Wars 2022 02/24 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Canada China Egypt Finland Germany India Iran Israel Japan Lebanon North Macedonia Pakistan Palestine Qatar Russia Syria Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom United States Yemen
Wars 2022 02/24 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.
697
32K
More threads by PakistanProud

G War Archive

16 killed in Ukrainian, Russian strikes
Agence France-Presse . Moscow, Russia 26 July, 2026, 03:43

At least 16 people were killed in Ukrainian and Russian strikes Saturday, in a deadly fifth summer of war as both sides intensify attacks, with diplomacy at a deadlock.

Ukrainian drones also targeted a Siberian oil refinery and the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, escalating strikes deep inside Russia — which it says are aimed to weaken Russia’s war effort and force the Kremlin to negotiate.

The deaths — in Russian-occupied Ukraine, north-eastern Ukraine and Russian border villages — come as the UN has warned of civilians dying in larger numbers recently in the almost 4.5-year war.

US-led talks on ending the fighting are at a deadlock, with Washington focused on the Middle East and Moscow intent on seizing the whole of eastern Ukraine.

Russian occupational authorities in southern Ukraine said a Ukrainian strike on an Azov Sea village killed eight people, including two children.

Yevgeny Balitsky, the Moscow-installed head of the Russian occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, said Kyiv had struck ‘tourist camps’ in the seaside village of Kyrylivka.

Balitsky said the strike also wounded 14 people in Kyrylivka — seized by Russia in the first days of its offensive.

Kyiv has not yet commented on the strike.

Ukraine has intensified attacks in the Azov Sea in recent weeks, targeting Russian ships there.

Kyiv, meanwhile, said a Russian drone strike on its private courier service Nova Poshta in the north-eastern city of Sumy killed three drivers.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said it was a ‘double-tap’ drone strike.

Two more people were killed in southern Ukraine, Kyiv said, as Moscow reported two villagers killed in border areas and one more person in the occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson region.

Far from the battlefield, Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery in Siberia’s Tyumen region, more than 1,000 miles east of Moscow, in one of its furthest hits so far.

Ukraine’s strikes deep inside Russia have caused fuel shortages and disrupted ordinary life in Russia more than at any point during the 4.5-year war.

The governor of the Tyumen region, Alexander Moor, said a Ukrainian drone fell ‘on the territory’ of an oil refinery, causing a fire.

Moscow said Ukraine had launched more than 300 drones into Russian territory, including on regions far from the border.

Zelensky announced Kyiv had also struck a factory in Kirov — hundreds of kilometres east of Moscow — for the second day in a row, a day after a deadly strike there.

‘Once again, a plant in Kirov was struck — the one supplying components for the weapons Russia uses to attack our people,’ Zelensky said.

Kirov governor Alexander Sokolov earlier declared three days of mourning in the region, which has so far not been affected by Ukraine’s strikes.

Sokolov said the final death toll from Friday’s strike was five and not six, after a man believed to be dead was found alive.

He called the dead ‘heroes of the labour front’, saying the strike would only ‘unite us against the enemy’ and that Russia was fighting ‘the collective West.’

Further west in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, Russian online retail giant Wildberries — hit by Ukrainian strikes this week — said it had evacuated its staff.

Yekaterinburg is one of Russia’s biggest cities and lies just before Siberia.

Wildberries said it had ‘suspended’ work at its ‘logistics facility’ in the city after a ‘timely evacuation’. It said its facility was not damaged.

Ukrainian drones have hit Wildberries warehouses around Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Crimea and southern Russia this week, causing fires and business losses.

The head of the Sverdlovsk region, of which Yekaterinburg is the capital, Denis Pasler, confirmed the city had been attacked.

Pasler said there were no casualties and that the drones had caused a fire at a parking lot.

Russian president Vladimir Putin did not comment on Saturday’s attacks.

Ukraine says its retaliatory strikes are fair retribution for Russia’s daily barrages on Ukrainian cities for more than four years.

Ukrainian drones struck a Siberian oil refinery Saturday and disrupted a Urals athletics competition, as Kazakhstan’s president told Russia’s Vladimir Putin the Ukraine war should end during a forum in Siberia’s Omsk.​
 

Zelensky hails ‘good meeting’ with US president Trump on Patriot air defenses
Agence France-Presse . Washington, United States 29 July, 2026, 10:32

1785371653421.webp

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky, left, and US president Donald Trump posing for a photo during their meeting in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, amid the Russian attack of Ukraine. | AFP photo.

Agence France-Presse . Washington

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky sought licenses to produce Patriot air-defence interceptors during a ‘good meeting’ with US counterpart Donald Trump on Tuesday, as he underscored Russian president Vladimir Putin’s loss of initiative on the war front due to heavy losses.

Zelensky spent just over an hour with Trump at the White House, in talks that came with Kyiv and Moscow intensifying long-range strikes as US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war stalled.

‘Today we had good meeting with president Trump,’ Zelensky told Fox News host Sean Hannity in a broadcast interview late Tuesday.

‘He accepted that he will give us (Patriot) licenses, and then I had meeting with representatives of production, very strong military companies of the United States. I hope that we will do co-production,’ he continued.

After the meeting, Trump posted photos to social media with a note that said: ‘Many things were discussed. The meeting went very well!’

Relations between Zelensky and Trump have warmed since the start of the US president’s second term, with Trump suggesting earlier this month that Ukrainian strikes inside Russia could help end the war.

Ahead of the meeting, a senior Ukrainian official said that Kyiv’s priorities were fresh supplies of anti-ballistic missiles and ways to revive diplomacy, more than four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Last month was the deadliest for Ukraine civilians since April 2022, according to the United Nations, as Russia increased its use of difficult-to-intercept ballistic missiles.

On Wednesday, officials in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson said a man was killed and at least two others were wounded in Russian drone attacks.

Russia, meanwhile, said a strike on its southwestern port city of Taganrog killed a woman and injured a man.

‘It is crucial that Washington approve the purchase of a package of Patriot missiles. That is super important,’ the Ukrainian official said.

Zelensky also attended a memorial ceremony for Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Ukraine supporter who died unexpectedly this month at age 71.

Since returning to power last year, Trump has ended direct deliveries of US arms to Kyiv, instead allowing European countries to buy weapons for Ukraine.

Washington nevertheless remains a major ally, supplying intelligence and access to the Starlink satellite system used for battleground communications.

Relations between the two leaders have recovered since their extraordinary Oval Office confrontation in February 2025, when Trump accused Zelensky of ingratitude and ‘gambling with World War III.’

At their latest meeting in Turkey this month, Trump praised Zelensky for doing ‘an amazing job’ and offered Kyiv licenses to manufacture Patriot missiles.

Zelensky spoke last week with Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about how to ‘reinvigorate diplomacy’ after the Middle East war pushed Ukraine talks down Washington’s agenda.

Previous US mediation efforts foundered over Ukrainian territory claimed by Russia.

After the White House meeting and Graham memorial, Zelensky addressed senators before an initial procedural vote on a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill.

Graham had spent more than a year championing the measure and reached an agreement with the White House on revisions shortly before his death.

Some Democrats voiced unease about provisions that would expand Trump’s power to impose tariffs on countries buying Russian energy.

But a bipartisan vote advanced the bill towards final passage, increasing pressure on the House of Representatives, where the legislation faces deeper divisions.

‘This is the first step toward implementing Lindsey’s plans and undoubtedly a step toward peace,’ Zelensky, who was present for the vote, said in a post on X.

Relations between Moscow and Washington have meanwhile cooled since Trump met Putin in Alaska last August.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Monday that talks on an aerial ceasefire were underway.

Ukraine has recently stepped up strikes on Russian oil depots, refineries and shipping, contributing to fuel shortages.

‘So now Putin is losing 30,000 his soldiers per month... it’s many losses, but he doesn’t want to stop this war. So now initiative not in the hands of Putin,’ Zelensky said on Fox News.

Hours before Zelensky’s meeting with Trump, Kyiv launched hundreds of drones at Russia.

Moscow, meanwhile, fired more than 100 drones at Ukraine overnight and has continued attacking the port of Odesa and ships carrying Ukrainian agricultural exports.​
 

Latest Posts

Back