Russia attacks Ukraine’s energy and railway infrastructure in deadly overnight strikes – Europe live | Europe
Russian strikes causing ‘chaos’ in Ukrainian energy and railway infrastructure President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of wanting to sow “chaos” in Ukraine by launching strikes on his country’s energy grid and railway infrastructure, in comments published on Thursday, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. Moscow, whose forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, have in recent weeks escalated aerial…
Russian strikes causing ‘chaos’ in Ukrainian energy and railway infrastructure
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of wanting to sow “chaos” in Ukraine by launching strikes on his country’s energy grid and railway infrastructure, in comments published on Thursday, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
Moscow, whose forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, have in recent weeks escalated aerial attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities and rail systems.
Zelenskyy told journalists, including AFP, in embargoed comments made in Kyiv on Wednesday:
Russia’s task is to create chaos and apply psychological pressure on the population through strikes on energy facilities and railways.
The recent attacks mirror similar Russian bombing campaigns in the winters of 2022, 2023 and 2024 when attacks left millions of Ukrainian without energy or heating for long periods.
Zelenskyy said that Russian attacks this year had already put Ukrainian gas infrastructure under “heavy pressure” and that more strikes on gas infrastructure could force his country to ramp up imports.
A Russian overnight drone attack injured five people and damaged port and energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern region of Odesa, its governor said on Thursday.
The attack cut power to 30,000 consumers and set containers with vegetable oil and wood pellets on fire in the port, Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.
Ukraine has also recently stepped up its own drone and missile strikes on Russian territory in a campaign that Zelenskyy said was showing “results” and that have also increased fuel prices in Russia.
“We believe that they’ve lost up to 20% of their gasoline supply – directly as a result of our strikes,” Zelenskyy said, adding there was evidence Russia had stepped up imports from China and Belarus.
Ukraine recently struck a power station in the Russian border region of Belgorod, causing power outages.
Fires also broke out at fuel and energy facilities in Russia’s Volgograd region as a result of a drone attack, Governor Andrei Bocharov said on Thursday.
Key events
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, survived two no-confidence votes she faced in the European parliament on Thursday, Reuters reports.
The motion of censure proposed by the far-right Patriots for Europe group was rejected, with 378 EU lawmakers voting against it compared with 179 in favour.
The second motion of censure, proposed by parliament’s hard-left group, was also rejected, with 383 EU lawmakers voting against it compared with 133 in favour.
Elsewhere in Europe, French prosecutors on Thursday sought a 12-year jail term for the only man among 50 who claims he is innocent after being convicted of sexually abusing Gisèle Pelicot, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
The 72-year-old’s former husband has admitted to drugging her with sedatives and inviting dozens of strangers to rape and abuse her over nearly a decade in a case that shocked the world.
Gisèle Pelicot allowed the public into the courtroom during the months-long trial last year to raise awareness about sexual violence, saying it was time for perpetrators – not victims – to be ashamed.
A lower court last year sentenced Husamettin Dogan, 44, to a nine-year prison sentence after prosecutors also requested 12 years.
Public prosecutor Dominique Sie said he was asking for three extra years in view of “Dogan’s stance, in all its rigidity, as he absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.
Dogan has said he never intended to rape her and was “trapped” by her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot in 2019 into thinking he would be taking part in a couple’s sexual game.
Sie said:
As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are endorsing.
There needs to be an evolution for you, and for society, from rape culture to a culture of consent.
Below is a video published by the Guardian showing Ukrainian firefighters tackling blazes in burning shipping containers after a Russian drone attack injured at least five people in Odesa.
The attack cut power to 30,000 people and damaged the city’s port infrastructure.
Ukraine has recently stepped up its own drone and missile strikes on Russian territory in a campaign Zelenskyy said was showing ‘results’ and that has also increased fuel prices in Russia.
Russia strikes port facilities and energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa region
The Russian defence ministry said on Thursday that its forces had struck port facilities and energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa region that were used by the Ukrainian army, Russian news agency Interfax reported, according to Reuters.
The region’s governor had earlier said the overnight drone attack injured five people.
The attack cut power to 30,000 consumers and set containers with vegetable oil and wood pellets on fire in the port, Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.
The EU expects to mobilise over €400bn ($464.5bn) by 2027 in investments for Global Gateway, its programme to boost investments in the Global south, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Thursday, Reuters reports.
Global Gateway was originally designed to invest €300bn, half of it in Africa, from 2021 to 2027, as an alternative to China’s rival scheme.
The projects are in areas such as energy, transport, education and research, along with partnerships to help the EU secure minerals critical for its green transition and reduce reliance on China.
She added that today the EU is launching a Global Gateway Investment Hub, a single-entry platform for companies to propose investments.
US sanctions on Serbia’s majority-Russian-owned NIS oil company, which operates the country’s sole refinery, took effect on Thursday after months of delay, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
The United States sanctioned the company, Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), in January as part of its crackdown on the Russian energy sector following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
After the sanctions came into force on Thursday morning, NIS said it “had not yet been granted an extension of the special licence from the United States Department of the Treasury”.
“NIS is working to overcome this situation,” it said in a statement, adding it would work with the US Treasury to seek its removal from the sanctions list.
The company said it has “sufficient crude oil reserves for processing at this time, while petrol stations are fully supplied with all types of petroleum products”.
President Aleksandar Vučić warned on Monday that the sanctions would have a serious impact and hit the banking sector first.
“There is no bank in the world that would risk violating US sanctions,” Vučić said.
NIS confirmed it expects foreign payment cards to “cease functioning”, with petrol stations accepting only Serbia’s domestic card or cash.
North Korea expressed firm solidarity with Russia’s stance on the Ukraine crisis and full support for Moscow’s military operations, North Korea’s state-run news agency KCNA reported the two countries as saying in a joint statement on Thursday, according to Reuters.
The statements come ahead of the 80th anniversary on Friday of the founding of North Korea’s ruling Workers of Korea party.
Ukraine hits Russian gas plant overnight
The Ukrainian military said on Thursday that it had struck the Korobkovsky gas processing plant and oil transport infrastructure in Russia’s Volgograd region overnight.
The region’s governor, Andrey Bocharov, said earlier on Thursday that strikes from Ukrainian drones has caused fires at “fuel and energy facilities”.
Ukraine’s general staff recorded explosions and a fire at the gas processing plant and Yefimovka station, according to the statement on Telegram.
The military was working to verify the scale of damage at the facilities.
Separately, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, was quoted on Thursday by Russian state news agency Tass, according to Reuters, as saying Ukraine was counting on positive developments on the frontline of the war, but the real situation suggested otherwise.
Ukraine’s prime minister, the head of presidential office, and a senior sanctions adviser will go to the United States early next week for talks with US officials, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday.
Zelenskyy wrote in a post on social media:
Topics include air defence, energy, and sanctions steps, as well as the negotiation track. The issue of frozen assets will also be discussed with the US.
The president added that he believes the US president, Donald Trump, “very much wants” to see a ceasefire and end to Ukraine’s war with Russia.
He said:
I believe this was his goal from the very beginning. We are grateful for that. I believe our meeting, combined with the actual facts, has given him a broader understanding that the Russians are “selling” him something they are not capable of delivering.
Jessica Elgot
Jessica Elgot is the Guardian’s deputy political editor.
Keir Starmer has said the UK will back India taking its “rightful place” on the UN security council as he met Narendra Modi in Mumbai at the end of his two-day trip, saying both he and Modi had discussed the need for a “just and lasting” peace in Ukraine.
He said both had agreed the need to “break away from fossil fuels” as he praised the “remarkable” speed of India’s growing economy.
Speaking at the state governor’s residence in Mumbai, Starmer said:
The prime minister and I also discussed the need for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, the need for stability and security in the Indo-Pacific, and the need to cooperate in critical areas like climate and energy, including breaking away from dependence on fossil fuels.
We sit together in the Commonwealth, the G20, and we want to see India taking its rightful place on the UN security council too.
It is significant that we’re meeting here in Mumbai, as India’s economic and financial capital, because India’s growth story is remarkable.
Modi did not echo the language of the prime minister on Ukraine but said they had discussed the “ongoing conflict in Ukraine” during their face-to-face meeting.
India continues to buy Russian fossil fuels, which helps to fund Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, which is subject to western sanctions.
“In the Middle East and Ukraine, India supports all efforts for restoring peace through dialogue and diplomacy,” Mr Modi said.
He added that India is “totally committed to increasing maritime security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region”.
Modi praised Starmer directly for restarting the talks on the trade agreement: “Under prime minister Starmer’s leadership the relationship between the UK and India have significantly progressed.”
He added:
Your visit to India within just a few months of concluding the agreement and the fact that you have been accompanied by the biggest ever business delegation pay testament to the new energy in the UK-India relationship.
Russian strikes causing ‘chaos’ in Ukrainian energy and railway infrastructure
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of wanting to sow “chaos” in Ukraine by launching strikes on his country’s energy grid and railway infrastructure, in comments published on Thursday, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
Moscow, whose forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, have in recent weeks escalated aerial attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities and rail systems.
Zelenskyy told journalists, including AFP, in embargoed comments made in Kyiv on Wednesday:
Russia’s task is to create chaos and apply psychological pressure on the population through strikes on energy facilities and railways.
The recent attacks mirror similar Russian bombing campaigns in the winters of 2022, 2023 and 2024 when attacks left millions of Ukrainian without energy or heating for long periods.
Zelenskyy said that Russian attacks this year had already put Ukrainian gas infrastructure under “heavy pressure” and that more strikes on gas infrastructure could force his country to ramp up imports.
A Russian overnight drone attack injured five people and damaged port and energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern region of Odesa, its governor said on Thursday.
The attack cut power to 30,000 consumers and set containers with vegetable oil and wood pellets on fire in the port, Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.
Ukraine has also recently stepped up its own drone and missile strikes on Russian territory in a campaign that Zelenskyy said was showing “results” and that have also increased fuel prices in Russia.
“We believe that they’ve lost up to 20% of their gasoline supply – directly as a result of our strikes,” Zelenskyy said, adding there was evidence Russia had stepped up imports from China and Belarus.
Ukraine recently struck a power station in the Russian border region of Belgorod, causing power outages.
Fires also broke out at fuel and energy facilities in Russia’s Volgograd region as a result of a drone attack, Governor Andrei Bocharov said on Thursday.
Opening summary
Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of Europe.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of wanting to sow “chaos” in Ukraine by launching strikes on his country’s energy grid and railway infrastructure, in comments published on Thursday.
Moscow, whose forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, have in recent weeks escalated aerial attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities and rail systems.
Zelenskyy told journalists, including Agence France-Presse (AFP), in embargoed comments made in Kyiv on Wednesday:
Russia’s task is to create chaos and apply psychological pressure on the population through strikes on energy facilities and railways.
The recent attacks mirror similar Russian bombing campaigns in the winters of 2022, 2023 and 2024 when attacks left millions of Ukrainian without energy or heating for long periods.
Zelenskyy said that Russian attacks this year had already put Ukrainian gas infrastructure under “heavy pressure” and that more strikes on gas infrastructure could force his country to ramp up imports.
Ukraine has also recently stepped up its own drone and missile strikes on Russian territory in a campaign that Zelenskyy said was showing “results” and that have also increased fuel prices in Russia.
“We believe that they’ve lost up to 20% of their gasoline supply – directly as a result of our strikes,” Zelenskyy said, adding there was evidence Russia had stepped up imports from China and Belarus.
Ukraine also recently struck a power station in the Russian border region of Belgorod, causing power outages.
In other developments:
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Russian strikes killed three people and wounded two in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, its military administration said. The attacks came after Russia said on Wednesday that momentum towards reaching a peace deal in Ukraine had largely vanished, after Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s presidential summit in Alaska, dimming hopes for a quick end to the three-and-a-half year war.
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A Russian overnight drone attack injured five people and damaged port and energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern region of Odesa, its governor said on Thursday. The attack cut power to 30,000 consumers and set containers with vegetable oil and wood pellets on fire in the port, Oleh Kiper said on Telegram. It came as fires broke out at fuel and energy facilities in Russia’s Volgograd region as a result of a drone attack, Governor Andrei Bocharov said on Thursday.
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Ukraine’s ambassador to Nato on Wednesday urged European allies to step up purchases of US weapons for Kyiv, as only Washington can supply key capabilities required to counter Russia’s assaults. “European Nato member states are not able to substitute either by types or by volume or speed of delivery,” ambassador Alyona Getmanchuk told AFP.
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French president Emmanuel Macron was on Thursday racing to find a new prime minister within a two-day deadline after the resignation of outgoing premier Sebastien Lecornu tipped the country deeper into political crisis. The presidency said late on Wednesday Macron will name a new prime minister within the next 48 hours, indicating the appointment will come by Friday evening at the latest.
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A French appeal court is to rule on Thursday in the case of the only man among 50 who claims he is innocent after being convicted of sexually abusing Gisèle Pelicot. The 72-year-old’s former husband has admitted to drugging her with sedatives and inviting dozens of strangers to rape and abuse her over nearly a decade in a case that shocked the world.
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US sanctions on Serbia’s Russian-owned NIS oil company, which runs the country’s sole refinery, came into force Thursday after months of delays. The US sanctioned the Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS) in January as part of its crackdown on Russian energy, aiming to curb the sector following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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Germany’s parliament has rescinded a fast-track citizenship programme, reflecting the rapidly shifting mood on migration in Europe’s labour-hungry economic powerhouse. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives pledged in this year’s election campaign to rescind the legislation, which let people deemed “exceptionally well integrated” gain citizenship in three years instead of five.