Smoke rises above Russia’s Saratov oil refinery after reported Ukrainian strikes, August 2, 2026 (Exilenova)

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Saturday’s Coverage: 9+ Civilians Murdered, 28 Injured in 2nd Russia Mass Killings in 48 Hours

UPDATE 1607 GMT:

Seven civilians have been murdered and at least 123 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

Air defenses downed 117 of 136 drones launched by Russia overnight.

In the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, two people were killed and 32 injured.

Two aerial guided bombs on central Kramatorsk wounded 24 people. Six high-rise buildings, two educational institutions, a bank, a post office, four retail establishments, and eight passenger cars were damaged.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region in the southeast, three people were slain and 13 injured.

Most of the casualties were from an strike on a gasoline station near Kryvyi Rih (see 1744 GMT).

In the Kherson region in the south, two civilians were murdered and 19 in jured.

Casualties were also recorded in the Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Sumy, Chernihiv, and Kharkiv regions.

UPDATE 0926 GMT:

Russian ground forces have failed to make a significant advance in Ukraine for the fourth straight month.

The Russian army gained less than 40 square km (15 square miles) in July, after 30 square km the previous month.

In July 2025, the Russians were advancing by an average of 405 square km a month. In early 2026, that figure was halved. The Russian advance stopped in April, and Ukraine even regained a small amount of territory in May.

UPDATE 0645 GMT:

Seven people, including three children, were reportedly killed on a beach in southwest Russia when Russian air defenses downed a Ukrainian drone on Monday morning.

Another 40 people were injured, 21 of whom were hospitalized.

The mayor of the village of Arkhipo-Osipovka, Alexei Bogodistov, claimed he reported the drone threat at 8:34 a.m. with an air raid alert just over 10 minutes later. However, residents and tourists said they did not hear the warning sirens.

The Beregovaya compressor station of the Blue Stream gas pipeline is around 6 km (3.7 miles) from the crash site.

UPDATE 0640 GMT:

An elderly woman and two girls, aged 5 and 10, were killed by an overnight Russian guided bomb attack on Sumy city in northeast Ukraine.

The children’s bodies were recovered from the rubble of a home.

In Mykolaiv city in the south, an 89-year-old woman was murdered by a Russian attack on a residential area. Seven people were injured.

UPDATE 0552 GMT:

The US Ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, said on Monday that the Trump Administration is unlikely to reach an agreement with Ukraine on the joint production of Patriot air defense missiles before this winter.

Donald Trump accepted the plan for US licenses for Patriot production after a meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky at the NATO summit in Ankara on July 8. However, last week, in comments to journalists at the White House, he backed away from the acceptance.

Wheeler acknowledged the priority of ensuring Ukraine’s air defense capabilities ahead of winter, either through deliveries from allies with surplus missiles or by increasing production at US facilities.

He said, “There are co-production opportunities that we can do with the Ukrainians, that we can do with the Europeans, to increase the industrial base and support the defense of Ukraine and the defense of Europe.”

UPDATE, AUG 4:

Ukraine has struck another Russian refinery and two distribution hubs of Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries, amid attacks on oil infrastructure and logistics in several regions overnight.

The Syzran refinery in the Samara region was again hit, setting its afire.

The refinery, a leading producer for Russia’s armed forces, has an output of up to 8.9 million tons of oil per year.

A Wildberries logistics hub was attacked in the city of Chekhov in the Moscow region, around 65 km (40 miles) south of the Russian capital.

Moscow Governor Andrei Vorobyov claimed five people were killed and six injured.

Smoke was also seen rising from a Wildberries warehouse in the community of Krasny Bor in the Leningrad region, around 33 km (20 miles) southeast of St. Petersburg.

Leningrad Governor Alexander Drozdenko and Wildberries’ press service confirmed the drone strike.

Ukraine’s strikes since early July has inflicted an estimated 215 to 280 billion rubles ($2.7 to $3.5 billion) damage on Wildberries and the sellers using it.

CEO Tatiana Kim, Russia’s richest woman, has asked for State assistance while saying sellers will have to approach the Government for compensation.

The company has banned camera phones at its warehouses, trying to limit information which could assist strikes.

UPDATE 1750 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed Kyiv’s Ambassador to the US, Olha Stefanishyna.

Zelensky did not provide a reason or announce her successor.

The President initially planned to appoint recently-dismissed Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, but she declined the offer.

UPDATE 1744 GMT:

Three civilians have been murdered, including a rescue worker and his 8-year-old son, and 11 injured by a Russian attack on a gasoline station in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

The attack was the town of Shyroke, on the highway about 30 km (19 miles) south of Kryvyi Rih.

Russia is attacking gasoline stations in eastern and southern Ukraine. In late July, Russian forces destroyed all stations along the highway between Poltava and Kharkiv.

UPDATE 1555 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov as head of the Foreign Intelligence Service.

Zelensky named former Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko to replace Umerov.

The President said Umerov will continue coordinating the Drone Deal initiative with the US while remaining involved in talks to end Russia’s invasion.

“He has greater capacity to deal with these issues simultaneously — diplomacy, defense, and the negotiations process with the US and some other partners,” Zelensky told diplomats.

UPDATE 1549 GMT:

Eight civilians were murdered and 66 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

In the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine, one person was killed and 37 injured. A Russian strike on Monday morning left 45,000 households without power, with 23,000 still cut off as of 10:30 a.m.

In the Donestk region in the east, two people were slain and 12 wounded.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region in the southeast, two civilians were murdered and three injured.

In the neighboring Kherson region, one person was killed and six injured.

One person was killed and five wounded across the Sumy region in northeast Ukraine. One civilian was murdered and one injured in the neighboring Kharkiv region.

UPDATE 0621 GMT:

Ukraine’s air defenses downed 163 of 181 drones launched by Russia overnight. Fourteen UAVs hit 13 locations.

UPDATE 0617 GMT:

Ukraine’s General Staff says Russia suffered 42,860 personnel losses in July, the highest monthly total of 2026.

The total eclipsed the 39,290 personnel lost by Russia in June.

Russian killed, wounded, and captured have averaged around 34,000 personnel per month in 2026.

UPDATE 0611 GMT:

A European Union force, led by the Italian Navy, boarded a sanctioned Russian shadow fleet tanker in the Mediterranean on Sunday morning.

The Italian vessel Thaon di Revel intercepted the tanker Toa Payoh, which was sailing under a Cameroonian flag, in international waters west of Pantelleria, an island between Sicily and Tunisia. Initially, the ship’s captain did not cooperate with Italian officers when asked to provide documentation.

The boarding was part of Operation IRINI, the EU mission monitoring arms and oil trafficking in the Mediterranean.

UPDATE, AUG 3:

Ukraine struck another Wildberries logistics center overnight.

The latest attack on Russia’s largest online retailer was in the town of Khryastovo in the Vladimir region, around 190 km (118 miles) east of Moscow.

Photos and videos posted by residents showed thick black smoke rising from the facility. Wildberries’ press service confirmed a fire, saying preliminary reports indicate no casualties were sustained.

Ukrainian drones also attacked the Belgorod State Technological University in western Russia, destroying a building where an automated drone control system was being developed and detested.

Explosions were reported in the Saksky District, Feodosia, Simferopol, and Kerch in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Following today’s strike on another Wildberries hub in Russia’s Vladimir region, the fire has intensified and is now spreading through the 175,000-square-metre warehouse complex.

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— Special Kherson Cat (@specialkhersoncat.bsky.social) August 3, 2026 at 7:17 AM

UPDATE 1753 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky reports that Russia launched around 1,900 drones, nearly 1,600 aerial bombs, and 144 missiles across 16 regions of Ukraine this week. More than 1,500 sites, including hundreds of homes, were damaged.

On Sunday, one person was murdered in Brovary near Kyiv by a drone. At least two were slain and 11 injured in Zaporizhzhia city.

In the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine, Russia destroyed a Nova Post terminal, killing an employee of a transport contractor.

Zelensky posted:

Pressure is needed on every segment of Russia’s defense-industrial complex, and that is exactly the pressure that will ultimately help reduce the number of attacks against our people. Sanctions must be expanded, and they must work.

UPDATE 0718 GMT:

Ukraine’s air defenses downed 109 of 133 drones fired by Russia overnight. The other 24 UAVs hit 19 locations.

ORIGINAL ENTRY:Ukraine’s latest attacks inside Russia have struck an airbase, an oil refinery, and another warehouse of the country’s leading online retailer Wildberries.

Ukraine again targeted an airbase in Engels, where Russia’s fleet of strategic bombers is based.

Last week Kyiv hit the Engels-2 military airfield twice within days. Satellite images indicated a Tu-95 long-range bomber was destroyed.

The Saratov oil refinery, one of Russia’s largest, was again set afire. Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said two people were killed and civilian infrastructure was damaged.

The refinery processes around 6 million tons of oil per year, 2.2% of Russia’s total refining output.

The Wildberries warehouse was set ablaze in the town of Novosemeykino in the Samara region.

Ukraine’s attacks on “Russia’s Amazon” since early July have inflicted billions of dollars of losses, including more than 10% of logistics capacity and more than 8% of warehouses.

CEO Tatiana Kim, Russia’s richest woman, has appealed for Government assistance while saying the company is not legally obligated to compensate businesses using it for sales.