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Three vessels under the Panamanian, Belize and Palau flags all came under fire from Russia, Kyiv said
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An Egyptian chef has been killed as Russia launched a series of attacks on foreign cargo vessels in the Black sea, according to the Ukrainian navy.
The worst hit was the Turkish dry cargo vessel, called Victress, which erupted in a large blaze as the 58-year-old cook was killed, according to Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Oleksii Kuleba.
Eight other crew members on the Panamanian-flagged ship, including Turkish and Indian citizens, were evacuated in a Ukrainian rescue operation, the navy said.
Two other vessels flying the Belize and Palau flags also came under fire but were able to complete their journeys.
The attacks come after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Ukrainian forces had struck energy and military infrastructure either side of a key bridge linking occupied Crimea and Russia.
The Russia-appointed Crimean governor Sergei Aksyonov said fuel stations across the peninsula suspended sales to the public and businesses, with supplies restricted to government agencies responsible for essential services and security.
Russian authorities said at least five people were killed and 28 injured in the attacks, adding that air defences had downed 239 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Officials in Russia-occupied Crimea suspended civilian gasoline sales Sunday as Ukraine ramped up attacks on fuel supplies on the Black Sea peninsula.
The Russia-appointed Crimean governor Sergei Aksyonov said that overnight Ukrainian strikes killed four people and wounded 28. He later wrote on social media that local gas stations would halt all sales to non-state companies and individuals for an undefined period.
“Fuel will be sold only to government agencies that ensure the functioning and security of the Republic of Crimea,” Aksyonov said. “I ask everyone to remain calm and to only trust official sources of information.”
Ukrainian forces have repeatedly targeted fuel supplies to Crimea in recent weeks, triggering the worst energy crisis in the region since it was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
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Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has warned that a growing political dispute between Poland and Ukraine is a strategic error that risks damaging both countries, as he attempts to ease renewed tensions over events dating back to the Second World War.
The row escalated after Polish president Karol Nawrocki on Friday revoked Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky’s highest Polish state honour. In response, three former Ukrainian presidents and several senior officials returned the awards they had previously received from Poland.
Nawrocki withdrew the Order of the White Eagle after Zelensky drew criticism in Poland for renaming a Ukrainian military unit in honour of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, a nationalist force responsible for massacres of Poles during the Second World War.
“Wading into a conflict between politicians in Poland and Ukraine is a strategic mistake that will harm both sides: business-wise, geopolitically, and reputationally. And in politics, as we know, a mistake is worse than a crime,” Tusk wrote in a post on X.
The pro-European leader returned to power in 2023 after heading a coalition that defeated the nationalist Law and Justice party, with which Nawrocki is politically aligned.
In an interview published on X, Zelensky stressed that Ukraine and Poland could only remain “partners and friends”, warning that political tensions could lead to a “very dangerous escalation”.
“Our service members choose a heroic name for their unit themselves, and as president and supreme commander-in-chief, I must support them,” he said.“Without Ukraine, no one will be able to defend Poland. It is simply impossible.”
Russian forces have entered the strategic eastern Ukrainian city of Kostyantynivka and are attempting to encircle it, according to a BBC report citing Ukrainian soldiers and military officials.
The city, regarded as a gateway to the wider Donbas region, has become a focal point of fighting as Moscow seeks to secure full control of eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian troops told the BBC that Russian soldiers have established positions within parts of the city, making it increasingly difficult to remove them in urban combat.
While Russia has claimed rapid advances and the encirclement of Ukrainian units, Kyiv has rejected those assertions.
Brig Gen Oleksandr Bakulin, commander of Ukraine’s 19th Corps, said “the situation remains under control” and “the enemy has no success”, though he acknowledged that 130 Russian troops were operating inside the city.
Ukrainian soldiers told the outlet that supply routes were under sustained pressure and described growing logistical challenges.
As we earlier reported, Ukraine’s military said it had hit a plant producing electronics for missiles in Russia’s Voronezh region on Monday.
It is the latest blow on Russia’s military-industrial complex inflicted by Ukraine’s growing long-range strikes.
We can now bring you images of the strike:
The Kremlin has said it is beginning intense work to try and minimise the consequences of fuel disruption in Russian-held Crimea.
The peninsula is suffering a fuel crisis following Ukrainian drone attacks targeting energy infrastructure,
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said that there was a coordination mechanism between the government and oil companies when it came to fuel prices nationwide and that all necessary measures were being taken.
A Russian drone strike on the city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine killed three members of the same family, including a 13-year-old boy and his father, and wounded another two, a regional official said Monday.
Russia has pounded civilian areas of Ukraine with drones and missiles since it launched its all-out invasion of its neighbor more than four years ago, and a United Nations tally says more than 16,000 civilians have died in the war. U.S.-led peace efforts have failed to stop the fighting.
The Sumy attack hit a home and killed a 36-year-old man, his 13-year-old son and a 73-year-old woman who was the mother of the man’s partner, according to Oleh Hryhorov, the head of the regional military administration. The man’s partner and 10-year-old son were wounded, he said.
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Russian-held Crimea, a popular tourism destination, has suspended children’s summer camps and tourist activities until September 1, its governor said on Monday.
It comes as the peninsula reels from a fuel crisis due to Ukrainian attacks on its supply routes.
Supplies of fuel and other products to Crimea have become strained as Ukraine has targeted both sea routes and supply roads from the north.
Availability of gasoline and diesel in Russia, the world’s third-largest oil producer, has also been undermined by Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refineries, including in Moscow.
Fuel stations in Crimea halted all fuel sales to individuals and businesses from Sunday, including cash, non-cash and voucher purchases.
Governor Sergei Aksyonov said on Monday that the closing of children’s camps was in the interests of public security.
So far, there has been no public outrage over the fuel shortages in Russia, where protests are largely restricted during what Moscow calls its special military operation in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s military said it had hit a plant producing electronics for missiles in Russia’s Voronezh region on Monday.
It is the latest blow on Russia’s military-industrial complex inflicted by Ukraine’s growing long-range strikes.
In a statement on Telegram, the Ukrainian General Staff said it had used air-launched cruise missiles to hit the facility, which it described as a “critical component” in Russia’s defence production.
Alexander Gusev, local governor of the Voronezh region, said on Monday that production facilities had been damaged and three people injured in the attack.
Gusev did not specify what the damaged facility typically produces.
He said in a post on Telegram, that air defence forces had destroyed several high-speed targets in the skies over Voronezh and warned residents of the danger of missile attacks.
Ukraine will decide who represents Europe in any negotiations with Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Kyiv has been trying to reinvigorate the diplomatic push to end Russia’s more than four-year-old war by including Europeans, as US-backed negotiations stalled amid the Iran war and Ukraine refused Russian demands to cede its territory.
The Ukrainian president said that Ukraine was discussed “at greater length than ever before” at a European Council meeting last week.
“We discussed Europe’s role in the dialogue with the Russians and what that role should be,” he said, relaying his comments to the Ukrainian media on social media platform X.
“Europe will consider the format and propose several options, but Ukraine will decide who represents Europe in the negotiations. That is fair.”
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