Russia, Ukraine Drones Kill Four, Hit Oil Tankers

02 May 2026, Ukraine, Donetsk: A woman inspects a house that has been struck by Russian drones in the Donetsk's Kiyevsky District. Photo: Dmitry Yagodkin/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
02 May 2026, Ukraine, Donetsk: A woman inspects a house that has been struck by Russian drones in the Donetsk's Kiyevsky District. Photo: Dmitry Yagodkin/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
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Russia, Ukraine Drones Kill Four, Hit Oil Tankers

02 May 2026, Ukraine, Donetsk: A woman inspects a house that has been struck by Russian drones in the Donetsk's Kiyevsky District. Photo: Dmitry Yagodkin/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa
02 May 2026, Ukraine, Donetsk: A woman inspects a house that has been struck by Russian drones in the Donetsk's Kiyevsky District. Photo: Dmitry Yagodkin/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa

Russian drone strikes on Ukraine killed three people across the country, while Ukrainian attacks killed one near Moscow and targeted Russia's lucrative oil facilities, according to statements by the warring countries on Sunday.

The two neighbors have been firing hundreds of explosive-packed drones at each other on a daily basis throughout the four-year war, as talks to end the conflict have gone nowhere.

Russian attacks on Ukraine's southern Odesa region -- home to key export terminals -- killed two people, including a truck driver at a port, regional governor Oleg Kiper said on social media.

"Enemy drones hit three residential buildings, and two more were damaged.... Facilities and equipment for the port infrastructure were also damaged," AFP quoted him as saying.

The emergency services posted photos of firefighters tackling a blaze after the attacks.

Russian strikes on the frontline region of Kherson, in southern Ukraine, also killed one person, officials there said.

Russia fired 268 drones and one ballistic missile in the overnight attack, Kyiv's air force said.
Ukraine's army meanwhile launched at least 334 drones at Russia, Moscow's defense ministry said.

The northwestern Leningrad region was heavily targeted.

Oil export terminals there have been hit several times in recent weeks, knocking out billions of dollars worth of exports, according to Kyiv.

Oil and gas revenues -- boosted by the war in the Middle East -- are critical for Russia's economy and funding its army.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said two of Russia's so-called shadow tankers -- aging vessels that ferry its sanctioned oil around the world -- were struck off the southern Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

He posted black-and-white night-vision footage of a naval drone approaching one tanker.
The damage done was unknown.

A Ukrainian drone attack also killed a 77-year-old man in the Moscow region, which surrounds the Russian capital, the regional governor said.

Kyiv calls its attacks on Russia fair retaliation for Russia's nightly barrages of its cities.
It says it only targets energy and military facilities.

Russia also denies targeting civilians.

Tens of thousands have been killed in the four-year war, unleashed by Russia's February 2022 invasion.

In April, Russia fired a record number of long-range attack drones at Ukraine -- an average of more than 200 a day -- according to AFP analysis of data from Kyiv's air force.



Iran's State Media Mock Trump Over Airplane Switch, Meme Shows Him Hiding in Catering Truck

A woman walks past a large billboard pledging revenge against US President Donald Trump along Jomhouri Street in central Tehran on July 27, 2026. (AFP)
A woman walks past a large billboard pledging revenge against US President Donald Trump along Jomhouri Street in central Tehran on July 27, 2026. (AFP)
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Iran's State Media Mock Trump Over Airplane Switch, Meme Shows Him Hiding in Catering Truck

A woman walks past a large billboard pledging revenge against US President Donald Trump along Jomhouri Street in central Tehran on July 27, 2026. (AFP)
A woman walks past a large billboard pledging revenge against US President Donald Trump along Jomhouri Street in central Tehran on July 27, 2026. (AFP)

Iran's state media has mocked US President Donald Trump after new details emerged about his secret aircraft switch during a visit to Türkiye, saying it showed just how nervous he is about Iran's power.

“Again, Trump, with his new scandal, has become the top subject in the US media these days,” said a presenter on state television.

“A scandal stemming from fear of Iran’s military power, a power that caused Trump, last month, while returning from Türkiye, to secretly switch his plane,” he said, adding that the episode has become a source of “humiliation” for Trump, according to Reuters.

A threat that Air Force One could be targeted by a shoulder-fired missile prompted the Secret Service to secretly move Trump onto a smaller government jet, a person briefed on the matter said.

The threat emerged on the final day of Trump's visit to Ankara for the NATO summit, the source said, as tensions run high due to the ongoing US war on Iran. The Secret Service deemed the threat to be ⁠credible and imminent, prompting an extraordinary operation to conceal the US president's movements.

The New York Times reported that US officials were alarmed to discover that Iranians knew where Trump was staying in Ankara, including the exact floor of his hotel.

Tehran has not officially commented on the allegations, or on the airplane switch. The White House could not be immediately reached out of working hours.

Billboards and murals around Tehran take aim at the US president and Israel, showing images from Trump lying in a coffin to drowning in the sea.

While the new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, last month pledged vengeance for the death of his father and predecessor, who was killed on the first day of the war.

Hidden in a Food Truck

Trump and a small group of aides used a catering truck to switch from the big blue-and-white presidential aircraft to a smaller, nondescript C-32A jet for the flight out of Türkiye on July 8, while Air Force One departed separately carrying senior administration officials, White House staff and the travelling press corps, according to the first source.

Iran's embassy in South Africa said in a post ⁠on X that Trump “will be hidden in a trash can before long.” It was accompanied by a meme picture of Trump inside a catering box full of food.

That X account often goes viral for the social media memes it shares, which Iranian state media have reported. It is listed on the official website page of the embassy.

The Washington Post first reported details of the plane-switch operation.

Previous Assassination Attempt Claims

In 2024, the US Justice Department charged an Iranian man in connection with an alleged plot ordered by Iran's Revolutionary Guards to assassinate Trump, then US president-elect.
Tehran denied those accusations in September ⁠2024.

“Iranian hardliners, who have been talking about taking revenge for the assassination of Iran's supreme leader on February 28, as well as some other senior political and military officials in Iran are basking in the fact that the United States was so afraid and concerned about President Trump's safety and security,” said Ali Vaez, deputy program director for the Middle East and North Africa at the International ⁠Crisis Group.

Iran and the United States remain at loggerheads over efforts to agree a permanent end to the war in the Gulf, according to a senior Iranian source, who said there had been no progress in talks to revive the interim deal.

During a podcast on Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency, commentator Alireza Majidi recounted a 2018 visit by ⁠Trump to the Ain al-Assad base in Iraq, a country where Iran enjoys support from armed groups.

Trump himself described the extraordinary security measures he had to go through on that trip.

“If you had seen what we had to go through with the darkened plane, with all windows closed, with no lights on whatsoever anywhere. Pitch black. I have never seen anything like it,” CNN quoted Trump as speaking to reporters at the base in Iraq.


Farage Beats Count Binface to Win UK By-election

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage poses with a digital poster van reading 'Europe is at breaking point' after a press conference in central London, Britain, 03 August 2026. EPA/TOLGA AKMEN
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage poses with a digital poster van reading 'Europe is at breaking point' after a press conference in central London, Britain, 03 August 2026. EPA/TOLGA AKMEN
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Farage Beats Count Binface to Win UK By-election

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage poses with a digital poster van reading 'Europe is at breaking point' after a press conference in central London, Britain, 03 August 2026. EPA/TOLGA AKMEN
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage poses with a digital poster van reading 'Europe is at breaking point' after a press conference in central London, Britain, 03 August 2026. EPA/TOLGA AKMEN

British hard-right leader Nigel Farage has won a snap UK election he triggered in Clacton on Friday, comfortably beating satirical opponent Count Binface as was expected, according to results.

Farage, who did not attend the result announcement, received 22,239 votes, electoral officials said, while runner-up Count Binface exceeded expectations with 9,455 votes.

Farage had declared victory in front of a crowd of supporters earlier on Friday, while the vote count was still ongoing, said AFP.

Farage was largely expected to win in the constituency, where he was already an MP and where none of the country's main parties were running.

Farage and Binface both beat a long list of joke candidates, independents and members of fringe political parties.

Candidates on stage at the Clacton Leisure Center, where the count was held, were seen cheering for each other as the results were announced, with many receiving fewer than 100 votes.

Voter turnout in Thursday's election was 44 percent, lower than the 59 percent turnout recorded at the 2024 general election, but not unusual for a by-election.

The result was called just after 6 am (0500 GMT), with officials warning earlier in the night that the vote count would take longer than usual because of the long ballot papers.


Drone Attacks Spark Fire at Russian Energy Export Port of Ust-Luga

FILE PHOTO: Thick plumes of smoke with flames rise from an oil refinery following a Ukrainian drone attack, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Moscow, Russia, June 18, 2026, in this picture obtained from social media. SOCIAL MEDIA/via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: Thick plumes of smoke with flames rise from an oil refinery following a Ukrainian drone attack, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Moscow, Russia, June 18, 2026, in this picture obtained from social media. SOCIAL MEDIA/via REUTERS
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Drone Attacks Spark Fire at Russian Energy Export Port of Ust-Luga

FILE PHOTO: Thick plumes of smoke with flames rise from an oil refinery following a Ukrainian drone attack, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Moscow, Russia, June 18, 2026, in this picture obtained from social media. SOCIAL MEDIA/via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: Thick plumes of smoke with flames rise from an oil refinery following a Ukrainian drone attack, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Moscow, Russia, June 18, 2026, in this picture obtained from social media. SOCIAL MEDIA/via REUTERS

Firefighters were battling flames on Friday at Russia's Baltic Sea port Ust-Luga, a major energy exports hub, after a fire sparked by a drone attack, regional governor Aleksander Drozdenko said on messaging app Telegram.

More than fifty drones were downed in the Leningrad region, he added, as the region around ‌Ust-Luga, a center ‌for exports of oil and ‌oil ⁠products, kept up ⁠efforts to repel the attack, Reuters said.

The scale of damage was not immediately clear in the attack, which continues Ukraine's tactics of hitting Russian oil processing and export facilities and grain shipping ⁠routes, in an effort to deny ‌revenue to ‌Moscow and force it to end the ‌war.

On Friday, fighter jets shot down ‌a drone that entered the airspace of Latvia, the armed forces of the NATO and European Union member said, while Finland ‌temporarily restricted parts of the Baltic Sea, as a precaution against ⁠drone ⁠attacks.

Ukraine has struck, sometimes repeatedly, more than a dozen major refineries in Russia, one of the world's largest oil producers, causing a widespread domestic fuel crisis.

The Russian capital of Moscow, home to another big oil processing plant, downed overnight more than a dozen drones heading towards it, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram on Friday.