Overview

• Russian officials said a drone shot down over the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant detonated and ignited a fire in an auxiliary transformer, which was extinguished without casualties or any rise in radiation.
• Authorities reported additional drones downed over multiple regions, including near Saint Petersburg and the Ust-Luga port, where a fuel terminal operated by Novatek caught fire, and several central Russian airports briefly halted flights.
• Days earlier, Ukraine struck the Unecha pumping station on Russia's Druzhba pipeline, disrupting oil flows to Hungary and Slovakia and prompting their foreign ministers to urge the European Commission to protect critical energy infrastructure.
• Russia carried out one of its largest recent aerial assaults on western Ukraine, striking targets including the U.S.-owned Flex electronics plant in Mukachevo, where hundreds of night-shift workers were present and several people were injured.
• Trump's mediation drive has lost momentum as Russia resists a leaders' summit and seeks conditions on security guarantees; Zelensky says workable guarantees could offer a real chance to end the war, but continued strikes are hardening positions.