Kyiv retaliated against Russia with numerous drone attacks overnight, resulting in at least three fatalities, following one of Moscow’s most lethal assaults in the over three-year-long conflict.
Ukrainian military officials reported targeting drone storage facilities and oil refineries that support the invasion by Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
The victims included a guard at an industrial facility close to the Ukrainian border. Away from the frontline, a woman was killed by a drone strike, and an elderly man died when drone debris collapsed on his home, based on field reports.
The Kyiv offensive also sparked a massive fire at the Novokuybyshevsk oil refinery, leading to significant damage to the facility.
A thick orange ball of flames and plumes of smoke resembling that of a nuclear explosion could be seen, Russian media reported.
Meanwhile, two Ukrainians were killed Saturday morning in Kherson, north of Crimea, according to the head of the Regional Military Administration.
An additional 11 civilians sustained injuries during an overnight attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city near the Russian border, where a drone impacted a large residential structure.
Ukraine’s counterattacks followed a mourning day in the capital after one of the conflict’s deadliest attacks in which 31 were killed in Kyiv—including five children—and 150 were injured.
“It’s impossible to justify what Russia is doing,” Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky said on social media.
“There was no military purpose at all,” he added about Thursday’s devastating assault that targeted residential buildings.
The ongoing Russian assaults persisted this week despite President Trump setting an August 8 deadline for Putin to agree to a cease-fire intended to halt the conflict’s escalation.
Trump said special envoy Steve Witkoff is headed to Russia, to push Putin to end the war.
But some talks had already taken place earlier this week with the Kremlin and “no progress” had been made, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Trump is threatening new economic sanctions against the Kremlin if progress stalls, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) ready to move on a bill introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and cosponsored by more than 80 senators.
“Only sanctions will convince Moscow to genuinely work for peace,” Zelensky said in a video on X.
In the wake of the fast-approaching Friday deadline, Putin has proposed a new negotiation framework, the Kyiv Independent reported.
The Russian tyrant floated the creation of three working groups toward peace talks — but insisted the format would remain behind closed doors.
“It was agreed that we could hold these negotiations without cameras, without any political nonsense — in a calm manner and with a focus on finding compromises,” Putin said.
With Post wires
