Firefighters battle a blaze in a building struck by a Russian attack on Kyiv, Ukraine, October 14, 2026

Tuesday’s Coverage: Russia — After Trump Deal, We Can Return Diesel Exports to Pre-Invasion Level

UPDATE 0621 GMT:

Ukrainian drones reportedly struck a metallurgical plant and a data center in Russia’s Saratov region overnight.

Governor Roman Busargin reported the attack. He maintained that all infrastructure in the city of Balakovo was “operating normally” while claimed that several residential buildings were damaged and one person killed.

Eyewitness footage indicated one of the damaged buildings was several kilometers from the Balakovo Thermal Power Plant, the city’s main source of heat.

The Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+ said the struck data center belonged to the major Russian bank Sberbank. The center and the Balakovo metallurgical plant are both in the city’s industrial zone where several fires were reported.

The Sberbank center is still under construction but is partially operational. It is expected to become one of the largest data centers in Russia, serving as the base for the state digital platform GosTekh.

UPDATE 0606 GMT:

Ukraine has advanced its bid for membership in the European Union, opening talks on internal market and competitiveness standards.

Four of six clusters have now been unlocked.

The breakthrough came after Hungary dropped its objections, following Ukrainian passage of legislation protecting the rights of the Hungarian-speaking minority in western Ukraine.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: At least three civilians have been murdered and 22 injured in Russia’s latest large-scale ballistic missile attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.

The Russians struck a residential neighborhood and targeted several energy facilities overnight.

At least two people were killed and 21 injured by a Russian missile strike on a 9-story residential building in the Desnyanskyi district, igniting a widespread fire, late Tuesday. Four of the wounded are in serious condition.

More than a dozen explosions were heard between 4:45 and 6:45 a.m., with brief power outages. Another person was slain in the Holosiivskyi district.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky posted after the late-night attacks that no warning had been given by partners of the impending strikes for the second day in a row: “Our system detected these missiles almost as they were approaching Kyiv.”

Zelensky said the CHPP-4 thermal power plant and residential building were hit.

This is absolutely unjust: when they are destroying our energy infrastructure, and Ukraine is not even receiving early warnings about ballistic missile launches. It is important that the world does not stay silent about this. And it is important that the United States really see what is happening and who is responsible for this war continuing.

Presidential advisor Dmytro Lytvyn and Ukraine’s Air Force also said no alerts were received on either day.

Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner reportedly warned Ukrainian officials in Miami last Friday that intelligence sharing could be halted if Ukraine did not stop its strikes on Russian oil refineries.

Trump denied the cutoff on Tuesday, “We are helping them, and we are sharing intel. We want the war to end, so we’re working with them and Russia on getting the war to end.”

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelensky said he proposed new talks with Witkoff and Kushner. He reiterated that he supported an energy ceasefire as long as Russia observes it. “Our team has sent the American side the ⁠relevant proposals regarding possible next meetings and ​conversations,” he said.