Ukraine says it hit a major Russian oil refinery, hours after Zelenskyy’s meeting with Trump
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- Ukraine's Security Service and General Staff said overnight long-range strikes ignited fires at a Lukoil refinery in Russia's Perm region, more than 1,500 km from Ukraine, and a refinery in Ryazan about 400 km from the border, with a combined annual capacity of roughly 30 million tons.
- Zelenskyy traveled to Washington hours before the strikes for closed-door talks with Trump, who called the meeting a "Great Honor" on Truth Social; Zelenskyy also briefed more than 60 U.S. senators from both parties on tougher Russia sanctions.
- Ukraine is pursuing joint weapons production and technology exchange with Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, days after Trump said he would grant Ukraine licenses to manufacture U.S. Patriot air defense systems to counter Russian ballistic missiles.
- Ukrainian forces struck 201 Russian vessels in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov over the past three weeks, a senior military official said, while also hitting a Russian naval base, a radar station in Bryansk, and a drone launch site in occupied Donetsk.
- Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 295 Ukrainian drones overnight across Russian regions and occupied Crimea, while Russian glide bombs struck Kharkiv and 17 other locations in the region, wounding 11 people.
- Ryazan Gov. Pavel Malkov said six people were hospitalized after the drone attack, and Russian online retailer Wildberries evacuated employees from a facility in the same city without giving further details.
- Mykhailo Drapatyi, Ukraine's new commander-in-chief appointed last week in a government reshuffle, held his first phone call with Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, saying Ukraine must "expand both long-range and medium-range precision strikes against the enemy."
Why it matters: Ukraine demonstrated expanding long-range reach by hitting two oil refineries up to 1,500 km inside Russia hours after Zelenskyy's Washington talks, while pursuing Patriot manufacturing licenses and briefing 60+ senators — a combination that pressures Moscow's fuel-dependent military logistics while building Kyiv's industrial and political backing.
