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Ukraine has reportedly struck a chemical plant in Russia’s Samara oblast, local officials said, as Kyiv and Moscow exchanged attacks overnight.
Samara oblast governor, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, confirmed a drone attack on a “industrial enterprise in Tolyatti” on his Telegram channel but did not provide additional details on what was struck or the extent of the damage caused.
Ukraine has previously said it has attacked “strategically important facility” that produces over 30,000 metric tons of explosives for bombs and missiles annually in the Samara oblast.
Preliminary visuals of the attack shared on social media showed smoke rising from the area of the KuibyshevAzot chemical plant in Tolyatti.
This comes as Volodymyr Zelensky said he was discussing possible security partnerships with allies in the Middle East after meeting Jordan’s King Abdullah yesterday and offering Kyiv‘s war-tested drone expertise.
“We discussed a possible partnership in the security sphere and the overall situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region,” the Ukrainian president said on the second day of an unannounced visit to the region.
Kyiv, meanwhile, continued to launch drone attacks on Russia, with the latest strike killing one person in Taganrog and damaging several houses and industrial enterprises.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has proposed a agreement to mutually stope strikes on energy facilities in Ukraine and Russia, to deal with the ongoing global energy crisis triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran.
The offer from Kyiv came as the war in the Middle East reached its one month mark with no end in sight. Energy prices have surged with Brent crude reaching $115 on Monday.
Shaheena Uddin30 March 2026 15:00
Finland has reported a suspected territorial violation by unmanned aerial vehicles in the southeast of the country, which the Finnish prime minister said was likely linked to Ukrainian drone attacks against Russia.
Nearby countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said last week that several Ukrainian drones had crashed on their territory after going astray during attacks on Russian oil export facilities on the Baltic Sea coast.
Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and export routes over recent weeks in an attempt to weaken Russia’s war economy and as peace talks, brokered by Washington, have stalled.
On Sunday morning, several small, slow-moving objects flying at low altitude were detected over a maritime area and in southeastern Finland, the defence ministry said in a statement.
Finland’s prime minister Petteri Orpo said the stray drones seemed to be linked to Ukraine’s attacks on Russian targets in Finland’s vicinity.
“Russia has extremely strong electronic jamming capabilities, which could explain why these drones are drifting into Finnish airspace, something that is a very serious issue,” Orpo told Finland’s public broadcaster Yle.
Finland sent its F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets to recognise flying objects that approached its territorial waters, one of which was identified as a Ukrainian AN196 drone, the Finnish Air Force said.
Shaheena Uddin30 March 2026 14:30
Shaheena Uddin30 March 2026 14:00
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said that the nation’s allies sent Kyiv signals about reducing its long-range strikes on Russia’s oil sector, as the global energy prices have soared.
Speaking to reporters in a WhatsApp chat on Monday, he said Ukraine was ready to reciprocate if Russia stops attacking the Ukrainian energy system, and that Kyiv is open to an Easter ceasefire.
“Recently, following such a severe global energy crisis, we have indeed received signals from some of our partners about how to reduce our responses in the oil sector and the energy sector of the Russian Federation,” Zelenskiy said.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has limited international supplies of oil and gas as prices soar. This, in combination with Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has left the nation scrambling for supplies.
Shaheena Uddin30 March 2026 13:30
Putin’s spring offensive in Ukraine has begun. Experts warn Trump has given Russia a window of opportunity
The onslaught affected 11 regions and seven cities were hit, marking it out as the largest aerial attack in a single day so far.
Shaheena Uddin30 March 2026 13:00
Britain has deemed Russia’s accusations against its diplomats “completely unacceptable” after Moscow expelled one from the country over alleged economic espionage on Monday.
The British foreign ministry also said the UK would not tolerate “intimidation” of its embassy staff or their families.
Shaheena Uddin30 March 2026 12:30
Russia said on Monday that it had ordered a British diplomat to leave the country after discovering signs of espionage, Russian media quoted the Federal Security Service as saying.
The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said that the second secretary at the Moscow embassy had been ordered to leave within two weeks after FSB counter-intelligence officers revealed the “undeclared intelligence presence”.
The FSB said that it had found signs that the diplomat was “carrying out intelligence and subversive activities that threaten the security of the Russian Federation,” Russian media reported.
In particular, the FSB said, the diplomat had tried to obtain sensitive information about the Russian economy during informal meetings.
Arpan Rai30 March 2026 12:00
A satellite image shows damage at a Russian oil refinery after an overnight attack by Ukraine’s military in Yaroslavl, north-east of Moscow (Reuters)
A satellite image shows the same Russian oil refinery in Yaroslavl in August last year (Reuters)
Arpan Rai30 March 2026 11:45
A Russian strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk killed three people and injured 13 yesterday, police said, one of several attacks in frontline areas.
Ukraine’s national police said a 13-year-old boy was among the dead. A statement said Russian forces used glide bombs in the strike on Kramatorsk, which has been a frequent target throughout the four-year-old war pitting Kyiv against Moscow.
Kramatorsk came under a new attack two hours after the initial strike.
Other cities hit in Russian attacks included the nearby town of Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka and the city of Sloviansk, farther north.
Kramatorsk and Sloviansk are heavily defended cities lying on what has been dubbed the “fortress belt” – seen as key targets in Russia’s slow westward advance to capture Donetsk Region.
Arpan Rai30 March 2026 11:25