Ukraine launches one of largest aerial attacks on Moscow in years
Ellie Cook
Tue, October 6, 2026
Ukraine launched nearly 700 drones toward Moscow overnight, killing two people in one of Kyiv's largest assaults on the Russian capital, according to Russian officials.
More than 650 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were detected heading for the Moscow region between 8:30 p.m. Monday and 5 a.m. Tuesday local time, according to Moscow's mayor, Sergey Sobyanin.
Sobyanin later said another 68 drones had been "destroyed" en route to the Russian capital.
It marked one of Ukraine's biggest drone attacks on Moscow in two years, Russia's Tass state news agency reported.
Moscow's four airports grounded all flights in the early hours of Tuesday, and Russian media reported four flights heading for the Russian capital from Turkey had turned back mid-journey due to flight restrictions. Nine aircraft were diverted from Moscow to St Petersburg.
Russia's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday its air defenses had intercepted 868 Ukrainian drones over 11 Russian regions, as well as the annexed peninsula of Crimea and over the Sea of Azov, overnight.
A 71-year-old man was killed in a suburb of southern Moscow, and a 20-year-old man died northwest of the Russian capital, said Moscow Regional Governor Andrey Vorobyov. Nine others were reported injured.
Ukrainian and independent Russian sources said the Moscow region's largest oil depot, named as the Volodarskaya Line Production and Dispatch Station (LPDS), was targeted by Kyiv overnight.
The Volodarskaya depot supplies three of Moscow's major airports and pumps out more than 3 million tons of petroleum products each year, according to the SPRAVDI project, which is backed by the Ukrainian government. It shared footage widely circulating online on Tuesday, purporting to show the facility in flames.
Newsweek could not independently verify these clips.
A damaged apartment building following a drone attack in Kotelniki in the Moscow region on September 20.
This is a breaking story
Ukraine claims to have taken out more than half of Russia's oil refining capacity
HANNA ARHIROVA and KATIE MARIE DAVIES
Updated Mon, October 5, 2026
A mother surrounded by family cries sitting by the coffin of her son Illia Honcharenko, 14, killed by a Russian rocket strike on a residential house on Sept. 30, during their funeral, in Vyshhorod, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A car burns after a Russian drone strike on a residential neighborhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko) (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
A rescue worker tries to put out a fire of a residential house damaged in a Russian drone strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko) (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine says its long-range strikes have neutralized more than half of Russia's oil refining capacity, hampering Moscow's ability to supply its forces during its 4 1/2-year-old invasion.
The Defense Ministry said late Sunday that recent strikes on refineries in cities, including Moscow, Yaroslavl, Ust-Luga, Perm, Saratov and Syzran, had disabled 51% of Russia's oil refining capacity. The claim could not be independently verified.
Moscow and Kyiv have intensified their aerial assaults as progress along the 1,200-kilometer (750-mile) front line has largely ground to a halt.
Ukrainian strikes cause fuel issues in Russia
Ukraine has launched repeated attacks on refineries from Moscow to Siberia, sparking a widespread fuel crisis in Russia earlier this year that forced authorities to restrict gasoline sales.
Russian officials have not released figures on damage to the country's oil infrastructure. But in a rare acknowledgment of the strikes' economic impact, President Vladimir Putin said on Oct. 1 that they had cost Russia roughly 1% of its gross domestic product.
"They started attacking oil refineries and openly declared the goal of damaging our economy. Did they achieve their goal? Partially," Putin told a meeting of the Valdai Club forum of international foreign policy experts.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara said analysts from Ukraine's intelligence services, the General Staff and the Defense Ministry had assessed the strikes' effects.
"Fifty-one percent of struck refining capacity is a significant blow to the enemy's economy, to its ability to carry out aggression and supply its troop groupings. Our deep strikes continue to bring the war to Russian territory," he said.
Russia has historically been the world's third-largest producer of refined fuel products from crude, after the U.S. and China.
Some of Russia's 32 refineries have been hit as many as 15 times since the start of the war, and one refinery has been hit every three days in recent months, creating a cycle of damage and emergency repairs that could degrade units long term, according to the International Energy Agency.
Russia says nearly 900 Ukrainian drones downed and Moscow region fuel depot reportedly burns
Ukrainian strikes have also increasingly targeted the more complex equipment that removes impurities from fuel, which takes months to repair. The IEA says diesel output has fallen by about 30%, and drivers have had to wait up to 40 hours to fill up at gasoline stations.
Russian refiners have tried to compensate by delaying scheduled maintenance and bringing mothballed units back online. Another response has been to lower fuel quality standards to maintain gasoline supplies, which risks damage to engines and pollution control equipment.
The Kremlin has also banned diesel exports, pushing global prices higher and prompting U.S. President Donald Trump on Sept. 13 to urge Ukraine to stop hitting refineries.
Russian strikes kill at least 4 in Kharkiv
A Russian attack with a guided aerial bomb killed at least three people and wounded 39 others, including three children, in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Monday, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
"There may be people under the rubble of the residential building that was hit. A search and rescue operation is underway," Terekhov wrote on his Telegram channel.
An earlier Russian drone attack on the city's Industrialnyi district also killed one person, Terekhov said late Sunday. Vehicles and an administrative building were set alight and apartment buildings were damaged, he said.
Another person was also killed in a separate Russian attack on the Sloviansk community in Ukraine's Donetsk region, said Vadym Liakh, head of the Sloviansk city military administration. He urged residents not to wait for a mandatory evacuation order but to leave the area.
Ukraine's air force reported that Russia launched 205 drones overnight into Monday, with 172 shot down or suppressed.
Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday that it had struck an electrical substation in the Kharkiv region, in addition to energy and port infrastructure and maritime vessels used by Ukraine's military elsewhere in the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian drone attack caused a fire on board a commercial vessel that later sank in the Black Sea.
Two people died and 11 crew members were rescued, Romanian authorities said.
In a post on X on Monday, Zelenskyy described the attack as "a horrific strike by two Russian drones on a civilian vessel" in neutral waters. He said the vessel was Turkish-owned and carrying corn.
Russia did not immediately comment on the incident.
Ukraine has struggled in recent weeks to fend off Russia's intensified aerial attacks on cities that include ballistic missiles and high-flying jet-powered drones.
Kyiv has suffered under repeated air raid alerts, punctuated by loud explosions from drone and missile strikes. The onslaught aims to terrorize civilians, officials and analysts say, and break their will to resist Russia's full-scale invasion since 2022.
Ukraine says it shot down Russian drones with AI-operated guns
Presidential adviser Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov said on social media that 12 automated turrets had been installed in Kyiv to counter jet-powered Shahed drones, with more planned. He described the turrets as artificial intelligence-controlled machine guns.
Ukraine's air force later said that it had used the robotic turrets to successfully shoot down Russian jet-powered drones, including the Geran-5, for the first time.
"It's machine vision that is used for the shootdowns. Artificial intelligence makes it possible to engage even jet-powered drones," air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on Ukrainian television.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces downed 199 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions overnight, as well as the illegally annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the Black Sea.
Ukraine-Moldova border crossing closed after Russian attack
Operations at a border crossing between Moldova and Ukraine were suspended Monday after a shell fell close to the checkpoint during a Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure, Moldova's Border Police said.
The shell fell near the Palanca-Mayaky-Udobne checkpoint, bounced off the ground and hit a passenger bus parked near the barrier, according to the statement.
The bus and a security checkpoint booth were damaged, and one border service employee suffered minor injuries, police said. No other casualties were reported. Border police advised people to avoid traveling to the area.
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Davies reported from Manchester, England. ___
Follow the AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
HANNA ARHIROVA and KATIE MARIE DAVIES
Updated Mon, October 5, 2026
A mother surrounded by family cries sitting by the coffin of her son Illia Honcharenko, 14, killed by a Russian rocket strike on a residential house on Sept. 30, during their funeral, in Vyshhorod, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A car burns after a Russian drone strike on a residential neighborhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko) (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
A rescue worker tries to put out a fire of a residential house damaged in a Russian drone strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko) (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine says its long-range strikes have neutralized more than half of Russia's oil refining capacity, hampering Moscow's ability to supply its forces during its 4 1/2-year-old invasion.
The Defense Ministry said late Sunday that recent strikes on refineries in cities, including Moscow, Yaroslavl, Ust-Luga, Perm, Saratov and Syzran, had disabled 51% of Russia's oil refining capacity. The claim could not be independently verified.
Moscow and Kyiv have intensified their aerial assaults as progress along the 1,200-kilometer (750-mile) front line has largely ground to a halt.
Ukrainian strikes cause fuel issues in Russia
Ukraine has launched repeated attacks on refineries from Moscow to Siberia, sparking a widespread fuel crisis in Russia earlier this year that forced authorities to restrict gasoline sales.
Russian officials have not released figures on damage to the country's oil infrastructure. But in a rare acknowledgment of the strikes' economic impact, President Vladimir Putin said on Oct. 1 that they had cost Russia roughly 1% of its gross domestic product.
"They started attacking oil refineries and openly declared the goal of damaging our economy. Did they achieve their goal? Partially," Putin told a meeting of the Valdai Club forum of international foreign policy experts.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara said analysts from Ukraine's intelligence services, the General Staff and the Defense Ministry had assessed the strikes' effects.
"Fifty-one percent of struck refining capacity is a significant blow to the enemy's economy, to its ability to carry out aggression and supply its troop groupings. Our deep strikes continue to bring the war to Russian territory," he said.
Russia has historically been the world's third-largest producer of refined fuel products from crude, after the U.S. and China.
Some of Russia's 32 refineries have been hit as many as 15 times since the start of the war, and one refinery has been hit every three days in recent months, creating a cycle of damage and emergency repairs that could degrade units long term, according to the International Energy Agency.
Russia says nearly 900 Ukrainian drones downed and Moscow region fuel depot reportedly burns
Ukrainian strikes have also increasingly targeted the more complex equipment that removes impurities from fuel, which takes months to repair. The IEA says diesel output has fallen by about 30%, and drivers have had to wait up to 40 hours to fill up at gasoline stations.
Russian refiners have tried to compensate by delaying scheduled maintenance and bringing mothballed units back online. Another response has been to lower fuel quality standards to maintain gasoline supplies, which risks damage to engines and pollution control equipment.
The Kremlin has also banned diesel exports, pushing global prices higher and prompting U.S. President Donald Trump on Sept. 13 to urge Ukraine to stop hitting refineries.
Russian strikes kill at least 4 in Kharkiv
A Russian attack with a guided aerial bomb killed at least three people and wounded 39 others, including three children, in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Monday, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
"There may be people under the rubble of the residential building that was hit. A search and rescue operation is underway," Terekhov wrote on his Telegram channel.
An earlier Russian drone attack on the city's Industrialnyi district also killed one person, Terekhov said late Sunday. Vehicles and an administrative building were set alight and apartment buildings were damaged, he said.
Another person was also killed in a separate Russian attack on the Sloviansk community in Ukraine's Donetsk region, said Vadym Liakh, head of the Sloviansk city military administration. He urged residents not to wait for a mandatory evacuation order but to leave the area.
Ukraine's air force reported that Russia launched 205 drones overnight into Monday, with 172 shot down or suppressed.
Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday that it had struck an electrical substation in the Kharkiv region, in addition to energy and port infrastructure and maritime vessels used by Ukraine's military elsewhere in the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian drone attack caused a fire on board a commercial vessel that later sank in the Black Sea.
Two people died and 11 crew members were rescued, Romanian authorities said.
In a post on X on Monday, Zelenskyy described the attack as "a horrific strike by two Russian drones on a civilian vessel" in neutral waters. He said the vessel was Turkish-owned and carrying corn.
Russia did not immediately comment on the incident.
Ukraine has struggled in recent weeks to fend off Russia's intensified aerial attacks on cities that include ballistic missiles and high-flying jet-powered drones.
Kyiv has suffered under repeated air raid alerts, punctuated by loud explosions from drone and missile strikes. The onslaught aims to terrorize civilians, officials and analysts say, and break their will to resist Russia's full-scale invasion since 2022.
Ukraine says it shot down Russian drones with AI-operated guns
Presidential adviser Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov said on social media that 12 automated turrets had been installed in Kyiv to counter jet-powered Shahed drones, with more planned. He described the turrets as artificial intelligence-controlled machine guns.
Ukraine's air force later said that it had used the robotic turrets to successfully shoot down Russian jet-powered drones, including the Geran-5, for the first time.
"It's machine vision that is used for the shootdowns. Artificial intelligence makes it possible to engage even jet-powered drones," air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on Ukrainian television.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces downed 199 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions overnight, as well as the illegally annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the Black Sea.
Ukraine-Moldova border crossing closed after Russian attack
Operations at a border crossing between Moldova and Ukraine were suspended Monday after a shell fell close to the checkpoint during a Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure, Moldova's Border Police said.
The shell fell near the Palanca-Mayaky-Udobne checkpoint, bounced off the ground and hit a passenger bus parked near the barrier, according to the statement.
The bus and a security checkpoint booth were damaged, and one border service employee suffered minor injuries, police said. No other casualties were reported. Border police advised people to avoid traveling to the area.
___
Davies reported from Manchester, England. ___
Follow the AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukraine fires nearly 900 drones at Russia as Kyiv braces for expected huge aerial attack
SAMYA KULLAB
Updated Tue, October 6, 2026
AP
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of ambulances after a Russian strike on a medical facility of Kramatorsk, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP) (AP via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of cars after a Russian strike on gas station in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP) (AP via AP)
Rescue workers extinguish a fire at a furniture factory, damaged by a Russian drone strike, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko) (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian air defenses intercepted nearly 900 Ukrainian drones overnight over multiple regions of the country, as well as the occupied Crimean Peninsula and the Sea of Azov, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said Tuesday.
Unconfirmed media reports said a major fuel depot in the Moscow region was on fire after the attack that killed two people.
Ukraine's domestically developed long-range drones and, increasingly, missiles have allowed Kyiv to hit Russian soil during the more than 4 ½ years since Moscow's forces launched a full-scale invasion. It has hit targets as far east as the Urals and Siberia.
The bigger Russian military's air superiority during the war has made aerial attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine routine.
Ukrainian officials are now bracing for what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Tuesday is an upcoming "massive" aerial attack by Russia.
"Today, we received updated intelligence on Russia's preparations for a massive strike. We are preparing countermeasures," Zelenskyy said on social media. "We set deadlines for a significant part of the tasks, and the highest-priority ones are already being implemented."
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said last week that Kyiv estimates Russia is holding 600 ballistic missiles in reserve and can produce up to 140 ballistic missiles per month. Without ammunition for its U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, which is in short supply, Ukraine is at the mercy of Russia's ballistic weapons.
Ukraine fires more than 700 drones toward the Moscow region
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 650 drones flew toward the Moscow region between Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Most were destroyed far away, and 105 were downed as they approached the city, he said.
Sobyanin later reported 68 more drones targeting Moscow were downed during daylight on Tuesday morning.
Ukraine has regularly targeted Russian oil refineries and storage depots, claiming last weekend that it had disabled 51% of Russia's oil refining capacity. The claim could not be independently verified. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that the attacks had cost Russia roughly 1% of its gross domestic product.
Russia has traditionally been the world's third-largest producer of refined fuel products from crude, after the U.S. and China. The Kremlin has banned diesel exports due to the Ukrainian strikes, pushing global prices higher. That prompted U.S. President Donald Trump last month to urge Ukraine to stop hitting Russia's refineries.
After hitting Kyiv bridges, Russia targets a bridge in southern Ukraine
After several days of targeting bridges in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, as part of a campaign to make civilian life difficult, Russia attacked one of the bridges over the Dnipro River in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, according to Mykhailo Semikin, the regional military administration chief.
Traffic across the bridge was temporarily suspended as a result of the attack, he said.
A nighttime Russian attack on a Zaporizhzhia residential building wounded five people and a daylight strike on a warehouse in the city caused a large fire, regional head Mikhail Semikin said.
Russian forces are also trying to choke shipping in Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, denying Kyiv vital grain export revenue.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces overnight struck targets in Ukraine's southern Odesa region on the Black Sea coast with drones. An ammunition depot was hit, as were a bulk carrier in the Chornomorsk port carrying dual-use goods and port infrastructure in Izmail, the ministry said.
A Russian drone strike hit a cargo ship flying the flag of the Marshall Islands in the Black Sea, killing one person and wounding seven others, Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said. The vessel was carrying rapeseed oil, he said.
Moscow warns against a bigger US presence in Lithuania
Asked about Lithuania's offer to host a U.S. military base and the Lithuanian parliament voting on a bill to allow the deployment of nuclear weapons in the country, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the moves would escalate tensions.
"If military infrastructure belonging to a key NATO member moves closer to our borders, then naturally, this can only be perceived as a step toward escalating tensions, just like the deployment of nuclear weapons on the territory of a neighboring state," Peskov told reporters.
Trump said Monday he would consider establishing a permanent U.S. military base in Lithuania, one of three small Baltic states seen as particularly vulnerable to Russia.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned last month that Moscow is planning hybrid strikes with drones or rockets on European countries supporting Ukraine, which include Poland and Lithuania.
___
AP reporter Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw, Poland contributed to this story.
___
Follow the AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of ambulances after a Russian strike on a medical facility of Kramatorsk, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP) (AP via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of cars after a Russian strike on gas station in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP) (AP via AP)
Rescue workers extinguish a fire at a furniture factory, damaged by a Russian drone strike, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko) (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian air defenses intercepted nearly 900 Ukrainian drones overnight over multiple regions of the country, as well as the occupied Crimean Peninsula and the Sea of Azov, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said Tuesday.
Unconfirmed media reports said a major fuel depot in the Moscow region was on fire after the attack that killed two people.
Ukraine's domestically developed long-range drones and, increasingly, missiles have allowed Kyiv to hit Russian soil during the more than 4 ½ years since Moscow's forces launched a full-scale invasion. It has hit targets as far east as the Urals and Siberia.
The bigger Russian military's air superiority during the war has made aerial attacks on civilian areas of Ukraine routine.
Ukrainian officials are now bracing for what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Tuesday is an upcoming "massive" aerial attack by Russia.
"Today, we received updated intelligence on Russia's preparations for a massive strike. We are preparing countermeasures," Zelenskyy said on social media. "We set deadlines for a significant part of the tasks, and the highest-priority ones are already being implemented."
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said last week that Kyiv estimates Russia is holding 600 ballistic missiles in reserve and can produce up to 140 ballistic missiles per month. Without ammunition for its U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, which is in short supply, Ukraine is at the mercy of Russia's ballistic weapons.
Ukraine fires more than 700 drones toward the Moscow region
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 650 drones flew toward the Moscow region between Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Most were destroyed far away, and 105 were downed as they approached the city, he said.
Sobyanin later reported 68 more drones targeting Moscow were downed during daylight on Tuesday morning.
Ukraine has regularly targeted Russian oil refineries and storage depots, claiming last weekend that it had disabled 51% of Russia's oil refining capacity. The claim could not be independently verified. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that the attacks had cost Russia roughly 1% of its gross domestic product.
Russia has traditionally been the world's third-largest producer of refined fuel products from crude, after the U.S. and China. The Kremlin has banned diesel exports due to the Ukrainian strikes, pushing global prices higher. That prompted U.S. President Donald Trump last month to urge Ukraine to stop hitting Russia's refineries.
After hitting Kyiv bridges, Russia targets a bridge in southern Ukraine
After several days of targeting bridges in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, as part of a campaign to make civilian life difficult, Russia attacked one of the bridges over the Dnipro River in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, according to Mykhailo Semikin, the regional military administration chief.
Traffic across the bridge was temporarily suspended as a result of the attack, he said.
A nighttime Russian attack on a Zaporizhzhia residential building wounded five people and a daylight strike on a warehouse in the city caused a large fire, regional head Mikhail Semikin said.
Russian forces are also trying to choke shipping in Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, denying Kyiv vital grain export revenue.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces overnight struck targets in Ukraine's southern Odesa region on the Black Sea coast with drones. An ammunition depot was hit, as were a bulk carrier in the Chornomorsk port carrying dual-use goods and port infrastructure in Izmail, the ministry said.
A Russian drone strike hit a cargo ship flying the flag of the Marshall Islands in the Black Sea, killing one person and wounding seven others, Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said. The vessel was carrying rapeseed oil, he said.
Moscow warns against a bigger US presence in Lithuania
Asked about Lithuania's offer to host a U.S. military base and the Lithuanian parliament voting on a bill to allow the deployment of nuclear weapons in the country, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the moves would escalate tensions.
"If military infrastructure belonging to a key NATO member moves closer to our borders, then naturally, this can only be perceived as a step toward escalating tensions, just like the deployment of nuclear weapons on the territory of a neighboring state," Peskov told reporters.
Trump said Monday he would consider establishing a permanent U.S. military base in Lithuania, one of three small Baltic states seen as particularly vulnerable to Russia.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned last month that Moscow is planning hybrid strikes with drones or rockets on European countries supporting Ukraine, which include Poland and Lithuania.
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AP reporter Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw, Poland contributed to this story.
___
Follow the AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv claims half of Russia’s oil refining capacity destroyed
Guardian staff and agencies
Mon, October 5, 2026
Black smoke billows from a Moscow oil refinery after a Ukrainian drone attack in June.Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
Long-range Ukrainian strikes have taken out more than half of Russia's oil refining capacity, hampering Moscow's ability to supply its forces during the war, the defence ministry in Kyiv has claimed. Ukrainian forces have repeatedly attacked refineries from Moscow to Siberia, sparking a widespread fuel crisis in Russia earlier this year that forced authorities to restrict petrol sales. "Fifty-one per cent of struck refining capacity is a significant blow to the enemy's economy, to its ability to carry out aggression and supply its troop groupings," Ukrainian defence minister Yevhenii Khmara said. "Our deep strikes continue to bring the war to Russian territory."
Russian officials have not released figures on damage to the country's oil infrastructure. But in a rare acknowledgment of the strikes' economic impact, Vladimir Putin said they had cost Russia roughly 1% of its gross domestic product. "They started attacking oil refineries and openly declared the goal of damaging our economy. Did they achieve their goal? Partially," the Russian president told a meeting of the Valdai Club forum of international foreign policy experts last Thursday.
Donald Trump has blamed Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries for high petrol prices, saying the Iran war was no longer responsible. "What's driving up Gasoline is no longer the strait of Hormuz, because Record Numbers of Barrels are coming out now on an almost daily basis, but the word, 'Refineries,' where Russia's are being blown up by Ukraine," the US president posted on his Truth Social platform.
Six people were killed and nearly 60 injured when Russian bombs struck a residential area of Ukraine's north-eastern city of Kharkiv on Monday, officials said. Rescue workers led stunned residents out of badly damaged buildings and flats, guiding them carefully around piles of rubble. Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, lies close to the Russian border and has come under regular shelling and drone attacks since Moscow invaded in February 2022. French president Emmanuel Macron condemned Russia's decision to scale up strikes on civilian infrastructure, saying Moscow "has made the irresponsible choice to intensify its strikes on civilian infrastructure and targets".
Russian drones struck a grain ship in the Black Sea on Monday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, after Romania reported a ship had caught fire and sunk near its coast with two crew members killed. "A horrific strike by two Russian drones on a civilian vessel in neutral waters carrying corn," the Ukrainian president said on X, adding that the ship was Turkish-owned and that Azerbaijani and Indian nationals were onboard. Romanian authorities said two crew members had died and 11 were rescued after the 139-metre-long (455 foot) Royad Mammadov caught fire in the Black Sea, an increasing battlefield for drone attacks in the war. War-related objects found in the Black Sea had more than doubled in six months, maritime risk expert Ambrey said last month in a report. At least a third of them carried live payloads. The objects include unexploded ordnance, drones and other unmanned vehicles found washed ashore or floating at sea, it said.
Ukrainian drones attacked two facilities at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in south-eastern Ukraine overnight on Monday, but there was no threat to nuclear safety, the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation said. Alexei Likhachev, director general of Rosatom, said a driver delivering food for plant employees was killed in the drone attack. According to Likhachev, a laboratory building and a radioactive waste processing plant were the targets. Ukraine has not commented on the incident.
Ukraine has begun using artificial intelligence-enabled robot guns to take down Russia's new and fast-moving jet-powered drones. For months, Kyiv has been seeking a way to intercept the new Russian drones pounding the Ukrainian capital, even as it faces a dire lack of suitable ammunition to take them out. Presidential adviser Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov said on social media that 12 automated turrets had been installed in Kyiv to counter jet-powered Shahed drones, with more planned. Ukraine's air force later said it had used the robotic turrets to successfully shoot down Russian jet-powered drones, including the Geran-5, for the first time. "It's machine vision that is used for the shootdowns," air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said on Ukrainian television. "Artificial intelligence makes it possible to engage even jet-powered drones."
Germany's foreign intelligence chief has warned that the country risks being drawn into a conflict with Russia as hybrid attacks ordered by Moscow increase. Martin Jaeger, head of Germany's BND spy service, told lawmakers on Monday that Russia's undeclared "shadow war" against Germany and its allies was escalating further and has "taken on a new, more dangerous character". Berlin has invested record sums into rebuilding its military to deter Russia, and is among the largest supporters of Ukraine in the war with Moscow. In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Russia was putting lives at risk across Europe with hybrid attacks.
Guardian staff and agencies
Mon, October 5, 2026
Black smoke billows from a Moscow oil refinery after a Ukrainian drone attack in June.Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
Long-range Ukrainian strikes have taken out more than half of Russia's oil refining capacity, hampering Moscow's ability to supply its forces during the war, the defence ministry in Kyiv has claimed. Ukrainian forces have repeatedly attacked refineries from Moscow to Siberia, sparking a widespread fuel crisis in Russia earlier this year that forced authorities to restrict petrol sales. "Fifty-one per cent of struck refining capacity is a significant blow to the enemy's economy, to its ability to carry out aggression and supply its troop groupings," Ukrainian defence minister Yevhenii Khmara said. "Our deep strikes continue to bring the war to Russian territory."
Russian officials have not released figures on damage to the country's oil infrastructure. But in a rare acknowledgment of the strikes' economic impact, Vladimir Putin said they had cost Russia roughly 1% of its gross domestic product. "They started attacking oil refineries and openly declared the goal of damaging our economy. Did they achieve their goal? Partially," the Russian president told a meeting of the Valdai Club forum of international foreign policy experts last Thursday.
Donald Trump has blamed Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries for high petrol prices, saying the Iran war was no longer responsible. "What's driving up Gasoline is no longer the strait of Hormuz, because Record Numbers of Barrels are coming out now on an almost daily basis, but the word, 'Refineries,' where Russia's are being blown up by Ukraine," the US president posted on his Truth Social platform.
Six people were killed and nearly 60 injured when Russian bombs struck a residential area of Ukraine's north-eastern city of Kharkiv on Monday, officials said. Rescue workers led stunned residents out of badly damaged buildings and flats, guiding them carefully around piles of rubble. Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, lies close to the Russian border and has come under regular shelling and drone attacks since Moscow invaded in February 2022. French president Emmanuel Macron condemned Russia's decision to scale up strikes on civilian infrastructure, saying Moscow "has made the irresponsible choice to intensify its strikes on civilian infrastructure and targets".
Russian drones struck a grain ship in the Black Sea on Monday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, after Romania reported a ship had caught fire and sunk near its coast with two crew members killed. "A horrific strike by two Russian drones on a civilian vessel in neutral waters carrying corn," the Ukrainian president said on X, adding that the ship was Turkish-owned and that Azerbaijani and Indian nationals were onboard. Romanian authorities said two crew members had died and 11 were rescued after the 139-metre-long (455 foot) Royad Mammadov caught fire in the Black Sea, an increasing battlefield for drone attacks in the war. War-related objects found in the Black Sea had more than doubled in six months, maritime risk expert Ambrey said last month in a report. At least a third of them carried live payloads. The objects include unexploded ordnance, drones and other unmanned vehicles found washed ashore or floating at sea, it said.
Ukrainian drones attacked two facilities at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in south-eastern Ukraine overnight on Monday, but there was no threat to nuclear safety, the head of Russia's state nuclear corporation said. Alexei Likhachev, director general of Rosatom, said a driver delivering food for plant employees was killed in the drone attack. According to Likhachev, a laboratory building and a radioactive waste processing plant were the targets. Ukraine has not commented on the incident.
Ukraine has begun using artificial intelligence-enabled robot guns to take down Russia's new and fast-moving jet-powered drones. For months, Kyiv has been seeking a way to intercept the new Russian drones pounding the Ukrainian capital, even as it faces a dire lack of suitable ammunition to take them out. Presidential adviser Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov said on social media that 12 automated turrets had been installed in Kyiv to counter jet-powered Shahed drones, with more planned. Ukraine's air force later said it had used the robotic turrets to successfully shoot down Russian jet-powered drones, including the Geran-5, for the first time. "It's machine vision that is used for the shootdowns," air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said on Ukrainian television. "Artificial intelligence makes it possible to engage even jet-powered drones."
Germany's foreign intelligence chief has warned that the country risks being drawn into a conflict with Russia as hybrid attacks ordered by Moscow increase. Martin Jaeger, head of Germany's BND spy service, told lawmakers on Monday that Russia's undeclared "shadow war" against Germany and its allies was escalating further and has "taken on a new, more dangerous character". Berlin has invested record sums into rebuilding its military to deter Russia, and is among the largest supporters of Ukraine in the war with Moscow. In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Russia was putting lives at risk across Europe with hybrid attacks.
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