Smoke rises from the Ust-Luga oil refinery in northwest Russia after Ukrainian strikes, August 14, 2026
EA-Frontline Video: Ukraine — Putin’s “Go Big or Go Home” Moment
EA-Ukraine VideoCast: Can US “Adults In The Room” Ensure Support for Kyiv Despite Trump?
Thursday’s Coverage: Kyiv Damages Russian Warships and Grain Terminals in Strikes on Novorossiysk
UPDATE 0823 GMT:
Through a third party, Ukraine has proposed a mutual halt of attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea.
Russia has not responded.
Since July 6, Ukraine has struck nearly 220 Russia vessels in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea, including oil tankers, grain cargo ships, and passenger ferries.
The Russians are attacking shipping in the Black Sea to enforce a blockade of grain exports from Ukraine’s Odesa region.
UPDATE 0818 GMT:
A Ukrainian naval officer who defect to Russia was killed in a bomb attack on Thursday in Russian-occupied Crimea.
Robert Shageyev switched allegiance to Russia during Russia’s seizure of the peninsula in 2014 when he was commanding Ukraine’s only submarine, the Zaporizhzhia.
The attack was in the city of Sevastopol. Regional governor Mikhail Razvozhayev, said a woman was arrested on suspicion of carrying out the assassination on behalf of Ukrainian special services.
UPDATE 0810 GMT:
A Russian plan to kill a Ukrainian-American citizen in Warsaw has been thwarted by Polish security services, says Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The suspect, allegedly recruited by Russia’s secret services, was detained by Polish authorities last Friday. He will be held in custody for three months, Warsaw police said.
The operation was carried out in cooperation with US services, said Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland’s minister overseeing intelligence services.
Tusk commented, “We must assume that the Putin regime will try to eliminate people who are inconvenient for various reasons, in various places around the world.”
In June, Russian artist Robert Kuzovkov, who criticized Vladimir Putin, was shot and killed near his home in eastern Poland.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Continuing its campaign to cripple Russia’s economy and constrain the Kremlin’s 53 1/2-month full-scale invasion, Ukraine has hit a key port and oil refineries.
Overnight attacks damaged port infrastructure in Ust-Luga, one of Russia’s largest ports on the Baltic Sea, west of St. Petersburg in the Leningrad region. The site has an oil terminal which is a major hub for the export of crude oil and petroleum products.
Russian officials acknowledged a fire at the port amid a wide-ranging drone attack on the region.
Ukraine carried out a series of deep strikes against the Ust-Luga port in March and April. It caused significant damage, sharply reduced Russian oil exports, and embarrassed the Kremlin as it staged the the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The governor of Russia’s Orenburg region, 1,300 km (808 miles) from the Ukraine border, confirmed that the refinery in Orsk has completely halted processing. Repairs are expected to keep the facility out of operation for months.
The refinery was hit on Tuesday. It has a crude-processing capacity of around 6 million tons per year.
Governor Yevgeny Solntsev posted on social media that the Ukrainian attack damaged “key infrastructure, which cannot currently be restored. The equipment is imported, and given the sanctions, repairs could take up to six months. The plant has been completely shut down.”
The shutdown compounded gasoline rationing in the area. More than 50 Russian and Russian-occupied regions have introduced restrictions since the spring.
On Thursday, Ukraine hit attacked and set afire the Salavat refinery in Russia’s Bashkortostan, around 1,400 km (870 miles) from the border.
The Salavat refinery is the largest petrochemical facility of the Russian energy giant Gazprom. It has a processing capacity of 7.5 million tons of oil per year, around 2.7% of Russia’s total refining capacity.
