(HABAROVSK KRAI, RUSSIA) – Ukraine has struck an oil refinery approximately 6,000 kilometres behind front lines in Russia’s far east, as Moscow’s overnight missile and drone attacks across Ukraine killed at least five people and wounded 21 others.
Unverified social media footage appears to show a fire at the oil refinery in Russia’s Habarovsk Krai. The attack forms part of Ukraine’s sustained campaign of long range drone strikes targeting Russian infrastructure.
Elsewhere, a logistics centre belonging to the Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries was targeted in the Voronezh region, the Kyiv Independent reported. Ukraine has systematically struck Wildberries logistics hubs over the past month, citing the sale of dual use equipment such as drone parts.
The Russian strikes on Ukraine early Tuesday claimed five lives in the south eastern city of Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine’s air force warned of simultaneous Russian ballistic attacks on Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Chyhyryn, as Moscow seeks to exploit Ukraine’s shortage of air defence interceptors.
Charles Kupchan, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, stated that Ukraine has two options while it lacks sufficient missile interceptors. “One, continue what they’re doing, which is bringing the war to the Russians, hitting Russian installations, oil installations, online retailers, making the average Russian feel this war in a way that could put pressure on Putin,” he said. “And the second is to try to push this war from the battlefield to the negotiating table.”
Kupchan added: “Unfortunately, there isn’t a quick fix because nobody has these interceptors sitting in a warehouse and they can say, ‘Hey, Ukraine, here’s 500. Here’s 600. Here’s 700.’ And it’s that number that the Ukrainians need given how quickly the Russians can produce ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, other kinds of attack air capabilities that they’re using.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s Supreme Court has barred the anti Kremlin Yabloko party from contesting upcoming Duma parliamentary elections. The court argued the party received funding through third parties, including from the United States and Germany.
Yabloko, the Russian word for apple, had been set to run on a slogan of peace and freedom and was the only remaining party openly criticising the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Russia’s Central Election Commission had cleared the party to run in late July, but a lawsuit was subsequently filed by Rodina, a small pro Kremlin nationalist party.
“We are in favour of stopping people from dying so that people in Russia can live without fear, so that young people do not want to leave our country,” a Yabloko representative said.
Experts suggest the party’s rising popularity, with social media engagement quadrupling in two weeks, was a Kremlin miscalculation born of Putin’s attempt to portray Russia as a democracy. Around 64 per cent of Russians back peace talks with Kyiv, according to a June poll by the independent Levada Centre, while Putin’s approval rating has reportedly fallen from 80 to 67 per cent.
“Every site burning in Russia is a minus to United Russia’s rating because people see it with their own eyes,” one expert noted. Russians are set to cast ballots in late September, with Putin’s United Russia expected to win again, though matching previous support levels will prove difficult in the fifth year of war.
In other news, at least 111 people have been killed and hundreds more injured after a powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday. The quake, the strongest to hit Colombia this century, struck approximately 400 kilometres west of Bogotá at a depth of more than 100 kilometres. Hundreds of buildings collapsed, and local authorities have imposed nighttime curfews amid threats of looting, deploying police and military personnel. The Colombian Geological Service recorded 21 aftershocks and warned additional tremors are very likely.
Separately, residents of Malawi face new United States visa fees of up to $15,000 (approximately £11,700) under a pilot programme starting mid August. The increase affects nationals from 50 countries, including 30 African nations such as Senegal, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Nigeria, and Malawi. Another 11 African nations, including Burkina Faso, Mali, and Somalia, face a total ban on US visas. The number of visas issued to affected African countries has dropped by nearly 83 percent since last year. Visas issued under this programme are subject to strict conditions, including a maximum validity of three months, single entry status, and a stay limited to 30 days.
Wildfires continue to rage across Europe, fuelled by extreme heat, drought, and strong winds. Spain remains among the hardest hit, with more than 244,000 hectares burned in approximately 400 fires this year. Firefighters from across Europe, including Poland, are joining international efforts to contain the flames. Seventy Ukrainian firefighters have travelled to France in the first deployment under the European Union civil protection mechanism. “It is important for us to help those who help us because during the full scale war, France as well as other European countries supported us a lot with both equipment and technology,” a Ukrainian firefighter said.
Finally, the Pride of Poland Arabian horse auction in Janów Podlaski concluded this weekend, generating €1 million (approximately £855,000 or $1.09 million) in revenue. All 16 horses found buyers from across Europe and as far away as Iraq and Saudi Arabia, signalling the sector’s return to its former prominence after a period of controversy and poor management. “Breeders have realised that Poland is the place to buy the best horses in the world,” an organiser said.
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