Strikes in Ukraine, in Russian-occupied territory and in Russia itself in the past 24 hours have killed at least 16 people.
The authorities of both countries announced this yesterday, as the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster prompted new warnings about the risks of attacks near the plant during the more than four-year Russian invasion of the neighboring country, AP reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky marked the anniversary with a warning that Russian attacks risk history repeating itself.
„Russia is once again pushing the world to the brink of man-made catastrophe – "Russian-Iranian shaheeds regularly fly over the plant, and one of them hit the protective shell last year," he wrote on Facebook, referring to the Iranian-designed drones that have been causing heavy damage since Moscow began a full-scale war in February 2022.
"The world should not allow this nuclear terrorism to continue, and the best way is to force Russia to stop its reckless attacks," Zelensky said.
Russian drone and missile strikes on the city of Dnieper killed at least nine people, regional governor Oleksandr Ganja said yesterday.
A man was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on the port city of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea, Moscow-appointed authorities said yesterday. Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. a move that most of the world considers illegal – and uses it as a staging and supply point during the war.
Leonid Pasechnyk, the Russian-appointed governor of Ukraine's Luhansk region – which Russia said earlier this month it had brought under full control, a claim denied by Ukraine – said three people were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on a village overnight, after previously reporting two killed in the early hours of Saturday.
Ukraine has not commented on either attack, which The Associated Press could not independently verify.
Earlier, a woman was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia's border Belgorod region, local authorities said.
Ukrainian forces also struck an oil refinery in Yaroslavl, deep inside Russian territory, Ukraine's General Staff said. The strikes set off fires at the facility, which processes 15 million tons of oil a year and produces gasoline, diesel and jet fuel for the Russian military. Russia did not immediately comment.
Ukraine has developed its own long-range drones that can reach targets about 1,500 kilometers inside Russia.
It has recently used them against Russian oil facilities as Moscow seeks to boost exports after the Trump administration granted it a temporary waiver from sanctions to ease supply restrictions. Officials in Kiev complain that Russia will use the extra revenue to buy new weapons to strike even harder at Ukraine.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, echoed Zelensky's concerns about Chernobyl during a visit to Kiev, saying repairs to the plant's damaged outer containment must begin immediately.
The IAEA's assessments show that damage from last year's strike has already compromised a key safety feature of the structure, he said, warning that years of inaction could increase the danger to the original sarcophagus beneath it.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has said that repairs will require at least 500 million euros.
Energy Minister Denys Shmygal said yesterday that commitments from partners to finance repairs at the site amounted to 100 million euros, or $108 million. This is in addition to the 30 million euros, or $32 million, already agreed.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov visited North Korea yesterday for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un about future military cooperation between the two countries.
Belousov said the two sides had agreed to “put military cooperation on a sustainable, long-term basis,” Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
During the visit, he presented the Russian Order of Courage to Korean servicemen who served in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine launched a surprise invasion in August 2024.
Kim has sent thousands of troops and large arms shipments to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.