Overview
- Speaking at a United Russia party conference on Sunday, President Vladimir Putin said Russia was going through a "difficult period" and promised the government would secure citizens and keep the country’s borders inviolable.
- Russian authorities reported a heavy drone assault on Sunday that set fire to a major oil refinery in southern Russia and said at least two people were killed, though those details come from official Russian statements and remain contested.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted that long-range strikes hit two Russian refineries, saying each strike reduces the fuel and revenue that sustain Russia's war effort.
- The refinery hits follow weeks of stepped-up Ukrainian long-range drone and missile attacks on energy and logistics sites and come alongside a package of Western sanctions that analysts say are increasing economic strain on Moscow.
- Putin’s public framing links security measures to domestic politics ahead of parliamentary elections and could sharpen the risk of further strikes, fuel shortages, power cuts and heightened political messaging inside Russia.