Ukraine-Russia war live: Kyiv denies attacking Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant with drone

Russian authorities said Ukrainian drones struck energy and industrial targets across several regions overnight into Sunday, with damage reported in Saratov, Kirov, Belgorod, Rostov and Voronezh.

Saratov governor Roman Busargin said “civil infrastructure†had been damaged in the Volga region, which hosts several oil refineries and has faced repeated Ukrainian attacks in recent months. In the Kirov region, more than 1,300km from Ukrainian-held territory, governor Alexander Sokolov said drones hit a facility in the Urzhumsky district.

Governors in Belgorod, Rostov and Voronezh also reported strikes, while Belgorod authorities said three civilians were injured.

In occupied Crimea, Moscow-backed governor Sergei Aksyonov announced restrictions on petrol sales following continued Ukrainian attacks on fuel infrastructure near the peninsula.

Over four years ago, Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko allowed longtime ally Russia to use his territory to invade Ukraine. Now officials in Kyiv are warning that Lukashenko could again allow his land to serve as a launchpad for more attacks by the Kremlin’s forces.

While Belarus has not contributed troops to battle, Lukashenko has backed President Vladimir Putin's war effort by hosting Russia's nuclear weapons and military infrastructure, as well as producing components for Moscow's military industries. Earlier this month, the countries held joint drills of nuclear forces involving Russian weapons deployed in Belarus.

Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom said on Saturday that a Ukrainian drone struck the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

There was no damage to key equipment, but the attack left a hole in the wall of a turbine hall, Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev said. He was quoted as saying by Russian state media that the fact that the drone was controlled via fiber optics “completely rules out the possibility of an accidental impact.”

Ukraine did not immediately comment on the incident.

The plant is in an area under Russian control since early in Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is not in service, but it needs reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly expressed alarm about the nuclear plant, Europe’s biggest.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said on â Friday his remarks on 9 May about the Ukraine war coming to an â end ​were based â on an analysis of Russian â advances on the battlefield. Putin, though, ​refused â to give any ‌specific timeline for an end to the war. ‌

He said Western ‌claims that Russia was preparing for war with Europe â were lies. He added that Western media should feel ashamed of themselves for their coverage of what Moscow said was ‌a Ukrainian drone ​attack on a student ‌dormitory in â Russian-controlled Luhansk which â left 21 people dead.

As more Russian drones enter Nato airspace, analysis from the Institute of War suggests that president Vladimir Putin has adopted a new “reckless policy†towards the West.

“Increasingly frequent Russian drone incursions into Nato airspace indicate that Russian President Vladimir Putin has adopted a reckless policy that accepts the risk of Russian drones entering Nato airspace as an acceptable consequence of Russia’s strikes in Ukraine.

“Putin now appears to accept the risk of inflicting civilian casualties in Nato states as an acceptable consequence of Russia's strike campaign.

“Given the restrictions on Romania's air defense operations, Nato may need to consider negotiating possible air defense agreements with Ukraine and Moldova as a matter of self-defense against Russian drone strikes against Nato countries, regardless of whether the Russian drone incursions are accidental or intentional.â€