Ukraine-Russia war latest: First naval drone battle takes place in Black Sea as latest strikes kill 12

Lithuania on Sunday closed Vilnius airport and Nato summoned at least one fighter jet in response to a possible sighting of a drone in Lithuanian airspace, the National Crisis Management Centre said.

A jet was summoned from Siauliai in northern Lithuania, the centre said, where Italian air force is currently based as part of the NATO Baltic Air Defence mission.

The Vilnius marathon, which was taking place in the capital, was not interrupted, the organisers told Reuters.

Countries along Nato’s eastern frontier have reported a series of drones straying into their airspace linked to the conflict stemming from Russia’s 2022 full scale invasion of Ukraine.

Voters in Sweden will go to the polls on Sunday in a contest that will decide if the conservative government stays in power, potentially granting a hard-right party its first cabinet seats, or if the centre-left will regain control.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is bidding for a second four-year term leading the European Union country, which recently became NATO’s newest member. His predecessor is attempting to reclaim office, with the battle over leadership largely overshadowing core policy debates.

More than eight million people, from a total population of around 10.6 million, are registered to vote for the 349-seat parliament in Stockholm, the Riksdag, which will subsequently select the nation’s next prime minister.

The Ukrainian Sargan 3000 unmanned naval boat identified the Russian drone on the Black Sea and attacked with its powerful 12.7mm turret, the Ukrainian navy said on Telegram.

Footage shared from the Ukrainian drone showed a volley of fire hitting the other boat, which erupted with thick grey smoke before sinking. It was unclear when or exactly where the video was taken.

Ukraine’s military said on Sunday it had hit an oil refinery in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region overnight.

“The operation struck a key oil-processing unit and the company’s tank farm, which supports Russia’s war against Ukraine,” it said on Telegram.

Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff said on Saturday that Kyiv was preparing for the resumption in October of three-sided talks aimed at resolving the more than four-year-old war with Russia.

Kyrylo Budanov told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Kyiv that Ukraine was readying itself for the prospect of new talks involving Russia and the United States.

“We are getting ready. In October,” Budanov was quoted as saying.

Budanov was speaking several days after US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held talks in both Moscow and Kyiv. It was their first such visit to Moscow since February and their first visit to the Ukrainian capital.

The last three-sided meeting took place in Geneva in February. U.S.-led diplomatic efforts had stalled as Washington was focused on the conflict with Iran.

Witkoff said after visiting both capitals that they welcomed new momentum in proceeding with talks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow did not rule out a resumption of peace talks but added that it was too early to say when and where such talks might take place.

Ukrainian tennis star Dayana Yastremska has shared that her family home was struck by a Russian missile on Friday.

The world No. 113, who competed at the US Open this month, wrote on social media: “A Russian missile destroyed our apartment in Odesa. The only thing that survived was a Roland Garros towel.

“SYMBOLIC,” she went on. “A piece of world tennis survived a Russian missile.Our home did not.”

Sharing video of an apartment block burning, she demanded that the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) “look at these images through our eyes”.

“This is the true meaning of your ‘neutrality’ – from the Ukrainian side of the court.”

Russian air strikes in several Ukrainian regions on Saturday killed nine people, injured dozens and damaged residential buildings and infrastructure across the country, local officials said.

The civilian death toll has risen sharply in Ukraine over the past two months as Russia steps up attacks on power plants and other infrastructure.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, writing on Telegram, said Russia had deployed nearly 500 drones against Ukrainian targets since early morning.

“Basically, the Russians have expanded the war away from the front, where they have no success, into the economy, and their tactics are as basic as it gets: destroying every site that could help people cope with the conditions of war,” Zelenskyy wrote.

“Russia wants to kill the Ukrainian economy and break our resistance,” Zelenskyy added.

A Russian drone strike hit a border area on the Ukrainian-Polish border overnight, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Sunday.

“Russia’s barbaric strikes at the Ukraine-Poland border crossing point in Yahodyn are not just a continuation of its attacks on our state borders,” Sybiha said on X.

“This is Putin’s terror ‘knocking’ directly on the doors of the EU and NATO. Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners,” he added.

Chinese president Xi Jinping and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi both offered their services for peace talks on Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday, adding that Russia’s Vladimir Putin had welcomed their readiness.

The three leaders are among those attending the BRICS summit in Delhi.

The head of Russia’s state nuclear energy company has accused Ukraine of attacking diesel fuel trucks, killing two Russian servicemen and deliberately jeopardising safety at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

Alexei Likhachev said in Sunday that the attack took place on Friday and also resulted in injuries to other Russian soldiers.

The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest with six reactors, was seized by Russian forces in the early weeks of the Ukraine war that broke out in February 2022. Each side has regularly accused the other of actions that endanger safety at the plant and increase the risk of a nuclear accident.

Likhachev issued a statement saying Ukrainian forces had launched “a series of combined strikes” on Friday on fuel trucks which deliver diesel to the station.

“The strikes hit very close to the perimeter of the station’s site,” he said.