A Russian missile strike on a village in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region killed 10 people, Ukrainian officials said, hitting a busy area lined with shops and residential buildings.
“This morning the Russians launched a brutal attack on a busy intersection in Pechenihy, Kharkiv region – a location with a post office and stores, surrounded only by residential buildings,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X.
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Images shared by Mr Zelensky showed a building reduced to rubble, vehicles engulfed in flames and emergency workers carrying casualties on stretchers.
“We will definitely respond to this Russian strike,” he said.
Russia had not issued an immediate public response to the attack.
The strike damaged 10 private homes, a cafe, a post office, a shop and at least seven cars, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said preliminary information indicated that Russian forces had used two small Banderol cruise missiles.
A local official told public broadcaster Suspilne that the missiles hit the centre of the village, where the cafe, post office and other shops are situated.
One killed after drone exploded at Zaporizhzhia plant bus stop
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is Europe’s largest and has been under Russian control since 2022
A drone explosion at a bus stop used by employees of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant killed one person and injured several others, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
The IAEA, the United Nations’ nuclear safety watchdog, said in a statement on X that the plant’s director had described the incident as “the worst event the plant has faced”.
Citing the director, the agency said the blast, which occurred at about 6am local time, caused 16 casualties among staff and subcontractors. One person died and three others suffered serious injuries.
Russian troops seized the facility — Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, with six reactors — during the opening weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Since then, Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of endangering nuclear safety.
The plant has generated no electricity for almost four years and depends on outside power to keep its nuclear material cooled and prevent a potential meltdown.
Ukrainian convicted in Germany over Russian sabotage plot
A German court today sentenced a Ukrainian man to one year and three months in prison for spying for Russia and assisting preparations for possible sabotage operations.
The Stuttgart court acquitted two other Ukrainian men, aged 22 and 25, who had faced trial over the same alleged scheme. Prosecutors said the men had helped send test packages containing GPS trackers to Ukraine in March last year.
The operation was intended to assess ways of “disrupting transport and infrastructure” and was ultimately controlled by a “Russian state entity”, the court said.
Yevhen Bezchasnyi, 30, was arrested in Switzerland in May 2025 and extradited to Germany in December.
He was convicted of “spying for the purposes of sabotage”.
Because his time in pre-trial detention was credited against the sentence, he will now be released.
Germany is Ukraine’s most important supporter in its war against Russia’s full-scale invasion and has remained on heightened alert over suspected sabotage and espionage operations linked to Moscow.
Earlier this month, authorities found a drone carrying explosives near a Ukrainian cargo aircraft at Leipzig-Halle airport, an important hub for transporting military equipment.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the incident as a “hybrid attack scenario” that could involve a “foreign power”, without naming Russia.
The court said Bezchasnyi had been “acting on behalf of an acquaintance from Russian-occupied Mariupol”, the Ukrainian city devastated by Russian bombardment and now held by Russian forces.
According to the ruling, “he organised the shipment of GPS trackers” in two packages that also contained replacement car parts.
Bezchasnyi “then involved the two other defendants and handed the trackers over to the 22-year-old defendant in Konstanz, who forwarded them as instructed to Cologne”.
“From there, the 25-year-old defendant sent them to Ukraine using a Ukrainian shipping service provider,” the court said.
However, prosecutors were unable to prove that either of the other two defendants knew their actions formed part of a sabotage operation.
The court also found no evidence that the men had agreed to carry out arson by sending explosive devices, as prosecutors had alleged.
Kyiv air alert forces Ukraine, Belgium FMs into bomb shelter
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga and Belgium’s foreign minister, Maxime Prevot, conducted their talks in an underground shelter after an air-raid alert sounded in Kyiv.
“Due to Russian drones attacking our capital, we held our talks underground in the @MFA_Ukraine bomb shelter – a daily reality for millions of Ukrainians, shared by our Belgian guests today,” Mr Sybiga said on social media.
He shared a photograph of the two ministers seated at a table in a windowless room, along with video showing both delegations moving through underground corridors.
Pleased to welcome my friend and Belgian colleague @prevotmaxime on his official visit to Ukraine.
Due to Russian drones attacking our capital, we held our talks underground in the @MFA_Ukraine bomb shelter—a daily reality for millions of Ukrainians, shared by our Belgian guests… pic.twitter.com/Lxxt3Swccq
— Andrii Sybiha (@andrii_sybiha) August 18, 2026
During a visit to Kyiv in July, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also briefly took shelter amid an air alert and a reported drone threat over the city.
Russia warns Britain of ‘consequences’ for supplying drones to Ukraine
Britain will stand with Ukraine “100%” and remain alongside it “in its hour of need”, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said after Moscow warned London of “consequences” over its reported supply of drones to Kyiv.
Russia accused Britain of becoming more deeply involved in the war after The Times reported on Saturday that British-made drones had been used in long-range strikes against Russia for the first time.
“London’s actions will inevitably carry consequences for which it will have to answer,” the Russian embassy said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel earlier on Tuesday.
“The deeper its involvement in the conflict and the greater its support for Kiev’s (Kyiv’s) terrorist machinery, the higher the price it will pay.”
A Ukrainian rescuer smokes a cigarette at the site of an air attack in Pechenigy
Mr Burnham said the warning reflected the “UK doing what it has long said it would do, which is to support Ukraine 100% against this illegal war” led by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We are not fair-weather friends. We will be there in Ukraine’s hour of need, and that won’t change.”
Ukraine has used long-range drones to strike Russian oil refineries and logistics sites.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence did not confirm whether British-made drones had been involved in the reported attacks.
In June, Britain announced plans to provide Ukraine with 150,000 drones by the end of 2026 under a £752 million funding package.
Before Mr Burnham spoke, a defence ministry spokesperson responded to the Russian embassy’s comments by saying: “Britain stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine and we are committed to providing the equipment Ukraine needs to defend itself against Putin’s illegal invasion.”
Since Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has repeatedly warned Britain and other Western countries that military support for Kyiv could prompt retaliation and raise the danger of a wider confrontation.
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