Ukraine-Russia war latest: Nato jets blow up suspected Russian sea drone near gas facility

Romania scrambled F-16 fighter jets to destroy a suspected Russian marine drone spotted a few hundred metres from a Black Sea gas project. The country’s defence minister said that the drone was destroyed as it travelled near Neptun Deep, a critical facility that is expected to make Romania the European Union's largest gas producer when it comes onstream ⁠in 2027. Romania shares a 614-km land ​border with ⁠Ukraine and has seen Russian drones breaching its airspace over the last four years and mines floating in the Black Sea across key trade ⁠and energy routes. "In order to protect the lives of the several hundred people working on the platform and to secure critical ‌infrastructure, the decision was made to destroy (the marine drone)," ‌Miruta said in a Facebook post on Thursday. In a later post, he confirmed the drone — which was hit by the fighter jet and completely destroyed by a ship that arrived at the location — contained ⁠explosives.Ukraine says it struck more Russian oil facilities Ukraine's general staff said on Thursday its forces struck an oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, in Russia's Tatarstan region, starting a fire, and the Tamanneftegaz oil terminal in Volna, in Russia's Krasnodar region, where there was also a blaze. Ukraine has hit both facilities in recent months as part of its campaign to disrupt Russia's vital oil industry. Tatarstan leader Rustam Minnikhanov confirmed there had been a "massive attack" in the region, state news agency Tass reported, citing his press service. Many of the drones targeted Nizhnekamsk's Zakamsk economic area, disrupting production at industrial sites and damaging residential buildings, Tass quoted him as saying. The Russian Defence Ministry said air defences shot down 726 drones overnight over a number of Russian regions, annexed Crimea and the Black and Azov seas, in one of Ukraine's biggest aerial attacks of the war. Dan Haygarth20 August 2026 22:12Editorial: Vladimir Putin has pushed his people to breaking point Read in full below Vladimir Putin has pushed his people to breaking point Editorial: The Russian president appears determined to carry on with his bloody gamble in Ukraine, but ordinary citizens – facing deadly retaliation from Kyiv, and fighting each other for scarce fuel on petrol forecourts – are showing signs of having had enough Dan Haygarth20 August 2026 20:45 Norway boosts defence footprint with expansion of Arctic brigade Norway on Thursday expanded a recently created ​military brigade headquartered in the Arctic, the latest move by a NATO nation to boost its defence footprint in the wake of the Ukraine war. The NATO member established the Finnmark Brigade ⁠last year, forming the country's second brigade and the first one set up since the end of the Cold War. Both brigades have their headquarters in the Arctic. Norway, like the other Nordic countries, has steeply increased its military budget in ⁠response to the Ukraine war and ​Donald Trump's push to get European allies to contribute more to defence. The Nordic country is now in the top ranks ⁠of NATO defence spending when measured as a proportion of a ​country's ⁠GDP, spending an estimated 3.17 per cent this ‌year on defence, up from 1.5 per cent in 2014, according to NATO figures. One of the Finnmark Brigade's main duties until now was to surveil ‌and patrol the 198-km (123-mile) border Norway shares with Russia. It ‌is being expanded to include an artillery battalion, air defence battery and communications company that will enable it to carry out certain actions, such as firing at targets ⁠on land some 40 km away or coordinating firing with planes and ships from both Norwegian and NATO forces. Porsangmoen lies some 180 km from Norway's ‌border with Russia in a straight line. The Russian region ​on the other side is a major military hosting area, ‌including for Russia's Northern Fleet. Moscow has previously ​dismissed allegations that it poses a threat to NATO. Dan Haygarth20 August 2026 20:15Comment: Putin’s empty threats to the UK are the last gasp of a dying Russia Time and again, we see that Moscow’s red lines are drawn in disappearing ink – if anything, we should take a warning of ‘serious consequences’ only as a sign to push things further and faster, says Bill Browder. Read below. Dan Haygarth20 August 2026 19:45 Dan Haygarth20 August 2026 19:15Russian strikes kill 16 in Ukraine, Zelenskiy says lack of interceptors costs lives A major Russian airstrike killed 16 people and injured more than 40 in Kyiv and the surrounding region on Thursday as president Volodymyr Zelensky said a failure by Ukraine's allies to replenish its stock of air defence missiles was costing lives. Ukraine's air force ⁠said Russia launched dozens of cruise missiles, as well as ballistic and hypersonic ones, and 168 drones, in the massive overnight attack. The air force said that nearly 90 per cent of the drones and most of the cruise missiles were downed. It did not specify how many ballistic missiles were launched and whether any were intercepted. Zelensky called Thursday's strike one of the most "cynical, calculated, and large-scale" of the four-and-a-half-year-long war. The upper floors of a nine-storey residential block were destroyed in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district, mayor Vitali Klitschko said. He called for Friday to be observed as a day of mourning. Overall, 30 ⁠residential buildings, a school, a children's hospital, and a kindergarten were damaged in the capital and ​the surrounding ⁠areas, Zelenskiy said. Private energy company DTEK said it had restored power to some 90,000 households that lost the supply after the attack. The Russian defence ministry said Moscow attacked Kyiv and the surrounding region with airstrikes and drones, hitting facilities producing drone components, a military depot and a logistics hub, as ⁠well as other targets. As Russia has escalated its ballistic strikes in recent months, Zelenskiy has pleaded with allies to replenish Ukraine's stock of Patriot interceptors - the only weapon in its arsenal capable of downing a ballistic missile. Dan Haygarth20 August 2026 18:45Putin arrests Russians for complaining about fuel shortages as fighting breaks out at petrol stations Russian police have arrested citizens complaining of fuel shortages at the pump, as Ukraine’s drone campaign sparked fighting at petrol stations and rationing. On Wednesday, Moscow and its surrounding regions were forced to reinstate purchase limits on fuel, capping sales at between 50 and 60 litres per vehicle. As Ukraine intensifies its “deep strike” campaign, hitting another major oil refinery on Wednesday, the strain on Russia’s domestic energy grid continues to grow. Across at least 12 regions, miles of gridlocked traffic now stall forecourts, with motorists waiting up to 30 hours only to find the pumps empty.