Strikes across Ukraine, the Russian-occupied zone and Russia have killed at least 16 people, authorities said, as the country marks its 40th anniversary. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster issued new warnings about the dangers posed by attacks near the plant in time The invasion of Russia for more than four years of its neighbor.
The death toll of Russians drones and missiles in the city of Dnipro increased to nine, said the head of the region Oleksandr Hanzha on Sunday.
One man was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike in the port city of Sevastopol, in Russian-controlled Crimea, Moscow authorities said on Sunday. Russia seized the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world considered illegal, and has used it as a staging and supply base during the war.
Leonid Pasechnik, the Russian-deputized governor of the Ukrainian region of Luhansk – where Russia earlier this month said it had taken full control, a claim denied by Ukraine – said three people were killed in an overnight Ukrainian strike that hit the town, after two people were reported dead in the early hours of Saturday.
Ukraine has not commented on the attack, which could not be independently confirmed by the Associated Press.
Dan Bashakov / AP
The latest strikes came after a woman was killed in an attack on a Ukrainian airliner near the Russian border town of Belgorod, according to local authorities.
Ukrainian troops have again raided an oil refinery in Yaroslavl, in central Russia, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Sunday. The strikes sparked a fire at the facility, which processes 15 million tons a year and produces gasoline, diesel and jet fuel for the Russian military. Russia did not immediately comment.
Ukraine has developed its own long-range drone, which can reach targets 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) inside Russia. It has used them recently against Russian oil facilities as Moscow looks to increase its exports after the Trump administration granted it a temporary reprieve from sanctions to ease supply constraints. Officials in Kyiv complain that Russia will spend more money on new weapons to hit Ukraine harder.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster to warn that Russia's attack risks history repeating itself.
“With its war, Russia has once again brought the world to the brink of a man-made disaster – the Russian-Iranian Shaheds constantly fly over the plant, and one of them closed the cell last year,” he wrote on Facebook.
“The world must not allow this nuclear terrorism to continue, and the best way is to force Russia to stop its reckless attacks,” he said.
Rafael Grossithe director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, echoed those concerns during a visit to Kyiv, saying that the repair of the damaged outer shell of the facility must begin immediately. IAEA inspections show that damage caused after last year's strike has already compromised the building's vital safety function, he said, warning that years of inactivity could increase the risk to the original sarcophagus beneath it. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said repairs would require at least 500 million euros ($586 million).
Ukrainian officials say a Russian drone struck the outer shell of the new Safe Confinement plant — a nearly $2.1 billion facility completed in 2019 over the remains of Reactor No.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov visited North Korea on Sunday for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un about future military cooperation between the countries.
Belousov said the countries agreed to “turn military cooperation into a sustainable, long-term basis,” according to Russian news agency Ria Novosti.
During the visit, he presented the Russian Order of Courage to Korean service members serving in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukraine launched a surprise attack in August 2024.
Kim has sent thousands of troops and large arms shipments to support Russia's war against Ukraine.
