after the defeat.

"Brave hearts - You made us proud," said Jutarnji List daily.

"Croatia celebrates you, you are our gold!" echoed the Vecernji List.

It noted that for the past month coach Zlatko Dalic's team "made Croatia better".

"They restored pride, pulled it out of the pessimism" reigning in the country whose economy remains among the weakest in the European Union.

More than 100,000 red-and-white-painted Croatian fans were expected to welcome the squad home later Monday in the capital Zagreb.