More than 10 killed as Russia and Ukraine trade heavy attacks
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Russia and Ukraine exchanged heavy attacks on Monday, killing at least nine people in Russia and three in Ukraine, with the war now in its fifth year and civilian deaths rising in recent months despite both sides denying they target civilians.
- Krasnodar governor Veniamin Kondratyev said falling drone debris from a Ukrainian attack killed at least six and wounded 40 in the Black Sea resort city of Gelendzhik.
- Sergei Aksyonov, the Moscow-installed governor of Russian-occupied Crimea, reported three killed and two wounded in an overnight Ukrainian attack, without giving further details.
- Dnipropetrovsk governor Oleksandr Hanzha said a Russian strike on a gas station killed at least three, sparking a fire that damaged the station and nearby vehicles.
- Russia's Defence Ministry claimed its forces captured the settlements of Bilyi Kolodiaz and Uspenivka in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries of playing a key role in Russia's war effort after a Ukrainian drone struck a Wildberries warehouse in Vladimir region; Al Jazeera reporting cited independent watchdogs who found Wildberries sells dual-use items including used military helmets, bulletproof vests, and fiber-optic drone cables.
- US President Donald Trump appears to have backtracked on a promise to grant Ukraine a licence to manufacture Patriot interceptor missiles, days after Zelenskyy described their White House meeting as "good."
Why it matters: Russia's claimed capture of two Kharkiv settlements alongside strikes on a Black Sea resort, a gas station, and a major e-commerce warehouse show the fifth-year war broadening rather than narrowing, while Ukraine's parallel push for US-made Patriot interceptors appears stalled after Trump reversed course on a manufacturing licence.
