Ukraine strikes Arctic gas plants 3,000km from front line as attacks on Ukrainian cities continue

Ukraine's special operations forces said they struck two major natural gas facilities in Russia's Arctic, roughly 3,000km from the Russian-Ukrainian border. One target was Novy Urengoy, often described as Russia's unofficial gas capital, and the other was in the nearby Purovsky district. Both lie in the Yamal-Nenets region, which according to Interfax accounts for about 80% of Russia's total natural gas extraction. Ukrainian officials noted the area had long been considered entirely safe from the war. Fire Point, the Ukrainian manufacturer behind the Flamingo cruise missile, said the strike travelled over 3,300km. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy highlighted the economic impact of the strikes on Russia, and the regional governor confirmed the attack while damage assessments continue.

Ukrainian forces also struck the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in Russia's Krasnodar region, hitting a naval base, an oil-loading terminal, port infrastructure and warships equipped with cruise missiles.

Moldova airspace closure

Ukraine and Moldova dismissed reports that a drone nearly struck Zelenskyy's plane en route to Oslo. A Moldovan government spokesperson said the president's departure was delayed after authorities closed the country's airspace due to a drone alert, with the flight cleared once the drone had been brought down. In total, three departures and four arrivals were delayed. Moldovan President Maia Sandu condemned the airspace incursions as well as an earlier Russian drone strike near the Ukrainian border that killed two people and injured three.

Deadly strikes on Ukrainian cities

In Kyiv, a Russian drone strike on an apartment building killed one person and injured at least four, with further strikes reported in Dnipro, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Zhytomyr. In Sumy, a drone strike on a shopping centre killed two people and injured 20, four seriously, according to the regional governor. Zelenskyy said the international response to such attacks has been insufficient and called for effective sanctions against Russia and continued support for Ukraine.

Amid the attacks, a Kyiv couple married as planned after a Russian strike damaged their apartment the night before the wedding, forcing them to retrieve their wedding clothes from the debris.

Germany's defence minister, Boris Pistorius, warned that Russia is stockpiling weapons for future conflicts beyond Ukraine, using only part of its missile production against Ukrainian targets. In the UK, a man was charged over alleged assistance to Russian intelligence services in planning sabotage. The Kremlin said it wants peace talks held in Abu Dhabi and reiterated calls for the US to halt aid to Kyiv.