Ukraine Drone Strike Kills 12, Wounds 39 in Central Russia

The site of a Russian strike on a high-storey residential building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 09 August 2026, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)
The site of a Russian strike on a high-storey residential building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 09 August 2026, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)
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Ukraine Drone Strike Kills 12, Wounds 39 in Central Russia

The site of a Russian strike on a high-storey residential building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 09 August 2026, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)
The site of a Russian strike on a high-storey residential building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 09 August 2026, amid the Russian invasion. (EPA)

A Ukrainian drone strike on the central Russian region of Tatarstan killed at least 12 people in one of Kyiv's most deadly single attacks of the more than four year war.

"According to the latest information, 12 people have been killed and 39 wounded as a result of the drone attack," on the city of Nizhnekamsk, the regional press service said in a statement on Monday.

More than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the Ukrainian border, the region is rich in energy resources and has many major oil refineries that Kyiv has been targeting in retaliatory strikes.

Unverified footage on social media showed a large black smoke cloud billowing at the site of an oil facility near the industrial city of Nizhnekamsk.

Both sides have significantly escalated their long-range attacks this year, causing a spike in civilian deaths, according to the United Nations.

Near the front line in Ukraine, a Russian artillery strike killed five people in a village in the northeastern Kharkiv region, local Ukrainian officials said.

"On August 10, Russian forces carried out a massive artillery strike on the residential area of the village of Bugaivka in the Chuguiv district. Various houses were destroyed as a result of the enemy attack. Five people were killed," regional prosecutor's office said in a statement on Telegram.

According to AFP, it posted a picture of a house reduced to rubble by the attack.

Russia's defense ministry said it shot down 456 Ukrainian drones fired overnight. It never states how many reached their targets.

The Tatarstan region had earlier reported a "massive" Ukrainian drone attack.

Ukraine's air force said Russia fired 126 drones in its overnight attack.

A woman was also killed in a Ukrainian attack on the Russian border region of Belgorod, and a man was killed in a Russian drone strike on a taxi in the frontline Kherson region, officials there said.
 



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."