Ukraine carried out a large-scale drone attack on Russia over the weekend, damaging key energy infrastructure, including a nuclear power plant and one of the country’s largest fuel export terminals.
Russia’s defence ministry said at least 95 Ukrainian drones were intercepted across more than a dozen regions on August 24, the anniversary of Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Despite ongoing peace rhetoric, the war has stretched along a 2,000 km front line with escalating missile and drone strikes targeting energy and industrial facilities deep inside both nations.
At the Kursk nuclear power plant, located around 60 km from the Ukrainian border, air defences shot down a drone that detonated near the site shortly after midnight.
The explosion damaged an auxiliary transformer, forcing reactor No. 3 to halve its output. Plant officials said radiation levels remained normal and no injuries were reported, though a fire broke out at the site.
Two reactors remain offline, and another is under scheduled repair.
The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed it was monitoring the situation and stressed the need to safeguard nuclear facilities in conflict zones.
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 km north in Russia’s Leningrad region, Ukrainian drones targeted the Ust-Luga terminal on the Gulf of Finland.
Officials said at least 10 drones were shot down, but debris ignited a fire at the Novatek-operated facility.
The terminal, one of Russia’s largest Baltic Sea export hubs, processes and ships fuel products to international markets.
Elsewhere, drones struck an industrial site in the southern city of Syzran in Russia’s Samara region, injuring a child, according to the local governor.
