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War Archive 2022 02/24 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

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War Archive 2022 02/24 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.
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Ukraine says it hit Russian oil facilities, military airfield

REUTERS
Published :
Aug 02, 2025 16:17
Updated :
Aug 02, 2025 16:17

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Ukraine's military said on Saturday that it had struck oil facilities inside Russia, including a major refinery as well as a military airfield for drones and an electronics factory.

In a statement on Telegram, Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces said they had hit the oil refinery in Ryazan, about 180 km (110 miles) southeast of Moscow, causing a fire on its premises.

Also hit, the USF said, was the Annanefteprodukt oil storage facility in the Voronezh region that borders on northeastern Ukraine.

The statement did not specify how the facilities were hit, but the USF specialises in drone warfare, including long-range strikes.

There was no immediate comment from Russia on the reported attacks on its infrastructure sites.

Separately, Ukraine's SBU intelligence agency said its drones had hit Russia's Primorsko-Akhtarsk military airfield, which has been used to launch waves of long-range drones at targets in Ukraine.

The SBU said it also hit a factory in Penza that it said supplies Russia's military-industrial complex with electronics.

At the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine had no response to Moscow's vast long-range strike capacity but it has since built up a fleet of long-range kamikaze drones able to carry explosive warheads for many hundreds of kilometres (miles).

Russia's defence ministry said in its daily report that its defence units had downed a total of 338 Ukrainian drones overnight. Its reports do not say how many Ukrainian drones were launched at any given time.

For its part, Ukraine's air force said it had downed 45 of 53 Russian drones launched towards its territory overnight.

On Ukraine's eastern battlefront, Russia's defence ministry said, Russian forces had captured the village of Oleksandro-Kalynove in the Donetsk region on Saturday.

Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield report.

Russian forces now control almost 20 per cent of Ukraine in its east and south after three-and-a-half years of grinding war.​
 

Ukraine bets big on interceptor drones as low-cost air shield

REUTERS
Published :
Aug 04, 2025 22:57
Updated :
Aug 04, 2025 22:57

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A view shows an interceptor FPV-drone of the 1129th Bilotserkivskyi Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment during its flight, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in an undisclosed location in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine July 8, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

When President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said at the end of last month that Ukraine needs $6 billion to fund the production of interceptor drones, setting a target of 1,000 a day, he had his reasons.

Having already reshaped the battlefield by doing work once reserved for long-range missiles, field artillery and human intelligence, drones are now fighting Russian drones - a boon for Ukraine's dwindling stock of air defence missile systems.

In the last two months, just one Ukrainian charity supplying aerial interceptor drones says its devices have downed around 1,500 of the drones that Russia has been sending to reconnoitre the battlefield or to bomb Ukraine's towns and cities.

INTERCEPTORS HELP TO SAVE VALUABLE MISSILE STOCK

Most importantly, such interceptors have the potential to be a cheap, plentiful alternative to using Western or Soviet-made air defence missiles, depleted by allies' inability, or reluctance, to replenish them.

Colonel Serhiy Nonka's 1,129th air defence regiment, which started using them a year ago to ram and blow up enemy drones, estimated that they could down a Russian spotter drone at about a fifth of the cost of doing so with a missile.

As a result, the depth to which these enemy reconnaissance drones can fly behind Ukrainian lines has decreased sharply, Nonka said.

Some estimates put the interceptors' speed at over 300 kph (190 mph), although the precise figures are closely guarded.

Other units are using interceptors to hit the long-range Shahed "kamikaze" drones that Russia launches at Kyiv and other cities, sometimes downing dozens a night, according to Zelenskiy.

In the three and a half years since Russia invaded Ukraine at scale, drones have gone from an auxiliary tool to one of the primary means of waging war for both sides.

To chase them down, interceptor drones need to be faster and more powerful than those that have already revolutionised long-range precision strikes and aerial reconnaissance.

INTERCEPTOR DRONES TO BECOME UBIQUITOUS

Like the First-Person View drones that now dominate the battlefield, interceptor drones are flown by a pilot on the ground through the video feed from an onboard camera.

“When we started to work (with these drones), the enemy would fly at 800 or a thousand metres," the officer who spearheaded their adoption by the 1,129th regiment, Oleksiy Barsuk. "Now it's three, four or five thousand – but their (camera) zoom is not infinite.”

Most of the regiment’s interceptor drones are provided by military charities that crowdfund weapons and equipment through donations from civilians.

Taras Tymochko, from the largest of these, Come Back Alive, said it now supplies interceptors to 90 units.

Since the project began a year ago, the organisation says over 3,000 drones have been downed by equipment it provided, nearly half of them in the last two months.

However, such interceptors are still no match for incoming missiles or the fast jet-powered attack drones that Moscow has recently started deploying.

The organisation reports the value of the downed Russian craft at $195 million, over a dozen times the cost of the drones and equipment handed over under the project.

Sam Bendett, adjunct senior fellow at the Centre for a New American Security, said Russian forces were complaining about the effectiveness of large Ukrainian interceptors, but were also developing their own.

“We're starting to see more and more videos of various types of interceptions by both sides ... I think this is going to accelerate and it's going to become more and more ubiquitous in the coming weeks."​
 

Russia hit key Ukraine gas interconnector to undermine preparation for winter, Kyiv says

REUTERS
Published :
Aug 06, 2025 17:37
Updated :
Aug 06, 2025 17:37

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gestures during a press conference on the first day of the two-day Ukraine Recovery Conference, on plans for the reconstruction of Ukraine, in Rome, Italy, July 10, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane//Files

Russia has struck a gas pumping station in Ukraine's southern Odesa region used in a scheme to import LNG from the US and Azerbaijan, undermining preparations for winter, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the gas infrastructure had been attacked in the village of Novosilske on the border with Romania, where the Orlovka interconnector, through which Ukraine receives gas via the Transbalkan route, is located.

"This was a deliberate blow to our preparations for the heating season, absolutely cynical, like every Russian blow to the energy sector," Zelenskiy said on Telegram.

Reuters could not independently confirm details of the attack.

Russia's TASS news agency quoted the Russian defence ministry as confirming the attack on Ukraine's gas transport system.

Ukraine has faced a serious gas shortage since a series of devastating Russian missile strikes this year, which significantly reduced domestic production.

Ukraine's energy ministry said in a statement that the attacked station was used as part of a route connecting Greek LNG terminals with Ukrainian gas storage facilities via the Transbalkan gas pipeline.

It noted that it had already been used to deliver LNG from the United States and test volumes of Azerbaijani gas.

"This is a Russian strike purely against civilian infrastructure, deliberately targeting the energy sector and, at the same time, relations with Azerbaijan, the United States and partners in Europe, as well as the normal lives of Ukrainians and all Europeans," the ministry said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will meet US President Donald Trump in Washington this week.

Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, but says infrastructure such as energy systems are legitimate targets because they help Ukraine's war effort.

Earlier on Wednesday, the governor of the southern Odesa region reported an attack on the main gas pipeline.

Ukrainian energy officials did not say whether gas would continue to be pumped via the interconnector.

Kyiv says 0.4 million cubic metres of gas was scheduled to be pumped through Orlovka on Wednesday.

Last month, Ukraine pumped a small test volume of Azerbaijani gas through the Transbalkan route for the first time and announced plans to significantly increase gas imports from Azerbaijan's SOCAR energy firm.

Kyiv has called the route "extremely important", as it provides access to liquefied gas from Greek and Turkish LNG terminals, Azerbaijani and Romanian pipeline gas and, potentially, to Bulgarian offshore gas.​
 
As per that Kugelman's vid on Trump cozying up to Pakistan, I believe my hunch is that Munira's been told that:

'you will be sending your soldiers into Ukraine as mercenaries, or else'

There is no other use for Pakistan left for the beltway in DC. Anyone can see what's coming soon down the road.
 

Ukraine's Zelenskiy rejects land concessions ahead of Trump-Putin talks

REUTERS
Published :
Aug 09, 2025 22:24
Updated :
Aug 09, 2025 22:24

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Servicemen of the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine fire a BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launch system towards Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk, in Donetsk region, Ukraine June 8, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Anatolii Stepanov

Ukraine will not cede its land, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday, rejecting US suggestions that a deal with Russia could involve swapping territories as Washington and Moscow prepared for talks between their leaders on ending the war.

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15, saying the parties, including Zelenskiy, were close to a deal that could resolve the three-and-a-half-year conflict.

Details of the potential deal have yet to be announced, but Trump said it would involve "some swapping of territories to the betterment of both". It could require Ukraine to surrender significant parts of its territory - an outcome Kyiv and its European allies say would only encourage Russian aggression.

"Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier," Zelenskiy said in a video address, adding that Ukraine's borders were fixed in the country's constitution.

"No one will deviate from this – and no one will be able to," he said.

US Vice President JD Vance will meet Ukrainian and European allies in Britain on Saturday to discuss Trump's push for peace, Downing Street said, adding that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had spoken about it with Zelenskiy.

"They agreed this would be a vital forum to discuss progress towards securing a just and lasting peace," the Downing Street spokesperson added.

'CLEAR STEPS NEEDED'

Zelenskiy has made a flurry of calls with Ukraine's allies since Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff's visit to Moscow on Wednesday which Trump described as having achieved "great progress".

"Clear steps are needed, as well as maximum coordination between us and our partners," Zelenskiy said in a post on X after his call with Starmer.

"We value the determination of the United Kingdom, the United States, and all our partners to end the war."

Ukraine and the European Union have pushed back on proposals that they view as ceding too much to Putin, whose troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, citing what Moscow called threats to Russia's security from a Ukrainian pivot towards the West.

Kyiv and its Western allies say the invasion is an imperial-style land grab.

Moscow has previously claimed four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.

Russian forces do not fully control all the territory in the four regions and Russia is demanding that Ukraine pull out its troops from the parts of all four of them that they still control.

Ukraine says its troops still have a small foothold in Russia's Kursk region a year after its troops crossed the border to try to gain leverage in any negotiations. Russia said it had expelled Ukraininan troops from Kursk in April.

Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, described the current peace push as "the first more or less realistic attempt to stop the war".

"At the same time, I remain extremely sceptical about the implementation of the agreements, even if a truce is reached for a while. And there is virtually no doubt that the new commitments could be devastating for Ukraine," she said.

Fierce fighting is raging along the more than 1,000-km (620-mile) front line along eastern and southern Ukraine, where Russian forces hold around a fifth of the country's territory.

Russian troops are slowly advancing in Ukraine's east, but their summer offensive has so far failed to achieve a major breakthrough, Ukrainian military analysts say.

Ukrainians remain defiant.

"Not a single serviceman will agree to cede territory, to pull out troops from Ukrainian territories," Olesia Petritska, 51, told Reuters as she gestured to hundreds of small Ukrainian flags in the Kyiv central square commemorating fallen soldiers.​
 

Ukraine's future cannot be decided without Ukrainians, France's Macron says

REUTERS
Published :
Aug 09, 2025 22:14
Updated :
Aug 09, 2025 22:14

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France's President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shake hands, as they meet on the sidelines of the two-day NATO's Heads of State and Government summit, in The Hague, Netherlands June 24, 2025. Photo : Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS/Files

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a social media post on X that the future of Ukraine cannot be decided without the Ukrainians.

US President Donald Trump will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, Trump said on Friday.

The deal is expected to involve land concessions, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected earlier Saturday.​
 

Trump says would meet Putin without Zelensky sit-down
AFP Washington
Published: 08 Aug 2025, 20: 21

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Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump File Photo

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he would meet with Vladimir Putin for upcoming talks on the Ukraine war even if the Russian leader had not sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The statement, which contradicted earlier reports that a Putin-Zelensky meeting was a prerequisite for the summit, came after Trump gave Moscow until Friday to reach a ceasefire or face fresh sanctions.

But asked by reporters in the Oval Office if that deadline still held, Trump did not answer clearly.

"It's going to be up to (Putin)," Trump said. "We're going to see what he has to say."

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has been pressuring Moscow to end Russia's military assault on Ukraine.

The Kremlin said Thursday that Putin was set to attend a summit with Trump in the "coming days," but the Russian leader essentially ruled out including Zelensky.

Zelensky meanwhile insisted that he had to be involved in any talks.

When Trump was asked if Putin was required to meet Zelensky before a summit, the US president said simply: "No, he doesn't."

Putin has named the United Arab Emirates as a potential location for the summit, but this was not confirmed by Washington.

Next week?

The summit would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.

Three rounds of direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul have failed to yield any progress towards a ceasefire. The two sides remain far apart on the conditions they have set to end the more than three-year-long conflict.

Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump's first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said that "next week has been set as a target date," adding that both sides have agreed the venue "in principle," without naming it.

However, Washington later denied that a venue or date had been set.

"No location has been determined," a White House official said, while agreeing that the meeting "could occur as early as next week."

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its military offensive on Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian bombardments have forced millions of people to flee their homes and have destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire.

At talks in Istanbul, Russian negotiators outlined hardline territorial demands for halting its advance -- calling for Kyiv to withdraw from some territory it still controls and to renounce Western military support.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged Trump to "finally get tough on the Kremlin" and use his leverage to end the war.

"Face-to-face dialogue is important, but Putin cannot be allowed yet another opportunity to delay or water down President Trump's promise of harsh sanctions taking effect tomorrow," she said in a statement late Thursday.

'Only fair' Ukraine involved

Reports of the possible summit came after US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Putin in Moscow on Wednesday.

Witkoff proposed a trilateral meeting with Zelensky, but Putin appeared to rule out direct talks with the Ukrainian leader.

"Certain conditions must be created for this," Putin told reporters. "Unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions."

The former KGB agent, who has ruled Russia for over 25 years, said in June that he was ready to meet Zelensky, but only during a "final phase" of negotiations on ending the conflict.

In his regular evening address on Thursday, Zelensky said "it is only fair that Ukraine should be a participant in the negotiations."

The Ukrainian leader spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as he called for the continent to be included in any potential peace talks.

"Ukraine is an integral part of Europe -- we are already in negotiations on EU accession. Therefore, Europe must be a participant in the relevant processes," Zelensky said on social media.​
 

Trump, Putin to meet in Alaska next Friday
AFP Washington
Published: 09 Aug 2025, 08: 47

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Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and US President Donald Trump shake hands before a meeting in Helsinki on 16 July 2018. AFP

US President Donald Trump said Friday he would meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in one week in Alaska, and suggested that an eventual deal between Moscow and Kyiv to end the war in Ukraine could involve swapping territory.

The Kremlin later confirmed the summit, calling the location "quite logical."

"The presidents themselves will undoubtedly focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said in a statement posted on Telegram.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes.

Putin held consultations Friday with the leaders of China and India ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough.

"The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska," Trump said on his Truth Social site.

He said earlier at the White House that "there'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both" Ukraine and Russia, without providing further details.

Trump invited to Russia

Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have failed to bear fruit, and it remains unclear whether a summit would bring peace any closer.

Russian bombardments have forced millions of people to flee their homes and have destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire.

He has also ruled out holding talks with Volodymyr Zelensky at this stage, a meeting the Ukrainian president says is necessary to make headway on a deal.

At talks in Istanbul last month, Russian negotiators outlined hardline territorial demands for halting its advance -- calling for Kyiv to withdraw from some territory it controls and to renounce Western military support.

The Alaska summit would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021.

Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump's first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January.

The Kremlin's Ushakov said that Trump had been invited to visit Russia.

"Looking ahead, it is natural to hope that the next meeting between the presidents will be held on Russian territory. A corresponding invitation has already been sent to the US president," Ushakov said.

Witkoff visit

The Kremlin said Friday that Putin had updated Chinese President Xi Jinping on "the main results of his conversation" with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who visited Moscow earlier this week.

Xi expressed support for a "long-term" solution to the conflict, the Kremlin said.

China's Xinhua state news agency quoted Xi as having told Putin: "China is glad to see Russia and the United States maintain contact, improve their relations, and promote a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis."

Moscow and Beijing have deepened political, economic and military ties since the start of Russia's offensive in Ukraine.

Putin also spoke by phone to India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after both countries condemned new US tariffs over New Delhi's oil purchases from Russia.

Xi and Modi have both tried to tout their own peace initiatives for Ukraine, though they have gained little traction.

Putin, a former KGB agent who has ruled Russia for more than 25 years, said in June that he was ready to meet Zelensky, but only during a "final phase" of negotiations on ending the conflict.

In his regular evening address on Thursday, Zelensky said "it is only fair that Ukraine should be a participant in the negotiations."

Donetsk governor Vadym Filashkin said Friday that families with children would be evacuated from 19 more villages in the region's east, where Russian forces have been advancing.

The villages, home to hundreds of people, are all within about 20 miles (30 kilometers) of the front line.​
 

Vance says Ukraine peace deal unlikely to satisfy either side

REUTERS
Published :
Aug 10, 2025 23:09
Updated :
Aug 10, 2025 23:09

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US Vice President JD Vance speaks during a meeting with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy at Chevening House in Sevenoaks, Kent, Britain Aug 8, 2025. Photo : Kin Cheung/Pool via REUTERS

US Vice President JD Vance said a negotiated settlement between Russia and Ukraine is unlikely to satisfy either side, and any peace deal will likely leave both Moscow and Kyiv "unhappy."

He said the US is aiming for a settlement both countries can accept.

"It's not going to make anybody super happy. Both the Russians and the Ukrainians, probably, at the end of the day, are going to be unhappy with it," he said in a Fox News interview that aired Sunday.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Aug 15 in Alaska to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.

Trump said Russia and Ukraine were close to a ceasefire deal that could end the three-and-a-half-year conflict, possibly requiring Ukraine to surrender significant territory.

Zelensky, however, said Saturday that Ukraine cannot violate its constitution on territorial issues, adding, "Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupiers."

In the Fox News interview recorded on Friday, Vance said the United States was working to schedule talks between Putin, Zelensky, and Trump, but he did not think it would be productive for Putin to meet with Zelensky before speaking with Trump.

"We're at a point now where we're trying to figure out, frankly, scheduling and things like that, around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict," he said.​
 

Kallas says any deal between US and Russia must include Ukraine and EU

REUTERS
Published :
Aug 10, 2025 19:17
Updated :
Aug 10, 2025 19:17

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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European Commission Vice-President and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas appear at a joint meeting, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 1, 2024. Photo : Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Sunday that any deal between Washington and Moscow to end the war in Ukraine must include Ukraine and the EU, adding that she will convene a meeting of European foreign ministers on Monday to discuss next steps.

“The US has the power to force Russia to negotiate seriously. Any deal between the US and Russia must have Ukraine and the EU included, for it is a matter of Ukraine’s and the whole of Europe’s security,” Kallas said in emailed comments.

US President Donald Trump plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.

Kallas said that “as we work towards a sustainable and just peace, international law is clear: all temporarily occupied territories belong to Ukraine”.

“A deal must not provide a springboard for further Russian aggression against Ukraine, the transatlantic alliance and Europe,” she added.

Kallas also said that ministers will discuss the situation in Gaza.​
 

Ukraine says it struck oil refinery in Russia's Saratov region

REUTERS
Published :
Aug 10, 2025 18:46
Updated :
Aug 10, 2025 18:46

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Smoke and fire rise from an industrial facility, which, according to the governor of the southern Russian region, was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack, in Saratov, Russia, in this sreengrab obtained from social media video released on August 10, 2025. Social Media via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. VERIFICATION - Reuters was able to independently verify the location with the buildings, road layout, streetlights, and towers seen in the video that matched the file and satellite imagery of the area. - Reuters was not able to independently verify the date when the video was filmed. However, Governor of Saratov Region Roman Busargin confirmed the attack on region in a Telegram post. A large heat signature was also registered by NASA FIRMS (Fire Information Resource Managment system) today (August 10) in the area.

Ukraine's military said on Sunday that it had struck an oil refinery in Russia's Saratov region in an overnight drone attack.

In a statement, the General Staff said the strike on the Saratov oil refinery had caused explosions and a fire.​
 

‘Concessions’ won’t make Russia end war
Says Zelensky; Ukrainian drones hit Russian missile component plant

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday warned against capitulating to the demands of Vladimir Putin ahead of talks this week between the Russian leader and US President Donald Trump.

"Russia refuses to stop the killings, and therefore must not receive any rewards or benefits. And this is not just a moral position -- it is a rational one. Concessions do not persuade a killer," he said in a statement published on social media.

Meanwhile, Ukraine struck a Russian plant producing missile components in Nizhny Novgorod region in a drone attack overnight, an official in Ukraine's domestic security service said yesterday.

At least four drones hit the Arzamas manufacturing plant, the official told Reuters. The plant, it added, is producing control systems and other components for Russian X-32 and X-101 missiles.

EU foreign ministers were due to hold emergency talks yesterday to discuss their next steps before talks between presidents Putin and Trump, as Europe fears any deal made without Ukraine could force unacceptable compromises.

The two leaders will meet in the US state of Alaska on Friday to try to resolve the three-year war but the European Union has insisted that Kyiv and European powers should be part of any deal to end the conflict.

The idea of a US-Russia meeting without Zelensky has raised concerns that a deal would require Kyiv to cede swathes of territory, which the EU has rejected.

The US is working to "schedule" a meeting between Trump and his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, Vice President JD Vance said Sunday. "We're at a point now where we're trying to figure out, frankly, scheduling and things like that around when these three leaders could sit down and discuss an end to this conflict," Vance said.​
 

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