Russian Strikes Kill 9 in Kyiv, Surrounding Region

TOPSHOT - Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a Russian strike in Kyiv on August 16, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a Russian strike in Kyiv on August 16, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP)
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Russian Strikes Kill 9 in Kyiv, Surrounding Region

TOPSHOT - Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a Russian strike in Kyiv on August 16, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a Russian strike in Kyiv on August 16, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP)

Russian bombardments killed at least nine people and wounded dozens in Ukraine's capital and its surrounding region overnight, authorities said on Thursday.

The foes have ramped up long-range attacks in recent months, driving up the civilian death toll on both sides in the four-and-a-half-year war, said AFP.

The massive missile attack on Kyiv struck residential areas and warehouses, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram Thursday.

A medical facility and an educational institution were also damaged, according to the city's military administration.

Klitschko later said the death toll in the capital had risen to eight and that 33 people had been wounded.

An attack in the Brovary district of the broader Kyiv region killed one man and wounded another, Kyiv regional governor Tymur Tkachenko said.

"One industrial facility has been damaged. All relevant services are on site, working to extinguish the fire," he added.

Ukraine's air force had warned of Russian "Kalibr" missiles in the vicinity of the village of Kagarlyk within the Kyiv region, heading towards the capital.

The attacks also prompted security responses in neighboring NATO member states.

Poland's military command said it had mobilized aircraft and activated air defenses aimed at protecting Polish airspace, particularly in areas bordering Ukraine.

Romania's defense ministry said radar systems detected aerial targets near the Ukrainian border overnight, prompting the scrambling of two Spanish fighter jets deployed on NATO missions and a Romanian air force helicopter.

The ministry said a drone entered Romanian airspace near Galati before crashing in an unpopulated area in Tulcea county.

Russia also reported a large Ukrainian drone attack.

Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 250 drones had flown toward the Moscow region between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, with most destroyed at a significant distance from the capital itself.

"Twenty-eight drones were destroyed in the Moscow region," Sobyanin added.

While Kyiv has faced near-nightly attacks, Ukraine has also escalated its retaliatory strikes on Russia in recent months, in part to attempt to pressure Moscow into coming to the negotiating table to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.



Zelenskyy Visits Canada to Seek Further Military Support for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (archive)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (archive)
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Zelenskyy Visits Canada to Seek Further Military Support for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (archive)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (archive)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Canada on Thursday for talks with Prime Minister Mark Carney, his latest international trip aimed at locking in future support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine is under pressure from Russia’s air war, which is using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to pierce defenses. Moscow’s attacks have targeted Ukraine’s power grid ahead of the upcoming winter as part of its campaign to demoralize civilians, Ukrainian officials say.

“The main focus will be on supporting Ukraine in protecting our skies and preparing for the winter,” Zelenskyy said of his Canada trip in a social media post. “We will discuss how to strengthen our resilience, support our people, and ensure that Ukraine has the capabilities it needs to defend itself.”

Canada and European countries are sending their own weaponry to Ukraine and are also buying American weapons for Kyiv under the so-called Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL. The United States under President Donald Trump has stopped donating weapons to Ukraine, The Associated Press said.

Recent US efforts to stop the more than four years of fighting have delivered no significant breakthrough, although Washington-brokered talks between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv are expected to continue.

Zelenskyy’s arrival on Wednesday night in Calgary, Alberta, came the day after his flight from Moldova to Norway was delayed when authorities closed Moldova’s airspace because of a drone incursion.

The aerial drone battle between Russia and Ukraine has grown in scale since Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022. Ukraine’s neighbors Romania and Moldova, and other European countries, have reported repeated drone incursions.

Ukraine's drones now reach targets in Siberia, officials say

A Ukrainian sea drone wounded 28 people, including two children, on the waterfront in the Russian city of Sochi, local officials said. They said that beach infrastructure had been damaged but did not provide further details.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Thursday that its forces shot down 448 Ukrainian drones overnight. The drones were destroyed over 13 Russian regions, as well as the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the Black and Caspian seas, the ministry said.

Falling debris from a Ukrainian drone set fire to a home in Russia’s southwestern Voronezh region, killing one woman and wounding two other people, local Gov. Alexander Gusev said Thursday.

Ukrainian forces struck eight Russian infrastructure targets supporting the war effort over the past 24 hours, including a refinery in the Yamalo-Nenets region and a port in Dagestan, Zelenskyy said Thursday.

Targets in the Moscow, Voronezh, Astrakhan and Bryansk regions were also hit, he said.

Those targets were hundreds of kilometers (miles) apart, underlining the scope and scale of Ukraine's domestically developed long-range drone technology that has unsettled Russia.

The previous day, Ukrainian forces struck an oil refinery more than 3,000 kilometers (1,800 miles) from Ukraine in Siberia, Ukraine’s General Staff said, confirming earlier reports.

Meantime, Russian forces launched 149 drones, many of them jet-propelled, at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said Thursday.

One person was killed and two others wounded in a Russian drone attack on the Kyiv region on Thursday morning, regional head Tymur Tkachenko said.

At least 16 other civilians were wounded in other Ukrainian regions, according to local authorities.


'Heavy Casualties' in Fire on Foreign-flagged Ship at China Port

Representation photo: China Fire and Rescue personnel arrive at Trishuli camp after inspecting the tunnel site in Rasuwa, in the aftermath of flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 31, 2026. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)
Representation photo: China Fire and Rescue personnel arrive at Trishuli camp after inspecting the tunnel site in Rasuwa, in the aftermath of flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 31, 2026. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)
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'Heavy Casualties' in Fire on Foreign-flagged Ship at China Port

Representation photo: China Fire and Rescue personnel arrive at Trishuli camp after inspecting the tunnel site in Rasuwa, in the aftermath of flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 31, 2026. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)
Representation photo: China Fire and Rescue personnel arrive at Trishuli camp after inspecting the tunnel site in Rasuwa, in the aftermath of flash floods in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 31, 2026. (Photo by Arun SANKAR / AFP)

A fire on a foreign-flagged cargo ship docked in an eastern Chinese port caused "heavy casualties" on Thursday, state media said, with President Xi Jinping calling for urgent search and rescue operations.

"A foreign cargo ship of Beihai Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. in Qingdao, Shandong Province, caught fire during its port call for maintenance, causing heavy casualties," state news agency Xinhua said.

Xinhua did not specify the number of casualties or the cause of the fire, said AFP.

Xi "stressed the need to urgently search for missing persons... and strictly hold those responsible to account", it added.

State media said that the fire broke out at around 11:15 am (0315 GMT). It was not clear whether it had already been extinguished.

Premier Li Qiang also urged the search and rescue of "trapped" people, and for those injured to receive medical treatment, "and strictly prevent secondary disasters".

Qingdao Beihai Shipbuilding is a major shipyard that operates as a subsidiary of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation.

Xi warned that "all regions and relevant departments must draw profound lessons from this incident, thoroughly investigate and rectify all types of fire hazards".


US Military Says It Struck Vessel in Caribbean, Killing Three

This screen grab from a video posted by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on his X account on October 24, 2025, shows what Hegseth says is US military forces conducting a strike on a vessel being operated by Tren de Aragua trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea in on October 23, 2025. (Photo by HANDOUT / US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's X Account / AFP)
This screen grab from a video posted by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on his X account on October 24, 2025, shows what Hegseth says is US military forces conducting a strike on a vessel being operated by Tren de Aragua trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea in on October 23, 2025. (Photo by HANDOUT / US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's X Account / AFP)
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US Military Says It Struck Vessel in Caribbean, Killing Three

This screen grab from a video posted by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on his X account on October 24, 2025, shows what Hegseth says is US military forces conducting a strike on a vessel being operated by Tren de Aragua trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea in on October 23, 2025. (Photo by HANDOUT / US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's X Account / AFP)
This screen grab from a video posted by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on his X account on October 24, 2025, shows what Hegseth says is US military forces conducting a strike on a vessel being operated by Tren de Aragua trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea in on October 23, 2025. (Photo by HANDOUT / US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's X Account / AFP)

The US military said on Wednesday three people were killed in a strike on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea, the latest in a series of attacks that Washington says target "narco-terrorists" but human rights groups condemn as extrajudicial ‌killings, Reuters said.

DETAILS:

* US Southern ‌Command said on ‌X ⁠it "executed a lethal kinetic strike ⁠on a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean."

* It cited "confirmed intelligence" to allege the vessel's active involvement in narco-trafficking, without providing more details.

* The US military said three people, ‌whom it ‌called "narco-terrorists," were killed.

* President Donald Trump's ‌administration has said the vessels it ‌has struck since September 2025 were transporting narcotics.

* The US military's strikes on such vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern ‌Pacific have killed more than 220 people.

* Experts and rights ⁠advocates, ⁠both in the US and globally, have questioned the legality of the strikes.

* Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and independent UN experts have called the strikes unlawful extrajudicial killings.

* The American Civil Liberties Union has cast the assertions by the Trump administration against those it targets as "unsubstantiated, fear-mongering claims."