Ukraine hit more oil facilities deep inside Russia in overnight attacks, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday (August 6, 2026), as Kyiv kept up its campaign to undermine Moscow’s wartime economy and embarrass the Kremlin.

The repeated strikes have caused fuel shortages and rattled Russians. Ukrainians, meanwhile, are enduring regular barrages that Kyiv’s depleted air defences are struggling to counter amid Moscow’s 4-year-old full-scale invasion.

The Kyiv region observed an official day of mourning Thursday (August 6, 2026) after a Russian missile and drone blitz killed 17 people the previous day, prompting an increasingly urgent scramble by Ukraine and its partner countries to find new air defense supplies.

In the first six months of this year, 1,396 civilians were killed and 7,978 injured in Ukraine, the United Nations office in Kyiv said Wednesday (August 5, 2026). That was a 37% increase from the same period last year and a 114% jump over 2024, it said, attributing the rise to more long-range aerial attacks by Russia.

Mr. Zelenskyy said he met with senior officials on how to accelerate the development of Ukraine’s own ballistic weaponry, similar to its swift wartime innovation in drone technology.

“Developing one’s own ballistic capabilities and creating a new anti-ballistic system is a task that only a tiny minority of countries worldwide have managed to accomplish,” he said in a social media post. “Ukraine has this capability.” Mr. Zelenskyy said he expects the programme to produce results this year and next after it overcomes “key challenges,” including procuring critical components, technological cooperation with partner countries, and choosing where to build the armaments.

Ukraine says it hit Russian refineries and vessels at sea

Ukrainian forces hit a refinery in Russia’s Bashkortostan region, more than 1,300 kilometres from the front line, as well as a refinery in the Yaroslavl region, almost 700 kilometres from the border, Mr. Zelenskyy said on social media.

Yaroslavl Gov Mikhail Yevrayev confirmed an attack on a refinery, saying in a Telegram post that drone debris hit the facility’s oil reservoirs, sparking a fire. Three private houses also caught fire, and several residential buildings were damaged, he added.

Ukrainian forces hit two Russian military patrol boats in the Black Sea, Zelenskyy said, along with vessels belonging to Moscow’s so-called shadow fleet, which Russia uses to evade Western restrictions on its oil exports. He did not give any details.

The Russian Defence Ministry said its air defences overnight shot down 605 Ukrainian drones over its territory.

Ukraine seeks more interceptor missiles to bolster air defences

Drone and glide bomb attacks across Ukraine overnight killed at least three civilians and wounded 22 others, authorities said Thursday (August 6, 2026), as countries helping Kyiv resist the invasion scrambled to find more vital air defences for its fight.

Moscow’s forces have in recent weeks pummeled Ukraine with ballistic missiles that Kyiv officials say only the U.S.-made Patriot air defence system can stop. But the Iran war has drained stocks of Patriot interceptor missiles, leaving Ukraine at the mercy of Russian bombardments that seek to exploit the weakened air defences.

“We are working as hard as possible with all partners who can assist with the supply of interceptor missiles to protect against such insane Russian strikes targeting life, people, and civilian facilities,” Mr. Zelenskyy said on social media late Wednesday (August 5, 2026).

He said he had spoken to NATO chief Mark Rutte and Finnish President Alexander Stubb about urgently procuring interceptors from stockpiles. Zelenskyy said he and Mr. Rutte “coordinated our efforts regarding countries that have the necessary missiles and the capacity to help.” Mr. Rutte said on X that he was discussing with allies “how we can continue to get Ukraine the air defences they urgently need.”

Russian glide bombs wound 12 in Sumy region

Russia appears determined to exhaust Ukraine through sheer weight of numbers in terms of soldiers, armour and weapons. Russian President Vladimir Putin believes time is on his side, that Western support will fade and that Ukraine’s resistance will eventually collapse under pressure, Western analysts and officials say.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired four missiles and 101 long-range strike drones overnight, with air defences shooting down or jamming 66 drones.

Three people were killed in Balakliia in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, said Vitalii Karabanov, head of the city’s military administration.

In the neighbouring Sumy region, Russian glide bombs wounded 12 people, the National Police said. Apartment buildings and infrastructure were damaged, with hundreds of windows shattered, said regional military administration chief Oleh Hryhorov.

In the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, a Russian drone struck a bus carrying farmworkers, injuring six people, regional authorities said.

A Russian drone also struck a residential area in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, injuring four, said regional administration head Ivan Fedorov.

Published – August 06, 2026 11:48 pm IST

A civilian vessel is on fire, as Ukraine’s navy spokesman reported a Russian military strike on a civilian vessel, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near the Black Sea port of Odesa, Ukraine, July 14, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russian army servicemen at Victory Park open-air museum on Poklonnaya Gora in Moscow. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Residents stand next to damaged cars, at the site of a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands during a press conference following their talks in Alaska in August 2025. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The motorcade of refrigerators of the convoy carrying bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Zelenskyy on Sunday (December 14, 2025) voiced readiness to drop his country’s bid to join NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees, but rejected the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia as he arrived in Berlin for talks with U.S. envoys on ending the war.

Mr. Zelenskyy arrived at the Chancellery ahead of the expected talks with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, part of a series of meetings in Berlin between Ukrainian, U.S. and European officials.

Responding to journalists’ questions in audio clips on a WhatsApp group chat before the talks, Mr. Zelenskyy said that since the U.S. and some European nations had rejected Ukraine’s push to join NATO, Kyiv expects the West to offer a set of guarantees similar to those offered to the alliance members.

“These security guarantees are an opportunity to prevent another wave of Russian aggression,” he said. “And this is already a compromise on our part.” Mr. Zelenskyy emphasised that any security assurances would need to be legally binding and supported by the U.S. Congress, adding that he expected an update from his team following a meeting between Ukrainian and US military officials in Stuttgart, Germany.

He said that he will meet separately with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and, possibly, other European leaders later in the evening.

Washington has tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Mr. Trump presses for a swift end to Russia’s war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays.

The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.

Tough obstacles remain

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw its forces from the part of the Donetsk region still under its control among the key conditions for peace, a demand rejected by Kyiv.

Mr. Zelenskyy said that the U.S. had floated an idea for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donetsk and create a demilitarised free economic zone there, a proposal he rejected as unworkable.

“I do not consider this fair, because who will manage this economic zone?” he said. “If we are talking about some buffer zone along the line of contact, if we are talking about some economic zone and we believe that only a police mission should be there and troops should withdraw, then the question is very simple. If Ukrainian troops withdraw 5–10 kilometres, for example, then why do Russian troops not withdraw deeper into the occupied territories by the same distance?” Mr. Zelenskyy described the issue as “very sensitive” and insisted on a freeze along the line of contact, saying that “today a fair possible option is we stand where we stand.” Mr. Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told the business daily Kommersant that Russian police and national guard would stay in parts of the Donetsk region even if they become a demilitarised zone under a prospective peace plan.

Ushakov warned that a search for compromise could take a long time, noting that the U.S. proposals that took into account Russian demands had been “worsened” by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.

Speaking to Russian state TV in remarks broadcast Sunday, Ushakov said that “the contribution of Ukrainians and Europeans to these documents is unlikely to be constructive,” warning that Moscow will “have very strong objections.” Ushakov added that the territorial issue was actively discussed in Moscow when Witkoff and Kushner met with Mr. Putin earlier this month. “The Americans know and understand our position,” he said.

Mr. Merz, who has spearheaded European efforts to support Ukraine alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said Saturday that “the decades of the Pax Americana’ are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as well.” He warned that Putin’s aim is “a fundamental change to the borders in Europe, the restoration of the old Soviet Union within its borders.” “If Ukraine falls, he won’t stop,” Merz warned on Saturday during a party conference in Munich.

Putin has denied plans to restore the Soviet Union or attack any European allies.

Russia and Ukraine exchange aerial attacks

Ukraine’s air force said that Russia overnight launched ballistic missiles and 138 attack drones at Ukraine. The air force said 110 had been intercepted or downed, but missile and drone hits were recorded at six locations.

Zelenskyy said Sunday that hundreds of thousands of families were still without power in the south, east and northeast regions and work was continuing to restore electricity, heat and water to multiple regions following a large-scale attack the previous night.

The Ukrainian President said that in the past week, Russia had launched over 1,500 strike drones, nearly 900 guided aerial bombs and 46 missiles of various types at Ukraine.

“Ukraine needs peace on decent terms, and we are ready to work as constructively as possible. These days will be filled with diplomacy. It’s very important that it brings results,” Mr. Zelenskyy said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said that air defences downed 235 Ukrainian drones late Saturday and early Sunday.

In the Belgorod region, a drone injured a man and set his house ablaze in the village of Yasnye Zori, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Ukrainian drones struck an oil depot in Uryupinsk in the Volgograd region, triggering a fire, according to regional Gov. Andrei Bocharov.

In the Krasnodar region, the Ukrainian drones attacked the town of Afipsky, where an oil refinery is located. Authorities said that explosions shattered windows in residential buildings, but didn’t report any damage to the refinery.

Published – December 14, 2025 10:02 pm IST