Ukraine: Kyiv says it hit Russian oil, military facilities
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump moves US nuclear submarines closer to Russia after huge drone strike
US president said he had ordered to nuclear submarines to be deployed to “appropriate region’ It came after Russian president Dmitry Medvedev suggested Moscow could strike the US with a nuclear weapon. Fires have erupted in a major Russian oil refinery after a huge Ukrainian drone attack which also hit a military airfield, Ukraine’s drone forces said.
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Donald Trump has said the US has moved its nuclear submarines “closer to Russia” in response to threats made by a former Russian president.
“We always want to be ready, and so I have sent to the region two nuclear submarines,” Mr Trump told US broadcaster Newsmax. “I just want to make sure that his (Medvedev’s) words are only words and nothing more than that.”
The US president had yesterday said he had ordered to nuclear submarines to be deployed to “appropriate region”,
It came after Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who is renowned for making inflammatory statements, suggested Moscow could strike the US with a nuclear weapon. #
Meanwhile, Fires have erupted in a major Russian oil refinery after a huge Ukrainian drone attack which also hit a military airfield, Ukraine’s drone forces said.
The Unmanned Systems Forces of Ukraine said they hit a refinery in Ryazan and the Annanefteprodukt oil storage facility in the Voronezh region bordering Ukraine.
Kyiv’s SBU intelligence agency also said its drones had hit Russia’s Primorsko-Akhtarsk military airfield, which has been used to launch waves of long-range drones at targets in Ukraine.
Ukraine war latest: Drones attack Russia’s Black Sea Fleet; Russian pipelines explode in country’s Far East, HUR says
Drones attacked Russia’s Black Sea Fleet at the port of Novorossiysk in Krasnodar Krai. Residents in the area reported 8–10 powerful explosions around 2 a.m. local time. The strike was part of a broader overnight drone campaign across Russia, with explosions and fires reported in at least six regions. Russian Defense Ministry said 42 drones were intercepted within a three-hour period, most of them over Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk oblasts. Ukraine’s army chief warns of new Russian offensives in northeast as he visits Kharkiv Oblast front. The attacks come as Russia escalates aerial assaults on Ukraine, prompting Kyiv to increase long-range drone strikes on Russian military targets on July 5-6. It is unclear whether the drone attacks are part of Russia’s campaign to undermine Ukraine’s strike capabilities and bring the war closer to those of the West. The U.S. State Department has not commented on the reported drone strikes.
Drones reportedly attack Russia’s Black Sea fleet
Pipelines supplying Russian military explode in Russia’s Far East, HUR source says
Ukrainian drone strike on Russian airfield hits bomb depot, aircraft
Ukraine hits Russian electronic warfare facility making Shahed, Iskander components, General Staff says
Ukraine’s army chief warns of new Russian offensives in northeast as he visits Kharkiv Oblast front
Drones attacked Russia’s Black Sea Fleet at the port of Novorossiysk in Krasnodar Krai overnight on July 6, the Russian media outlet Astra reported.
Ukraine has not officially commented on the reported strikes, and the Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the claims.
An air alert was sounded in the city for several hours, and air defense was active. The consequences of the attack are still being determined, according to Astra.
The media outlet also published footage purportedly showing a burning maritime drone that was allegedly shot down during the attack.
Krasnodar Krai is located east of Crimea, with the Kerch Strait separating them at their closest point.
Ukraine regularly strikes military targets within Russia as Moscow continues to wage its war against Ukraine.
Pipelines supplying Russian military explode in Russia’s Far East, HUR source says
Explosions in Russia’s Vladivostok damaged a gas pipeline and destroyed a water pipeline that supplied military facilities in the area, a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent on July 5.
A fire followed the explosions and destroyed sections of the Vladivostok gas pipeline along the Sea of Japan, the source said.
The blasts occurred early on July 5, between 1-2 a.m., with Russian special services and repair teams arriving shortly after.
The damaged pipeline provides gas to several Russian military facilities on the coast of the Sea of Japan, including the 155th Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Armed Forces, the source told the Kyiv Independent.
The water pipeline destroyed in the explosion provided drinking water to military garrisons in the area.
“In order to hide information from the local population… local special services turned off mobile Internet and communications in the area,” the source added.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the claims.
Ukrainian drone strike on Russian airfield hits bomb depot, aircraft
Ukraine targeted the Borisoglebsk airfield in Russia’s Voronezh Oblast overnight on July 5, damaging a warehouse with guided bombs, aircraft, and other military assets, Ukraine’s General Staff reported.
The airfield hosts Su-34, Su-35S, and Su-30SM jets thatRussia regularly uses in air strikes against Ukraine, according to the military. The strike may have destroyed a training and combat aircraft, with further assessments underway.
The NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) detected a fire near the Borisoglebsk military airfield shortly after the strike. Residents in the area reported 8–10 powerful explosions around 2 a.m. local time, according to Russian independent outlet Astra.
The strike was part of a broader overnight drone campaign across Russia, with explosions and fires reported in at least six regions.
The Russian Defense Ministry said 42 drones were intercepted within a three-hour period, most of them over Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk oblasts, which border Ukraine.
Leningrad Oblast Governor Alexander Drozdenko said two drones were downed south of St. Petersburg, prompting a temporary suspension of flights at Pulkovo airport. No casualties or damage were reported.
The governor of Smolensk Oblast in western Russia said anti-aircraft units downed three drones without casualties or damage. The governor of Voronezh Oblast, bordering Ukraine, also confirmed the destruction of several drones.
Explosions were also heard overnight in Cheboksary, the capital of the Chuvash Republic, where video footage shared online showed a fire reportedly at a local industrial site.
Additionally, explosions were heard during the night in Engels, Saratov Oblast, with some Telegram channels suggesting a military airfield was likely targeted.
The attacks come as Russia escalates aerial assaults on Ukraine, prompting Kyiv to increase long-range drone strikes on Russian military targets.
Ukrainian officials say these drone operations aim to undermine Russia’s strike capabilities and bring the war closer to those enabling the Kremlin’s campaign.
Ukraine’s army chief warns of new Russian offensives in northeast as he visits Kharkiv Oblast front
Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, said on July 5 that he had visited the front line in Kharkiv Oblast, warning of a growing threat of renewed Russian offensives in northeastern Ukraine.
According to Syrskyi, Russian troops are ramping up attacks in the sector using large numbers of personnel. Over the past week, Ukrainian troops have repelled more than 60 Russian assaults in the area, with “about a dozen battles continuing to rage every day,” Syrskyi said.
“Russian forces are trying to overwhelm us with quantity, but we must be vigilant and apply effective tactical and technological solutions to prevent the invaders from advancing,” he said in a Telegram post.
Syrskyi said he had reviewed battlefield situation in the area, identifying unit needs, and issuing updated tactical orders.
Syrskyi said he was coordinating closely with Joint Forces Commander Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi.
Kharkiv Oblast, located in northeastern Ukraine, borders Russia and includes the country’s second-largest city. It has been a frequent target of Russian assaults and missile attacks since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Since Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive in the northeast in the fall of 2022, Russia has occupied less than 5% of Kharkiv Oblast, along the region’s eastern edge.
In spring 2024, Russian forces opened a new front in the north of Kharkiv Oblast, near the town of Vovchansk, but were pushed back by Ukrainian troops.
The Ukrainian battlefield monitoring platform DeepState reported on July 4 that Russian forces had advanced up to 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) into Kharkiv Oblast near the border village of Milove, opening yet another front in the northeast.
Ukraine hits Russian electronic warfare facility making Shahed, Iskander components, General Staff says
Ukraine struck a critical Russian military-industrial site overnight on July 5 that produces components for high-precision weapons used by Moscow to attack Ukraine, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported.
The site in question is JSC VNIIR-Progress, a Russian state institute that specializes in developing electronic warfare (EW) systems, including the Kometa antenna arrays, used to jam satellite, radio, and radar signals.
The institute is located in Cheboksary, Chuvash Republic, about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) away from the Ukrainian border.
The Kometa antenna is used in Shahed-type drones, Iskander-K cruise missiles, and guided aerial bomb modules — all high-precision weapons used by Russia to strike civilian and military targets across Ukraine.
The General Staff confirmed that Ukrainian weapons reached the target area but said final damage assessments were still underway.
The VNIIR-Progress institute has been sanctioned by both the United States and the European Union for its role in supporting Russia’s war effort.
The Iskander-K is a precision-guided cruise missile with a range of up to 500 kilometers (311 miles), frequently used by Russia to target civilian areas. Shahed drones have become a central part of Moscow’s airstrike tactics since late 2022 due to their low cost and high payload.
Located on the Volga River, Cheboksary is the capital of the Chuvash Republic and lies deep inside Russian territory. Astra and local Russian Telegram channels earlier reported explosions in the city overnight.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed to have shot down two drones over the region.
This marks the second known Ukrainian drone strike on VNIIR-Progress. On June 9, explosions and fires were also reported at the facility following another drone attack.
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Ukraine military claims it struck major Russian refinery, electronics factory
Ukraine’s military said Saturday it had struck oil facilities inside Russia, including a major refinery, a military airfield for drones and an electronics factory. A drone attack on the Rostov region, on the border with Ukraine, killed one person, said the acting governor, Yuri Slyusar. A woman was killed and two other people wounded in a drone strike on business premises in the Penza region. In the Samara region, falling drone debris sparked a fire that killed an elderly resident, regional governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said. The reciprocal drone strikes followed a day of mourning in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Friday, after a Russian drone and missile attack killed 31 people, including five children, and wounded more than 150. Russia’s Defence Ministry said in its daily report Saturday that its defence units had downed a total of 338 Ukrainian drones overnight.
In a statement on Telegram, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces said they had hit the oil refinery in Ryazan, about 180 kilometres southeast of Moscow, causing a fire on its premises.
Also hit, the USF said, was the Annanefteprodukt oil storage facility in the Voronezh region that borders on northeastern Ukraine.
The statement did not specify how the facilities were hit, but the USF specializes in drone warfare, including long-range strikes.
There was no immediate comment from Russia on the reported attacks on its infrastructure sites, but the Defence Ministry said air defences intercepted or destroyed 112 drones across eight Russian regions and the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.
A car damaged during Russian missile and drone strikes burns in Ukraine on Thursday. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)
A drone attack on the Rostov region, on the border with Ukraine, killed one person, said the acting governor, Yuri Slyusar.
Further from the front line, a woman was killed and two other people wounded in a drone strike on business premises in the Penza region, according to regional governor Oleg Melnichenko. In the Samara region, falling drone debris sparked a fire that killed an elderly resident, regional governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said in its daily report Saturday that its defence units had downed a total of 338 Ukrainian drones overnight. Its reports did not say how many Ukrainian drones were launched at any given time. Ukraine’s air force said it had downed 45 of 53 Russian drones launched at its territory overnight.
Dozens of Russian drones launched, Ukraine says
According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched 53 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight into Saturday. It said air defences shot down or jammed 45 drones.
Eleven people were wounded in an overnight drone strike on the Kharkiv region, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Saturday.
WATCH | Rescuers pull people out of rubble after Russian attack hits Kyiv apartment block: ‘I was in shock,’ Kyiv resident says after deadly Russian strikes Rescuers rushed to the scene of a deadly Russian attack on Thursday after a volley of drones and missiles hit an apartment block.
The reciprocal drone strikes followed a day of mourning in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Friday, after a Russian drone and missile attack killed 31 people, including five children, and wounded more than 150.
Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency said its drones had hit Russia’s Primorsko-Akhtarsk military airfield, which has been used to launch waves of long-range drones at targets in Ukraine.
A woman embraces an individual as she waits for her son to be rescued from under debris at the site of an apartment building in Kyiv hit during Russian missile and drone strikes on Thursday. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)
The SBU said it also hit a factory in Penza that it said supplies Russia’s military-industrial complex with electronics.
At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine had no response to Moscow’s vast long-range strike capacity but it has since built up a fleet of long-range kamikaze drones able to carry explosive warheads for many hundreds of kilometres.
On Ukraine’s eastern battlefront, Russia’s Defence Ministry said, Russian forces had captured the village of Oleksandro-Kalynove in the Donetsk region on Saturday.
Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield report.
Continuing attacks come despite comments Monday from U.S. President Donald Trump about giving Russian President Vladimir Putin until Aug. 8, a shorter deadline than the 50 days Trump initially cited, to make peace with Ukraine.
Trump said Thursday that special envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Russia to push Moscow to agree to a ceasefire, and has threatened new economic sanctions if progress is not made.
Russian forces reportedly now control almost 20 per cent of Ukraine in its east and south 3½ years into the war.
Ukraine says it hit Russian oil facilities, military airfield
Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces said they had hit the oil refinery in Ryazan, about 180 km (110 miles) southeast of Moscow. The statement did not specify how the facilities were hit, but the USF specialises in drone warfare, including long-range strikes. There was no immediate comment from Russia on the reported attacks on its infrastructure sites. Russia’s defence ministry said in its daily report that its defence units had downed a total of 338 Ukrainian drones overnight.
In a statement on Telegram, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces said they had hit the oil refinery in Ryazan, about 180 km (110 miles) southeast of Moscow, causing a fire on its premises.
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Also hit, the USF said, was the Annanefteprodukt oil storage facility in the Voronezh region that borders on northeastern Ukraine.
The statement did not specify how the facilities were hit, but the USF specialises in drone warfare, including long-range strikes.
There was no immediate comment from Russia on the reported attacks on its infrastructure sites.
Separately, Ukraine’s SBU intelligence agency said its drones had hit Russia’s Primorsko-Akhtarsk military airfield, which has been used to launch waves of long-range drones at targets in Ukraine.
The SBU said it also hit a factory in Penza that it said supplies Russia’s military-industrial complex with electronics.
At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine had no response to Moscow’s vast long-range strike capacity but it has since built up a fleet of long-range kamikaze drones able to carry explosive warheads for many hundreds of kilometres (miles).
Russia’s defence ministry said in its daily report that its defence units had downed a total of 338 Ukrainian drones overnight. Its reports do not say how many Ukrainian drones were launched at any given time.
For its part, Ukraine’s air force said it had downed 45 of 53 Russian drones launched towards its territory overnight.
On Ukraine’s eastern battlefront, Russia’s defence ministry said, Russian forces had captured the village of Oleksandro-Kalynove in the Donetsk region on Saturday.
Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield report.
Russian forces now control almost 20% of Ukraine in its east and south after three-and-a-half years of grinding war.
Reporting by Max Hunder with additional reporting by Alexander Marrow; editing by Louise Heavens and Mark Heinrich
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Ukraine: Kyiv says it hit Russian oil, military facilities
Ukraine’s military says it has hit key infrastructure inside Russia, including a significant oil refinery. Kyiv also says it struck a military airfield used for drones and an electronics factory. A fire that broke out near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant after Ukrainian shelling has been brought under control, according to Russian authorities. Indian government sources have revealed there are no plans to stop buying oil from Russia. This is despite US President Donald Trump’s threats to impose penalties on New Delhi for buying Russian arms, oil and natural gas. The blog covers news related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Saturday, August 2. The full blog can be read here: http://www.dailymailonline.co.uk/news/article-315715/Ukraine-military-says-it-has-hit-key-infrastructure-inside-Russia.
A fire that broke out near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant after Ukrainian shelling has been brought under control, according to Russian authorities.
Meanwhile, the New York Times has reported that Indian government sources have revealed there are no plans to stop buying oil from Russia. This is despite US President Donald Trump’s threats to impose penalties on India.
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This blog covers news related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Saturday, August 2.
India to continue buying oil from Russia: report
India will keep purchasing oil from Russia despite US President Donald Trump’s threats of penalties.
This is according to two Indian government sources and reported on by the Reuters news agency, via the New York Times.
“These are long-term oil contracts,” Reuters reported one of the sources as saying. “It is not so simple to just stop buying overnight.”
Trump last month suggested on social media that India would face additional penalties for purchases of Russian arms and oil.
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant brought under control, says Russia
A fire that broke out near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant after Ukrainian shelling has subsided after being brought under control, the Moscow-installed administration of the Russian-held plant in Ukraine said on Saturday.
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Russia seized the Zaporizhzhia plant in the first weeks of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which got underway in February 2022.
Since Moscow took the plant, both sides have accused each other of firing or taking other measures that could increases the danger of a nuclear accident.
Ukraine says it has struck Russian oil and military facilities
Ukraine said it had struck infrastructure within Russia, including a major oil refinery as well as a military airfield for drones and an electronics factory.
Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) said the military had hit the refinery in Ryazan, some 180 kilometers (110 miles) southeast of Moscow. The attack sparked a fire on its premises.
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The USF said it also hit the Annanefteprodukt oil storage facility in the Voronezh region.
Elsewhere, the Ukrainian SBU intelligence agency said its drones had hit Russia’s Primorsko-Akhtarsk military airfield.
The airbase has been used to launch waves of long-range drones at targets in Ukraine.
The SBU said it also struck a plant in Penza. According to the intelligence agency, the factory supplies Moscow’s military-industrial complex with electronics.
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Ukraine’s military said Saturday that it had hit key infrastructure inside Russia, including a significant oil refinery, as well as a military airfield used for drones, and an electronics factory.
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Mwanwhile, a fire broke out near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant after Ukrainian shelling, before being brought under control.
According to the New York Times, Indian government sources have revealed there are no plans to stop buying oil from Russia. This is despite US President Donald Trump’s threats to impose penalties on New Delhi.