Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,256
Fighting
Kyiv's military administration warned residents of the Ukrainian capital to take shelter on Saturday night due to the takeoff of a Russian MiG-31K, the carrier of the Russian Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile, in a post on Telegram.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that its team heard explosions and saw smoke coming from an 'auxiliary facility' located 1,200 metres from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.
The Russian-installed administration of the plant said that a civilian was killed by Ukrainian shelling. A fire that broke out near the plant was brought under control, the administrators added in a post on Telegram.
An elderly man was killed inside a house that caught fire due to falling Ukrainian drone debris in Russia's Samara region, Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev posted on Telegram.
A Ukrainian drone attack killed a guard at an industrial facility and caused a fire in Russia's Rostov region, acting Governor Yury Slyusar said. 'The military repelled a massive air attack during the night', destroying drones over seven districts, Slyusar wrote on Telegram.
Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) said that an explosion killed five soldiers from the Russian-backed Akhmat unit on a minibus near Russian-occupied Melitopol on Saturday.
A Russian drone attack killed a 12-year-old boy and left a 13-year-old hospitalised with shrapnel wounds in the village of Sveska in Ukraine's Sumy region, Governor Oleh Hryhorov said.
Ukraine's SBU intelligence agency said that Ukrainian drones hit Russia's Primorsko-Akhtarsk military airfield, which has been used to launch waves of long-range drones at Ukraine. The SBU claimed it also hit a factory in Penza, which it said supplies Russia's military with electronics.
Ukrainian forces hit an oil refinery in Ryazan, about 180 km (110 miles) southeast of Moscow, causing a fire on its premises, Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces said on Telegram.
Residents of the Korabel neighbourhood in Ukraine's southern port city of Kherson were urged to evacuate by the head of the region's military administration after Russian forces damaged a bridge that connected the neighbourhood with the rest of the city.
Russia's Ministry of Defence said that Russian forces had captured the village of Oleksandro-Kalynove in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region on Saturday.
The Defence Ministry in Moscow said in its daily report that its defence units downed a total of 338 Ukrainian drones overnight into Saturday morning. It did not say how many Ukrainian drones were launched.
Ukraine's air force said it had downed 45 of 53 Russian drones launched towards its territory overnight into Saturday morning.
Russia launched 6,129 Shahed-type drones against Ukraine in July 2025, the Kyiv Independent reported, 14 times more than the 423 drones it launched during the same month last year.
Politics and diplomacy
The New York Times reported that two unnamed Indian officials said their country would keep buying Russian oil, even after United States President Donald Trump recently imposed an unspecified penalty for the country's purchase of Russian oil and military equipment.
Armenia's Ministry of Defence said that its peacekeeping brigade would undertake joint drills with the US military from August 12 to 20, Interfax reported. Ahead of a previous joint drill with the US in September 2023, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Russia's war in Ukraine meant it was unable to meet Armenia's security needs.
Ukrainian authorities detained several officials over a 'large-scale corruption scheme' in the defence sector, just days after lawmakers restored the independence of the country's two main investigative bodies.
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Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,260
Here is how things stand on Thursday, August 7: Fighting Russian artillery shelling on a car belonging to Ukraine's state emergency services killed three people, including an emergency worker, and injured four others in the southeastern Ukrainian town of Nikopol, the regional governor, Serhiy Lysak, said. Dozens of Russian drones attacked a gas pumping station in southern Ukraine, part of an LNG imports scheme from the United States and Azerbaijan, Ukraine's Ministry of Energy said. Russia struck a gas facility in Ukraine's southern Odesa region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as Ukraine's gas reserves are now at their lowest in 12 years, with storage facilities currently less than a third full, according to analysis firm ExPro. Ceasefire US President Donald Trump said his envoy Steve Witkoff made 'great progress' in his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Trump added that he updated some of Washington's allies in Europe after the meeting. Witkoff held about three hours of talks with Putin in the Kremlin on Wednesday, two days before the expiry of a deadline set by Trump for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or face new sanctions. The US has a better understanding of the conditions under which Moscow would be prepared to end its war in Ukraine after the meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, adding that the key elements of any agreement would involve territory. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said talks between Putin and Witkoff were 'useful and constructive'. He said Moscow had received certain 'signals' from Trump and had sent messages in return. President Zelenskyy said he had discussed Witkoff's visit to Moscow with Trump and that he had reiterated Ukraine's support for a just peace and its continued determination to defend itself. Zelenskyy added that it seemed Russia was 'more inclined to a ceasefire' following Witkoff's meeting. 'The pressure on them works. But the main thing is that they do not deceive us in the details – neither us nor the US,' Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. Trump could meet Putin as soon as next week, a White House official said, as the US continued preparations to impose secondary sanctions, including potentially on China, to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. Trump said he could announce further tariffs on China, similar to the 25 percent duties announced earlier on India, over its purchases of Russian oil. Military aid Ukraine's Defence Minister Denys Shmyhal thanked the US for approving more than $200m in deals to supply arms to Ukraine, which will be funded by Kyiv's allies. The partner-funded packages will provide technical support for howitzers and logistical services, he wrote on X. Regional developments Germany's coalition government plans to cut state benefits for newly arrived Ukrainian refugees, which could result in 100 euros ($116) less per month per refugee, the Reuters news agency reported, citing a draft law. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte discussed with Lithuania's foreign minister the subject of Russian military drone violations of Lithuanian airspace, a NATO spokesperson said.
Qatar Tribune
5 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Trump to put additional 25% import taxes on India, bringing combined tariffs to 50%
Agencies President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to place an additional 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, bringing the combined tariffs imposed by the United States on its ally to 50%. The tariffs would go into effect 21 days after the signing of the order, meaning that both India and Russia might have time to negotiate with the administration on the import taxes. Trump's moves could scramble the economic trajectory of India, which until recently was seen as an alternative to China by American companies looking to relocate their manufacturing. China also buys oil from Russia, but it was not included in the order signed by the Republican president. As part of a negotiating period with Beijing, Trump has placed 30% tariffs on goods from China, a rate that is smaller than the combined import taxes with which he has threatened New Delhi. Trump had previewed for reporters on Tuesday that the tariffs would be coming, saying the U.S. had a meeting with Russia on Wednesday as the Trump administration tries to end the war in Ukraine. 'We're going to see what happens,' Trump said about his tariff plans. 'We'll make that determination at that time. 'The Indian government on Wednesday called the additional tariffs 'unfortunate.' 'We reiterate that these actions are unfair, unjustified and unreasonable,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement, adding that India would take all actions necessary to protect its said India has already made its stand clear that the country's imports were based on market factors and were part of an overall objective of ensuring energy security for its 1.4 billion people. Ajay Srivastava, a former Indian trade official, said the latest tariff places the country among the most heavily taxed U.S. trading partners and far above rivals such as China, Vietnam and Bangladesh.'The tariffs are expected to make Indian goods far costlier with the potential to cut exports by around 40%-50% to the U.S.,' he said. Srivastava said Trump's decision was 'hypocritical' because China bought more Russian oil than India did last year. 'Washington avoids targeting Beijing because of China's leverage over critical minerals which are vital for U.S. defense and technology,' he said. In 2024, the U.S. ran a $45.8 billion trade deficit in goods with India, meaning America imported more from India than it exported, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. American consumers and businesses buy pharmaceutical drugs, precious stones and textiles and apparel from India, among other goods. At the world's largest country, India represented a way for the U.S. to counter China's influence in Asia. But India has not supported the Ukraine-related sanctions by the U.S. and its allies on Moscow even as India's leaders have maintained that they want peace. The U.S. and China are currently in negotiations on trade, with Washington imposing a 30% tariff on Chinese goods and facing a 10% retaliatory tax from Beijing on American products. The planned tariffs on India contradict past efforts by the Biden administration and other nations in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations that encouraged India to buy cheap Russian oil through a price cap imposed in 2022. The nations collectively capped Russian oil a $60 per barrel at a time when prices in the market were meaningfully higher, The intent was to deprive the Kremlin of revenue to fund its war in Ukraine, forcing the Russian government either to sell its oil at a discount or divert money for a costly alternative shipping network. The price cap was rolled out to equal parts skepticism and hopefulness that the policy would stave off Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The cap has required shipping and insurance companies to refuse to handle oil shipments above the cap, though Russia has been able to evade the cap by shipping oil on a 'shadow fleet' of old vessels using insurers and trading companies located in countries that are not enforcing sanctions. But oil prices have fallen with a barrel trading on Wednesday morning at $65.84, up 1% on the day.
Al Jazeera
6 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
White House says Trump is ‘open' to talks with Putin and Zelenskyy
The White House has said that United States President Donald Trump is 'open' to the idea of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In remarks on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Russian officials had expressed interest in meeting with Trump. Leavitt did not say when or where such a meeting could take place, but AP quoted an anonymous White House official saying the meeting could happen within a week. 'The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the president is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelenskyy,' Leavitt told members of the press following reports in the New York Times that Trump could meet with Putin in Russia as soon as next week. The US president has said that he is committed to helping bring the war in Ukraine to an end. He initially promised to stop the conflict on 'day one' of his presidency, but has struggled to make progress. The statement comes after US envoy Steve Witkoff visited Moscow to speak with Russian officials earlier today. In a social media post, Trump said Witkoff held a 'highly productive' meeting with Putin and that 'great progress was made!' 'Afterwards, I updated some of our European Allies. Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come,' he added. The New York Times reported that Trump intends to meet first with Putin before later setting up a meeting that would also include Zelenskyy. The news agency AFP reported that Trump also discussed the possibility of such a meeting during a phone call with Zelenskyy, citing an anonymous Ukrainian source. That call is also said to have included NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and the leaders of Britain, Germany and Finland. Trump has recently mulled steps to further increase pressure on Russia, which he has accused of not being sincerely interested in ending the war. Such steps could include heightened US sanctions.
