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Russia bombarded at least four Ukrainian regions overnight with missiles and drones, killing four people, officials said Tuesday, while Ukrainian forces struck another Russian oil refinery in the latest exchange of long-range attacks.
The ongoing daily aerial attacks, even as positions along the battlefield’s front line have changed little, provided a backdrop to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the United States.
Zelenskyy was due to meet other world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, at the UN General Assembly in New York. The Ukrainian leader is seeking their support for efforts to end Russia’s more than four-and-a-half-year full-scale invasion of his country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is not scheduled to attend the annual gathering.
The war, which Western officials say has killed more than 500,000 Russian troops, has had repercussions far beyond the battlefield.
Repeated Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries, following Moscow’s strikes on Ukraine’s power grid, have contributed to international diesel shortages and price increases, according to Trump. However, the global fuel crunch has also been linked to the Iran war, which resulted in reduced oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Zelenskyy is also seeking international support to maintain the flow of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products to global markets through the Black Sea. Russian attacks on cargo vessels have severely disrupted Ukraine’s exports, hurting its economy and threatening global food supplies.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that France would provide Ukraine with additional radars to help protect its power grid.
Macron said on social media that he had discussed with Trump the possibility of a truce between Moscow and Kyiv on attacks against energy infrastructure, as well as a “moratorium” on attacks in the Black Sea.
Zelenskyy began his New York visit by meeting US senators and thanking them for what he described as strong bipartisan support for Ukraine. He also thanked them for recently passing a tougher Russian sanctions bill, which Trump has signed into law.
“Peace and security will be closer once the bill is fully implemented,” Zelenskyy said.
He said on social media that he briefed the senators on his proposals for de-escalation measures, which he intended to discuss with Trump later Tuesday.
The Ukrainian president also plans to again press Trump to provide additional US-made Patriot air-defence systems, which Kyiv says it urgently needs to counter Russia’s ballistic missiles.
Ukraine said it struck the Kuibyshev oil refinery in Samara, southeast of Moscow, in an overnight attack.
Several drones hit their targets, sparking a large fire at the facility, according to a statement from Ukrainian special forces.
The refinery, owned by Rosneft, is a key fuel supplier for central Russia and produces gasoline, diesel, fuel oil and other petroleum products, the statement said. Ukraine said it had struck the same refinery last June.
One person was killed and four others were wounded in the Samara attack, regional Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said. He said “the enemy targeted industrial facilities” but did not specify which facilities were hit.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said Tuesday that its forces had shot down 297 Ukrainian drones over 14 Russian regions overnight, as well as over the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Russia’s overnight attack on Ukraine involved anti-ship missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and more than 200 drones, Ukraine’s air force said.
The strikes killed four people in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, said Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration.
The strikes across several Ukrainian regions damaged homes, businesses and storage facilities and wounded at least five people, authorities said. Five people were wounded in the capital, Kyiv, according to officials.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said Tuesday that its forces had struck facilities in the metallurgical and chemical industries, the fuel and energy sector and the military-industrial complex, as well as port infrastructure in four Ukrainian regions.
The ministry said the targets included a Fire Point plant in Kyiv producing components for long-range cruise missiles and a tobacco factory in the central Poltava region that it said was being used to manufacture small-arms ammunition.
