President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian forces of carrying out what he called an “extremely vile” strike on a spent nuclear fuel storage facility near Ukraine’s Chornobyl power plant, an attack that damaged the site but did not trigger a rise in radiation levels. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said it was briefed by Ukrainian officials, the strike caused serious damage to a fuel-reception building just metres from an area where “large amounts of nuclear material” are kept. Ukraine’s state…

The European Union has cleared the way for Ukraine and Moldova to advance to the next phase of their membership bids, after diplomats said Hungary had signalled it was lifting its long-running veto on Kyiv's progress. "This marks a significant milestone in their European integration path, and sends a strong message of EU unity and determination," Cyprus, which holds the rotating presidency, said in a social media post. The bloc formally opened accession talks with Ukraine in June 2024, launching a complex process that…

Russia unleashed air attacks on several of Ukraine’s biggest cities, including Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 60, officials said, after days of warnings that Moscow was preparing a large-scale assault. The strikes came as the war, now more than four years old, continues to batter critical infrastructure on both sides. Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s power network and other vital facilities, while Ukraine has intensified attacks this year on Russian oil sites. Both sides…

The war’s reach stretched deep into Russian territory again as Ukrainian drones struck an oil depot in the south and a pumping station hundreds of kilometres from the front, according to Kyiv, with Russian officials also acknowledging attacks in the targeted areas. Now in its fifth year, the war has seen Ukraine intensify its campaign against Russian infrastructure, targeting sites far from the battlefield, including locations near the Urals in recent weeks. Ukraine’s military said the operation hit a "dispatch station of a…

Kyiv woke to one of the fiercest assaults it has faced since Russia launched its full-scale invasion four years ago, as waves of drones and missiles slammed into the capital and nearby areas, including an Oreshnik hypersonic missile fired close to the city. During the hours-long overnight attack, two people were killed in Kyiv and another two died in the surrounding region, while nearly 100 others were injured, Ukrainian officials said. Officials said dozens of apartment buildings and several schools were damaged, with many…

Drone warfare is intensifying sharply on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with each passing week bringing heavier strikes, broader reach and higher casualties. On Friday, Russian officials said Ukrainian drone attacks on a college dormitory in the town of Starobilsk in Luhansk, an eastern Ukrainian region that Russia almost entirely occupies, killed at least 18 people. Ukraine's armed forces said the strikes had targeted military sites in the town. The attack came one week after a Russian ballistic missile tore…

A drone strike in the Russian-occupied Lugansk region hit a college dormitory overnight, killing six people and injuring dozens more, according to Russian officials, in an attack the Kremlin swiftly denounced as terrorism. Up to 15 others remain missing, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in televised remarks, calling the strike a "terrorist" act. Mr Putin said he had instructed the defence ministry to prepare a response, but gave no further details. Lugansk, in eastern Ukraine, is almost بالكامل under Russian occupation,…

Russia unleashed a sweeping daytime drone assault focused largely on western Ukraine, killing at least six people and injuring dozens more, according to the Ukrainian president, in what looked like a notable shift in Moscow’s long-running air attack pattern. For more than four years, Russian forces have hammered cities across Ukraine, though major drone and missile barrages have typically come under cover of darkness rather than in broad daylight. "Since midnight, at least 800 Russian drones have already been launched,"…

The Kremlin has poured cold water on any expectation of a breakthrough in Ukraine, saying there is still no detailed roadmap to end the war just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II might be nearing its conclusion. Overnight, Moscow and Kyiv traded fresh strikes after a three-day ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump expired, with both sides blaming the other for breaching the pause. Speaking at the weekend after criticizing NATO and voicing hope…

By  DARLENE SUPERVILLESaturday May 9, 2026 President Donald Trump said Friday that Russia and Ukraine had accepted his call for a three-day ceasefire and a prisoner swap, casting the limited pause as a possible first step toward ending a war that has dragged on for years. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, both said the arrangement had been agreed to. “I asked and, President Putin agreed. President Zelenskyy agreed -- both readily,” Trump…