Putin Hit Hard After Ukrainian Drones Kill Three, Russian Cargo Ship Catches Fire

Three people were killed and several others injured after drones launched by Ukraine struck Russia’s southern Rostov region overnight. The attacks hit port infrastructure in Rostov-on-Don and the nearby town of Bataysk on December 18, according to local authorities.

Photos and videos shared on social media by residents appeared to show large flames rising from the direction of the port following the attack. Rostov-on-Don mayor Alexander Skryabin said emergency crews were deployed to extinguish a fire aboard a vessel that had been hit while docked. He added that three people were killed and others wounded, though casualty figures were still being clarified.

Rostov Oblast governor Yuri Slyusar confirmed that a vessel was damaged in the strike but offered differing descriptions of the target.

While early reports referred to an oil tanker, Slyusar later said the drone attack had hit a cargo ship. Officials said no petroleum products were spilled into the water. The claims could not be independently verified, and Ukraine’s military has not commented.

The strike comes amid a sustained Ukrainian campaign targeting Russia’s energy and maritime infrastructure, including vessels linked to Moscow’s so-called “shadow fleet” used to transport oil. Ukrainian officials have previously said such operations aim to disrupt a key source of revenue for Russia’s war effort.

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Elsewhere, Ukraine said it struck infrastructure at the Slavyansk oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region overnight, while Russian glide bomb attacks hit residential areas in Zaporizhzhia, wounding at least 26 people.

Ukraine and Russia exchange strikes

Fighting continued across several fronts on Thursday as Ukraine and Russia exchanged strikes and fresh political and economic pressure mounted on Moscow.

Ukraine said its forces struck infrastructure at the Slavyansk oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region overnight, extending a campaign aimed at disrupting Russia’s energy revenues.

At the same time, Russian glide bomb attacks hit residential areas in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, wounding at least 26 people, including a child, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov. He said three strikes hit the regional capital and surrounding areas, leaving two apartment buildings badly damaged.

Ukraine’s military further said it now controls nearly 90 percent of Kupiansk, rejecting Russian claims that Kyiv’s counteroffensive in the strategic northeastern town had failed.

Officials said their forces had encircled Russian troops and retaken sections of the town. Russia’s defence ministry, however, claimed its forces had captured the village of Herasymivka in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.

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The military escalation comes as diplomatic efforts remain fragile. Speaking at an annual defence ministry meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow would expand its territorial gains by force if Ukraine and its European allies refused to engage with U.S.-backed peace proposals.

U.S. and Russian officials are expected to hold talks in Miami this weekend, with Washington’s delegation reportedly including United States envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. In contrast, Russia is expected to be represented by Kirill Dmitriev, head of its sovereign wealth fund.

$800 million allocation

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate passed a compromise version of the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, allocating $800 million for Ukraine over two years through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.

The legislation also authorises $175 million for the Baltic Security Initiative and restricts any reduction in U.S. troop levels in Europe to no fewer than 76,000. The nearly $1 trillion bill now awaits President Donald Trump’s signature.

European pressure also intensified. The European Parliament approved plans to phase out Russian gas imports by late 2027, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged allies ahead of an EU summit to use nearly $250 billion in frozen Russian assets to support Kyiv.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni cautioned that seizing the funds without a firm legal basis could backfire.

Russia’s central bank has already moved to challenge such plans, filing a $230 billion lawsuit against Belgian depository Euroclear, with a preliminary hearing set for January 16.

The United States is also preparing a new round of sanctions targeting Russia’s energy sector, even as it extended a waiver allowing oil sales from Russia’s Sakhalin-2 project—critical to Japan’s LNG supply—to continue through June next year.

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