Russia says it struck oil refinery that supplies Ukrainian army with fuel

MOSCOW: Russian forces carried out an overnight strike on the Kremenchuk oil refinery that supplies fuel to Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region, Russia's defense ministry said on Sunday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the attack on the central Poltava region as a vile strike against Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
'Unfortunately, there was damage to the energy infrastructure,' Zelensky said in his evening address to the nation.
'This is Russia's (effort to) spit on everything that the international community is trying to do to stop this war.' He said it occurred 'after the Americans asked us not to strike at Russian energy facilities.'
The Russian defense ministry's statement said that missiles had been fired at the refinery in Ukraine's Poltava region from both sea and air and that strike drones were also used in what it said had been a successful attack.
Russia has claimed Ukraine's eastern Donbas region as its own and controls most of its two regions, Donetsk and Luhansk. Ukraine is fighting to stop Russia from taking control of the rest of Donbas and has said it plans to retake territory it has lost, through a combination of force and diplomacy.
The Russian Defense Ministry said separately that its forces had taken control of the village of Malynivka in the Donetsk region, known in Russia as Ulyanovka.
It also said its forces had advanced deep into enemy defenses in Ukraine's Sumy region and inflicted heavy losses on Ukrainian units there. Sumy is not one of the regions Russia has formally claimed as its own, but it has spoken of creating a buffer zone there. Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had recaptured Andriivka village in northeastern Sumy as part of a drive to expel Russian forces from the area.
He said Russia has amassed 53,000 troops in the vicinity.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Arab News

12 hours ago

• Arab News

Russia might try to take Ukrainian city of Sumy, Putin says

SAINT PETERSBURG: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he did not 'rule out' his forces attempting to seize the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, casting fresh doubt over the prospect of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv. Ukraine said Putin's comments showed 'disdain' for the peace process. Diplomatic efforts to end the three-year conflict have stalled in recent weeks and Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging a peace deal to prolong its full-scale offensive on the country. Russia currently occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and has claimed four Ukrainian regions as its own since launching its assault in 2022, in addition to Crimea, which it captured in 2014. The Sumy region is not one of the regions Moscow has formally annexed, although Russian forces have recently made inroads there for the first time in three years. At Russia's flagship economic forum in Saint Petersburg, Putin suggested Moscow could take Sumy as part of the creation of a 'buffer zone' along the border and repeated his denial of Ukrainian statehood. 'We have no objective to take Sumy, but in principle I do not rule it out... They pose a constant threat to us, constantly shelling the border areas,' Putin said. 'I consider Russians and Ukrainians to be one people. In that sense, all of Ukraine is ours,' he told attendees, when asked why his army was entering areas Moscow did not claim as its own. 'There is a saying: wherever a Russian soldier sets foot, that is ours.' Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga described Putin's comments as 'deranged' and called for Kyiv's allies to slap 'devastating sanctions' on Russia. 'The only way to force Russia into peace is to deprive it of its sense of impunity,' he wrote in a post on X. Putin's widening territorial ambitions are likely to roil Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has accused Moscow of not wanting to end the fighting. The two sides held rounds of direct talks in Istanbul in May and in June, but Kyiv accused Moscow of sending 'dummy' negotiators with no real power to enact a peace deal. Putin has declined to take part in the peace talks in person and on Thursday said he would only meet Zelensky during a 'final phase' of negotiations on ending the three-year conflict. He has also insisted Ukraine give up territory it already controls for peace. Kyiv says it cannot and will not accept Russian occupation of any part of its land. In his address Friday, Putin denied he was calling for Ukraine to 'capitulate.' 'We are not seeking Ukraine's surrender. We insist on recognition of the realities that have developed on the ground,' the Russian leader said. Putin repeated that Moscow was 'advancing on all fronts' and that his troops had penetrated up to 12 kilometers (seven miles) into the Sumy region. He also accused Kyiv of 'stupidity' by launching an incursion into Russia's Kursk region last August. 'They are creating problems for themselves,' he said. Russia has for months been rejecting calls for an unconditional ceasefire, launching deadly attacks on its neighbor.

Arab News

12 hours ago

• Arab News

NATO leaders to meet amid growing geopolitical instability

The 32 leaders of NATO's member states will gather in The Hague from Tuesday for a major summit. This will be the alliance's first summit since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House and it comes at a time of growing geopolitical instability. From war in Ukraine to tensions in the Middle East and the increasing assertiveness of China, there is no shortage of serious challenges. If this week's G7 meeting in Canada is any indicator, this NATO Summit will be short and unlikely to produce a common position on most of the major challenges confronting the alliance. Already, the signs suggest that this summit will be more modest in ambition and structure than previous gatherings. The number of scheduled sessions is lower than usual and a draft of the summit communique circulating through NATO capitals is significantly shorter in both length and scope than past declarations. However, despite these limitations, the alliance's leaders will be eager to project unity. The summit will likely feature strong public messaging on those areas where consensus exists — especially the issue Trump cares about most: increasing European defense spending. More divisive issues, such as the future of Ukraine, the threat posed by China and the ongoing war between Israel and Iran, will be relegated to closed-door meetings. Defense spending will dominate the public agenda. Since the 2006 NATO Summit, member states have committed to spending at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product on national defense. For many years, this pledge was largely ignored. By the time Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, only three member states were meeting the target. That same year, at the NATO Summit in Wales, alliance leaders reaffirmed the 2 percent goal and agreed to reach it by 2024. While meaningful progress has been made — 23 countries now meet or exceed the 2 percent threshold — there is no question that Trump views the current level of spending as insufficient. The signs suggest that this summit will be more modest in ambition and structure than previous gatherings Luke Coffey That is why Trump is now pushing for a new benchmark: a combined 5 percent of GDP, to be phased in over the next several years. Under this proposal, NATO members would spend 3.5 percent of GDP on core defense capabilities, with an additional 1.5 percent allocated to defense-adjacent areas such as cybersecurity, critical port infrastructure, strategic transportation networks and national resilience efforts. A few countries have already stepped forward. Poland, the Netherlands and Sweden have laid out detailed and credible plans to reach the new targets. Other countries, such as Spain, have shown greater reluctance, but recent weeks have seen a shift in attitude due to pressure from both Washington and key European allies. Another area where consensus is building is on defense industrial cooperation. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the West's response exposed serious deficiencies in the defense production capabilities of NATO countries. The war has revealed that many allies lack the industrial base to sustain high-intensity conflict, replenish munitions and scale up production quickly. These shortcomings have alarmed policymakers and pushed NATO to take a more active role in coordinating defense production. While NATO, as an intergovernmental security alliance, cannot dictate national industrial policies, it can play a vital coordinating role. It can identify capability gaps, establish common standards and promote the interoperability of weapons and munitions among member states. Still, not all issues lend themselves to consensus. Some of the most pressing matters will be discussed privately. First among them is Ukraine. With US congressional funding for Ukraine set to expire by the end of summer, and with the Trump administration showing decreasing interest in leading peace talks, European countries will soon need to shoulder a much larger share of the burden. The Trump administration is expected to push its European allies to reduce Chinese influence on the continent Luke Coffey How they will do this — and whether they are politically willing to do so — remains unclear. It will require significant political will, financial resources and a united approach that has so far been lacking across much of Europe. As long as Trump is in office, NATO is unlikely to take a leading role in organizing or funding long-term assistance to Kyiv. Another issue looming over the summit is China. The Trump administration is expected to push its European allies to reduce Chinese influence on the continent, particularly in areas such as telecommunications infrastructure, port ownership and advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing. However, NATO's mandate as a military alliance limits what it can directly do. It lacks the tools to regulate investment or economic policy. The responsibility will therefore fall to national governments and the EU. Even so, the Trump administration will almost certainly use the summit to press the point behind the scenes. Finally, the war between Israel and Iran will feature prominently in closed-door discussions. Although NATO has no formal mandate in this conflict, the issue is of vital concern to many members. A prolonged or expanded war — particularly if it spills into Iranian territory — could create massive regional instability, including refugee flows, terrorism and economic disruption. Moreover, Turkiye, a NATO member, shares a border with Iran, adding to the alliance's concern. Allies will be watching carefully for signals about how this conflict may evolve and what role, if any, NATO should play in contingency planning. It is in everyone's interest that this summit is perceived as a success. Privately, Trump administration officials have reassured their European counterparts that there will be no surprises. American officials know that Europe remains vital to US interests. Europe is America's largest export market and the biggest source of foreign investment. NATO is not only a military alliance — it is the foundation of the transatlantic economic and strategic order. And in the end, that reality will likely keep Trump invested in the alliance's success. • Luke Coffey is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. X: @LukeDCoffey

Al Arabiya

15 hours ago

• Al Arabiya

Putin says ‘the whole of Ukraine is ours' in theory, may take city of Sumy

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russians and Ukrainians were one people, 'and in that sense the whole of Ukraine is ours,' and said he did not rule out Russia taking control of the Ukrainian city of Sumy. But Putin, speaking at an international economic forum in St Petersburg, said Russia had never doubted Ukraine's right to sovereignty, but noted that when Ukraine declared its independence in 1991 it was as a 'neutral state.' Putin, who says Russia is fighting in Ukraine to protect its own security, was answering a question about Russia's war aims. 'We have a saying, or a parable,' Putin said. 'Where the foot of a Russian soldier steps, that is ours.' Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected Moscow's claims to four Ukrainian regions and Crimea as illegal, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly rejected the notion that Russians and Ukrainians are one people. Putin said Russian forces were carving out a buffer zone in Ukraine's Sumy region in order to protect Russian territory and said he did not rule out those same troops taking control of the regional capital of Sumy.