Ukraine-Russia war latest: Three dead after Putin targets Ukrainian railways in overnight attack

Yulia Navalnya, the widow of journalist Alexei Navalny has said that independent lab tests have concluded her husband was poisoned shortly before his death in a Russian prison.

“These labs in two different countries reached the same conclusion: Alexei was killed. More specifically, he was poisoned,” Navalnaya said in a video posted to social media.

“I demand that the laboratories that conducted the research publish their results. Stop appeasing Putin for some higher ‘considerations.’ You cannot placate him. While you stay silent, he does not stop.”

Russian forces are preparing to launch two more large-scale offensives on Ukraine after three failed campaigns this year, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned.

“They are preparing for two more offensive operations in the fall,” Zelensky told Sky News.

He added: “There were already three of them, and ahead… there are two more heavy offensive campaigns.”

Just over the past two weeks, Zelensky said Russia has launched more than 3,500 drones, more than 2,500 powerful glide bombs and almost 200 missiles at targets inside Ukraine.

Poland has kickstarted its military exercise Iron Defender-25, just days after Russia violated its airspace with a drone incursion.

Deputy polish defence minister Cezary Tomczyk said Poland had been preparing for many months and was holding its own exercises.

More than 30,000 troops from Poland and allied nations will take part in drills across Orzysz, Ustka, Nowa Dęba, the Baltic Sea, airspace, and cyberspace.

Donald Trump has adopted Vladimir Putin’s arguments on Ukraine; and has (like Putin) threatened the sovereignty of his neighbours and allies.

On top of that, his administration has openly supported anti-democratic movements on Europe’s far right – notably in Germany, France, and Romania.

Trump has jeopardised the cornerstone alliances of Nato and the Five Eyes intelligence relationship that bind the West together as militaries and that links the Anglosphere into a web of trust.

His apparent devotion to Putin has further entrenched the belief among the intelligence communities of America’s allies that the US president is a liability.

He is a liability. He has been successfully manipulated by Russia and Putin for years.

So now it’s Britain’s turn, and as head of state, the star turn in Trump-charming is the King himself. He, no doubt, will play his part, writes Sam Kiley:

Russia’s oil pipeline monopoly Transneft has warned producers they may have to cut output following Ukraine’s drone attacks on critical export ports and refineries, three industry sources told Reuters.

Ukrainian drones have hit at least 10 refineries – cutting Russia’s refining capacity by almost a fifth at one point – and damaged its leading Baltic Sea ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk, Ukrainian military officials and Russian industry sources said.

Transneft, which handles more than 80 per cent of all the oil extracted in Russia, has in recent days restricted oil firms’ ability to store oil in its pipeline system, two industry sources close to Russian oil firms told Reuters.

Transneft has also warned producers it may have to accept less oil if its infrastructure sustains further damage, the two sources said.

The attacks could force Russia, which accounts for 9 per cent of global oil production, to ultimately cut output, said the two sources and a third source familiar with oil pumping operations.

The three sources asked not to be named due to sensitivity of the issue.

However, in a statement on its website, Transneft described the news as “fake” and part of the West’s “information war” against Russia.

The Trump administration has approved the first US weapons package for Ukraine funded by Nato countries, two sources aware of the situation told Reuters.

The sources declined to give an exact inventory of what has been approved for purchase by the Europeans for Ukraine, but said it included air defence systems, which Ukraine needs urgently given the huge increase in Russian drone and missile attacks.

They said the tranche of weapons could be shipped soon.

One of the sources said Nato’s new Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List was making its way through the process after clearing the Pentagon’s policy unit, reported Reuters.

“It’s the stuff they’ve been asking for. A lot of stuff,” said the source. “It’s the flow that’s allowed them to stabilise the lines thus far.”

This is the first time US is supplying Ukraine with a new method under Donald Trump with weapons from US stocks using funds from Nato countries.

So far, the Trump administration has only sold weapons to Ukraine or shipped donations which were authorised by former president Joe Biden who was ready to aid Kyiv with its battlefield requirements.

Russian attacks overnight have targeted railway infrastructure, including a strike on an electrical substation which disrupted operations, Ukrainian state rail operator Ukrzaliznytsia said.

At least 46 trains were experiencing delays this morning and passenger services were disrupted on routes to Odesa and Dnipro.

Oleksii Kuleba, the deputy prime minister said: “The enemy tried to disable substations that power the railway network with a massive drone attack this night.”

“Such strikes have a clear goal — to complicate the transportation of passengers and cargo, disrupt the stable operation of transport, and create additional pressure on people and the economy,” he siad.

At least three people were killed and 54 were injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day, officials said this morning.

The casualties were reported from the Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Kherson regions, which are facing the brunt of Russia’s onslaught.

Regional governor Ivan Fedorov confirmed one person was killed and 23 were wounded in Zaporizhzhia – including four children.

Another nine people were injured in Donetsk’s Kostiantynivka, regional governor Vadym Filashkin said.

At least one person was killed and 15 others were injured in Kherson as Russia rained drones and missiles on residential areas over the past day, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said, adding that the aerial assault targeted nine apartment buildings and 17 houses.

Canadian minister Chrystia Freeland has said she will step down from prime minister Mark Carney’s cabinet to take up her new role as Canada’s special envoy to Ukraine.

Freeland, who is of Ukrainian heritage, has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia.

“I have decided to step down from cabinet today and turn the page on this chapter in my life. I do not intend to run in the next election,” she said.

She recounted the Carney cabinet’s work to support Ukraine, and said: “We stood with Ukraine against dictatorship.”

In a statement, Carney thanked Freeland “for her extraordinary service in the Cabinet of Canada’s federal government over the last decade”.

He said that he has asked her to serve as Canada’s new Special Representative for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, in addition to her role as a Liberal MP.

Russia’s violation of Polish and Romanian airspace is part of a long-running trend of boundary-testing and sabotage by Vladimir Putin, said German chancellor Friedrich Merz.

“Russia wants to insidiously destabilise our free societies,” Merz told the Bundestag lower house of parliament today.

The German chancellor also warned that a peace deal in the Ukraine war cannot come at the expense of Kyiv’s political sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“A dictated peace, a peace without freedom, would encourage Putin to seek his next target,” added Merz.