KYIV: Ukraine launched a wave of drone strikes on Russia on Sunday (Aug 24), triggering a hearth at a nuclear energy plant because it celebrated Ukrainian independence day in opposition to a backdrop of fading hopes for latest peace efforts.
After a flurry of diplomacy and a push by United States President Donald Trump to broker a summit between his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, the prospects for peace appeared to stall on Friday when Russia ruled out any immediate meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The three-and-a-half-year struggle, which has killed tens of 1000’s of individuals, has floor to a digital stalemate, although Russia has managed to eke out latest advances in a grinding offensive – together with claiming two villages within the japanese Donetsk area on Saturday.
Ukraine hit again on Sunday by sending drones on recent assaults on Russian territory, together with one which was shot down over the Kursk Nuclear Energy Plant in western Russia, which detonated upon affect and sparked a hearth, in line with the ability.
The plant stated the hearth had been extinguished, including there have been no casualties or elevated radiation ranges.
The Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company has repeatedly warned of the risks of preventing round nuclear vegetation following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian authorities stated Ukrainian drones had additionally been shot down over areas generally removed from the entrance, together with Saint Petersburg within the northwest.
Ten drones had been shot down over the port of Ust-Luga on the Gulf of Finland, sparking a hearth at a gas terminal owned by Russian vitality group Novatek, regional governor Aleksandr Drozdenko wrote on Telegram.
Ukraine’s smaller, outgunned military has relied closely on drones to answer Russia’s invasion, notably concentrating on oil infrastructure to hit a key supply of Moscow’s revenues to fund the struggle.
Russia has seen hovering gas costs because the assaults started.
Ukraine, in the meantime, stated Russia had attacked it in a single day with a ballistic missile and 72 Iranian-made Shahed assault drones, 48 of which the air pressure stated had been shot down.
A Russian drone strike killed a 47-year-old girl within the japanese area of Dnipropetrovsk, the governor stated.
