Ukraine drone attack kills one, damages industrial facility in Saratov, Russia says
Roman Busargin posted on the Telegram messaging app that residents were evacuated after debris from a destroyed drone damaged three apartments in the overnight attack.
"Several residents required medical assistance," Busargin said. "Aid was provided onsite, and one person has been hospitalised. Unfortunately, one person has died."
Russian air defence units destroyed 121 Ukrainian drones overnight, including eight over the Saratov region, the defence ministry said. It reports only how many drones its defence units down, not how many Ukraine launches.
Busargin did not specify what kind of industrial site was damaged.
Social media footage showed thick black smoke rising over what looked like an industrial zone. Reuters verified the location seen in one of the videos as matching file and satellite imagery of the area. Reuters could not verify when the video was filmed.
Ukrainian media, including the RBK-Ukraine media outlet, reported that the oil refinery in the city of Saratov, the administrative centre of the region, was on fire after a drone attack.
Reuters could not verify those reports. There was no official comment from Russia.
The Rosneft-owned refinery in the Saratov city was forced to suspend operations earlier this year for safety reasons after Ukrainian drone attacks, industry sources told Reuters.
Russia's SHOT Telegram channel, which often publishes information from sources in the security services and law enforcement, reported about eight explosions were heard over Saratov and Engels, cities separated by the Volga River.
Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said on Telegram that flights in and out of Saratov had been halted for about two hours early on Sunday to ensure air safety.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in their strikes on each other's territory in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Kyiv says its attacks inside Russia are aimed at destroying infrastructure that is key to Moscow's war efforts, including energy and military infrastructure, and are in response to Russia's continued strikes.
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Newsweek
2 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Trump's Russia-Ukraine Talks Raise Two Conditions Key to Ending War
Based on factual reporting, incorporates the expertise of the journalist and may offer interpretations and conclusions. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The fast-moving developments in President Donald Trump's near-back-to-back summits with the heads of Russia, Ukraine and European powers have raised two items increasingly as critical to ending the war between Moscow and Kyiv: territorial exchanges and security guarantees. While the latest talks held Monday between Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of the Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO did not produce an agreement to end the three-and-a-half-year war, the gathering laid the groundwork for a long-anticipated trilateral meeting between Trump, Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom Trump met in Alaska on Friday. 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"Ukraine can choose to keep fighting now rather than settle for Putin's terms that require withdrawing from the Donbas, but they are losing territory at a more rapid rate and their frontlines are overstretched," Kavanagh said. "More time may not buy them a better deal but force them to settle for much less." A combination of pictures shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left), U.S. President Donald Trump (center) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (right). A combination of pictures shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left), U.S. President Donald Trump (center) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (right). DREW ANGERER/SAUL LOEB/ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images Land for Peace The Kremlin has thus far maintained an ambitious set of demands outlined by Putin to put an end to the conflict. These include recognition of Russia's full control over four Ukrainian provinces—Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia—annexed without international recognition during a September 2022 wartime referendum, as well as Crimea, seized and annexed during a similar vote held in March 2014 amid the initial Russia-backed uprising in the Donetsk and Luhansk that sparked the conflict. Moscow also demands that Kyiv forego its aspirations to join NATO in addition to undergoing a process of "demilitarization" and "denazification," though Ukraine strongly denies any ties to far-right ideology. Zelensky has long expressed an unwillingness to cede territory to Russia but expressed his openness earlier Monday to discussing territorial control over "where the front line is now." Russian forces currently occupy all of Crimea, nearly the entirety of Luhansk and approximately three-quarters of Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The nearly 20 percent of Ukrainian territory held by the Russian military was on full display on a map stood in the Oval Office on Monday as Trump and Zelensky spoke in front of the press ahead of their discussions. In the Oval Office, a large map of Ukraine was displayed across from where Trump and Zelensky sat. The eastern part, shaded pink, showed the roughly 20% of the country under Russian control — a stark reminder of the nearly four-year war and a possible tool for Trump to pressure… — KyivPost (@KyivPost) August 18, 2025 The comments marked one of the most notable shifts in the Ukrainian leader's position since the Trump administration has recalibrated the U.S. approach to Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II. Trump reiterated his belief that Ukraine would have to make territorial concessions and abandon its quest to join NATO in a statement issued Sunday via his Truth Social platform. "President Zelenskyy of Ukraine can end the war with Russia almost immediately, if he wants to, or he can continue to fight," Trump wrote. "Remember how it started. No getting back Obama given Crimea (12 years ago, without a shot being fired!), and NO GOING INTO NATO BY UKRAINE. Some things never change!!!" Yet Trump has also shifted gears on his earlier calls for a ceasefire, now emphasizing that a comprehensive peace deal should be prioritized, a position that has been challenged by some European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Franz-Stefan Gady, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, argued that, without a cessation of hostilities, Moscow would likely continue its press to obtain more territory as talks continued. "The Russians obviously don't think they've run out of military options," Gady told Newsweek. "Just having returned from Ukraine a couple of weeks ago, I can attest that there are no signs that the Russian offensive operations are in any way slowing down." "On the contrary, the Russians have been picking up their advance in southern Donetsk, for example," he added, "and they're very focused on seizing the towns of Pokrovsk, Kostiantynivka, and also possibly encircling Soviansk and Kramatorsk eventually." As such, he argued that Merz "is absolutely right in setting a ceasefire as a precondition, because only once Russia agrees to a ceasefire, I think that would be a test of Russia's sincerity." The 'Guarantee' Debate On the same day as Trump's social media post, Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who met with Putin in Moscow prior to the Alaska summit, told Fox News Sunday that the Russian leader had committed to taking legislative steps toward foregoing any further territorial expansion in Ukraine or elsewhere in Europe once a peace deal was secured. In addition to reiterating his point about potential land swaps, Trump also on Friday revealed that Putin had agreed that Russia "would accept security guarantees for Ukraine." It was "a very significant step," according to the U.S. leader, that could include Western military presence in post-war Ukraine. But it remains uncertain the degree to which Putin would tolerate the presence of NATO forces following a conflict he argued was partially justified by the U.S.-led alliance's post-Cold War expansion into Eastern Europe. From the European perspective, Gady said questions still linger about the commitment from nations to actually enforce any deterrent measures on the ground beyond merely empowering Ukraine's military. "It's important to see that Europe will need to carry the bulk of the burden here," Gady said. "And I think the major issue with Europe is that hiding behind U.S. military power and a U.S. commitment to support the war Ukraine, Europe never had to ask hard questions." He argued that "the hardest question that remains unanswered for Europe" boils down to "what does Ukraine really mean for Europe's security architecture, and what is Europe prepared to risk to ensure that Ukraine will remain an independent, pro-Western country is it?" "Are European countries prepared to go to war against Russia? If the answer is no, then any sort of European reassurance force in Ukraine, integrated with Ukrainian forces, will not be able to deter future Russian aggression," he added. Kavanagh also pointed out that Trump's fundamental opposition opposed any NATO "Article 5-like" guarantees for Ukraine as suggested by Witkoff. "Planning in that direction is a waste of time because it's a nonstarter as a condition for peace," she said. "Putin may be willing to accept an Istanbul 2022-style arrangement where it has a veto over any sort of military intervention to defend Ukraine, but Ukraine will reject this." "There is just no way that Russia would fight for three years to keep Ukraine out of NATO and stop its western integration to allow Western forces in Ukraine after the war--especially now that they have the battlefield advantage," she added. "Finally, the West has little leverage over Putin. They can discuss their terms all they want, but an end to fighting right now is in Putin's hands and on his timeline." U.S. President Donald Trump sits across the table from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (right), and European leaders during a meeting at the White House on August 18, 2025, in Washington, D.C. U.S. President Donald Trump sits across the table from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (right), and European leaders during a meeting at the White House on August 18, 2025, in Washington, Dilemma European leaders have long expressed concern regarding the Trump administration's foreign policy outlook as it relates to transatlantic security. Since first coming to office in 2017, Trump has accused European allies of taking advantage of U.S. defense guarantees. Trump's position has prompted both NATO and the EU, who share the majority of their respective member states, to undergo great defense spending initiatives. The EU also agreed to spend what Trump described as "hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of military equipment" from the U.S. as part of a trade deal reached last month and NATO has since begun coordinating large-scale arms transfers from member states to Ukraine, predominantly consisting of U.S. weapons. The moves mark a more conciliatory approach from Europe toward the Trump administration; a tone made all the more apparent by the relatively amicable environment that surrounded the high-stakes talks on Friday despite underlying differences over the course of the war. Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europe at the Eurasia Group, described what he saw as "a strong show of European unity" in which each leader—including Germany's Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, French President Emmanuel Marcon, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen President and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte—"brings something to the table that works for the Trump playbook." "Merz brings the big fiscal spending that Germany is committed to on defense," Rahman told Newsweek. "Macron and Starmer are obviously committed to a reassurance force with British and French troops on the ground." "Meloni has the ideological affinity and proximity to the Trump administration and key people in the Trump ecosystem like [Vice President] JD Vance and others," he added. "Alex [Stubb], even Commission President von der Leyen, have managed to build something of a good rapport with him." 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So far, the results of Trump's direct meetings with Putin and Zelensky, alongside European allies, have yet to achieve a breakthrough, though they may pave the way for further discussions on issues Rahman said would need to be addressed even before a settlement on top-line items like territorial control and security guarantees. Such issues, according to Rahman, include "prisoner exchange, return of abducted Ukrainian children" as well as the "sequencing" of a deal, and whether or not it be preceded by a ceasefire to freeze the current lines of control. "It's way too premature to begin talking about territorial exchanges," Rahman said. "I think the European side is still focused on protecting the principles that emerged in the aftermath of the Second World War, that borders can't be redrawn by force, primarily." If Russia did remain in control of the territory it currently possesses in Ukraine, Rahman said "any recognition will be de facto, certainly not de jure."
CNN
2 minutes ago
- CNN
Trump caught on hot mic moment talking about making a deal with Putin
Ahead of the multilateral meeting, President Donald Trump was caught on a hot mic saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to reach a resolution to the war for him. CNN's chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny reports.
Bloomberg
2 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Ukraine Telecom's US Stock Jumps After Debut Amid Peace Talks
As a gathering in Washington raised hopes for an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, investors snapped up the new US shares of the largest Ukrainian mobile operator that has former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on its board. Shares of Kyivstar Group Ltd. surged 17% on Monday, their second day of trading after the Veon Ltd. subsidiary went public by merging with a special-purpose acquisition company. The stock, which trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker KYIV, more than made up losses from its first day of trading.
