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Ukraine kept up its heavy drone assault on Russia, setting fire to a major oil refinery in the south, as President Vladimir Putin acknowledged for the first time on Sunday that the country was facing a "certain deficit" of fuel and vowed to strengthen protection of oil facilities and boost fuel output. Ukraine has markedly stepped up its long-range attacks on Russian military industries and energy facilities in recent months, aiming to cut Moscow's revenue for its invasion - now in its fifth year - and make Russians feel the consequences. "Our long-range sanctions' reached two oil refineries in Russia," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday. "Each (strike) means a reduction in the resources that fuel the Russian war machine, and another step toward peace." The campaign has choked Russian fuel supplies, causing widespread shortages and long lines at gas stations across the country and prompting authorities in many regions to introduce .
Officials in Russia-occupied Crimea suspended civilian gasoline sales Sunday as Ukraine ramped up attacks on fuel supplies on the Black Sea peninsula. Gov. Sergey Aksyonov, the Kremlin-appointed head of Crimea, said that overnight Ukrainian strikes killed four people and wounded 28 others. He did not specify the target of the attack. He later wrote on social media that local gas stations would halt all sales to non-state companies and individuals for an undefined period. "Fuel will be sold only to government agencies that ensure the functioning and security of the Republic of Crimea," Aksyonov said. "I ask everyone to remain calm and to only trust official sources of information." Ukrainian forces have repeatedly targeted fuel supplies to Crimea in recent weeks, triggering the worst energy crisis in the region since it was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement Sunday that a Crimean oil depot, as well as an oil transport ..
European Union nations agreed on Friday to open membership talks with Ukraine next week, officially launching the process for the war-torn country to eventually join the world's biggest trading bloc. At a meeting in Brussels, ambassadors from the 27 EU nations decided to officially open negotiations with Ukraine as well as with Moldova, which Russia has also tried to drag back into its orbit, on Monday in Luxembourg. Ukraine sees EU membership as an important "security guarantee" for a stable future once war with Russia ends. Its best guarantee would be NATO membership, but the Trump administration insists that cannot happen. Others oppose it joining while fighting continues. Russia is strongly against it, and has cited moves toward NATO membership as a reason for launching its full-scale invasion in 2022, though it has not objected to EU membership for Kyiv. Countries hoping to join the EU must complete negotiations in 35 policy areas, or chapters, ranging from agriculture to trad
Ukrainian long-range drones struck an oil terminal in St. Petersburg and set it ablaze, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday, as the Russian city hosts an annual international economic forum that is a banner event for President Vladimir Putin. The drones flew more than 1,000 kilometres to hit the terminal, Zelenskyy said on social media. Clouds of black smoke rose over the city's port after the attack. St. Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city and is where Putin was born. Russian authorities said only that the Ukrainian drone strike targeted the city's infrastructure, without providing further details. The airport of St. Petersburg briefly suspended flights overnight because of the attack. Authorities also cut off mobile internet services. With the front line changing little as swarms of drones hinder battlefield movement, both sides have sought an edge by increasingly launching long-range strikes. The war that followed Russia's invasion of its neighbour has now stretch
Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles against Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities overnight, killing at least 16 civilians and wounding more than 100 others, authorities said Tuesday. The damage trapped some people under the rubble of apartment buildings. Emergency crews digging through the wreckage pulled out the body of a three-year-old child and the bodies of a mother and her eight-year-old son in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, officials said. The attack stretched from night into day and the boom of explosions reverberated across cities. Kyiv residents had been on edge for days after Russia warned that a massive aerial attack was coming and warned foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital. None appeared to heed the call. "A large-scale attack and an explicit statement by Russia: If Ukraine is not protected from ballistic missiles and other missile strikes, those strikes will continue," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in response to the attack, ..
Russia attacked Ukraine with a barrage of missiles and drones overnight Tuesday, killing at least 11 people, injuring dozens and trapping others, authorities said. At least four people were killed in Kyiv and 58 people were injured, including three children, Ukraine's state emergency service said in a statement on Telegram. Residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were damaged in eight of Kyiv's districts. Attacks were also reported elsewhere across Ukraine. In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, at least six people were killed and 36 others injured after Russian strikes hit the city of Dnipro, according to the emergency service. A second attack as first responders arrived at the scene killed one rescuer. A two-story residential building and part of a four-story apartment block were damaged, with people trapped beneath the rubble of the larger building. The boom of explosions echoed through most of the night and into the early morning. Kyiv had been bracing for anothe
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has written to US President Donald Trump and Congress asking for more American-made air defence ammunition to counter intensifying Russian ballistic missile attacks, Kyiv said Wednesday. Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers have backed a draft bill to have bank employees join the fight against Ukraine's long-range drones that strike deep inside Russia - with trained bank staff shooting down the unmanned aircraft. The steps came after a recent escalation in aerial attacks by both sides in the more than four-year war that followed Russia's all-out invasion of its neighbor. Neither side has been able to make much progress on the 1,250-km front line. Also on Wednesday, Anne Keast-Butler, head of UK's intelligence agency GCHQ, asserted that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "going backwards on the battlefield". New data shows that "almost half a million Russian soldiers have now been killed since the conflict began," she added. Ukraine has pounded Russ