Ukraine has launched an attack on a Russian rocket fuel plant in the bordering Rostov region, targeting workshops that produce explosives and gunpowder, the military has said.
The Kamensk-Shakhtinsky plant, which Kyiv says is part of Russia’s large military-industrial complex, was struck overnight going into Sunday.
Ukraine’s military claimed on Monday that two workshops had been destroyed and four others damaged, sharing satellite images of the aftermath.
The plant produces solid rocket fuel for several multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS), and for other missile systems and air-delivered munitions, it said.
The attack was part of a huge Ukrainian drone attack that Russian authorities said included more than 800 drones.
Ukraine said it destroyed another warehouse belonging to Russian online retailer Wildberries in the attack. Moscow said it had destroyed 822 drones overnight, with 600 directed towards the capital, in what it said was the “largest scale” attack seen so far this year.
The Wildberries site attacked in Podolsk, in the Moscow region, is reportedly the largest owned by the retailer.
Images show the vast warehouse completely destroyed, as Kyiv continues its campaign against the so-called ‘Russian Amazon’ which aims to “bring home the war” to ordinary Russians.
Read MoreRussia is increasing its attacks on Ukrainian civilians – the West must respond
British drones used in Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia for first time, says report
Russian Navy officer who defected from Ukraine killed by hidden bin bomb in Crimea, officials say
Key Points
- Russian attack hits civilian vessel in Odesa overnight
- Seven killed in Russia as Ukraine launches one of its largest aerial attacks of the war
- Nato jet downs drone in Romanian airspace
- Ukraine could start hitting Russia with domestic ballistic missiles 'in months'
- Russia says it has taken two villages in eastern Ukraine
Watch: Wildberries logistics centres hit in Ukraine's biggest drone strike of the year
05:40 , Arpan RaiDrone hits another Wildberries warehouse near Moscow
04:55 , Arpan RaiA drone has hit a warehouse of Russian e-commerce company Wildberries near Moscow and caused a fire at the site, regional governor Andrei Vorobyov said.
He said the fire has now been extinguished but the drone attack damaged other buildings, including private houses, apartment buildings, shops and a power station.
At least three people were injured in the attack, he said.
In the past month, Ukraine has hit at least seven of the 10 largest Wildberries warehouses, which it says is complicit in Moscow’s war against Kyiv.
UK says it stands ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with Ukraine after Russia fumes over British drones
04:44 , Arpan RaiBritain has said it stands united with Ukraine against Russia’s aggression after Moscow fumed over British-made drones being used in strikes on Russia.
The Russian embassy in the UK on Monday accused London of complicity in aiding Ukraine with drones that are hitting targets deep inside Russian territory.
The UK, it said, is “deliberately opting for an escalation of the Ukraine crisis”.
"In doing so, the United Kingdom is acting as an accomplice and co-perpetrator of the bloody crimes and terrorist attacks," the Russian Embassy to the UK said.
It added: "London's actions will inevitably carry consequences for which it will have to answer," and the deeper its involvement in the conflict, "the higher the price it will pay".
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) told BBC News that Britain stands “shoulder to shoulder” with Ukraine.
"Russia should be in no doubt about the resolve of this Government to stand against Russian aggression, in Ukraine and against the UK and our allies," the spokesperson said.
The UK was "committed to providing the equipment Ukraine needs to defend itself against [Russian president Vladimir] Putin's illegal invasion," they said.
Russia tells North Korea they are making 'new and righteous world order'
04:32 , Arpan RaiRussian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has hailed North Korea's role in fighting to eject Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region, writing in a letter that they succeeded in driving out a "Ukrainian Nazi clique".
North Korea and Russia are working to establish a "new and righteous world order," Lavrov wrote in a letter to North Korean foreign minister Choe Son Hui, according to the North's state news agency KCNA this morning.
Pyongyang has deployed troops to Russia since late 2024, when it helped Moscow retake a portion of Kursk that had been captured by a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Vladimir Putin's regime routinely calls the Ukrainian administration “neo-Nazis,” even though the country has a Jewish president who lost relatives in the Holocaust and who heads a Western-backed, democratically elected government.
Putin has vowed to fight on in Ukraine until Moscow secures the country's "demilitarisation", "denazification" and neutrality, unless Kyiv accepts a deal that achieves those goals.
Russia fires top economist after he compares Putin’s economy to 1917 revolution
04:25 , Arpan RaiThe chief economist of a Russian state development bank has been fired after reportedly drawing comparisons between Russia’s present day economy and the 1917 revolution.
Andrei Klepach, one of Russia's most prominent macroeconomists who worked for VEB, made the remarks to a financial forum in May. They were reported by Russian media only last week.
He warned that the country was falling behind the West and China and suffering mounting economic damage from the war in Ukraine, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Russia fires top economist after he compares Putin’s economy to 1917 revolution
Russia downs 180 drones in Moscow region overnight
04:03 , Arpan RaiRussian forces have downed at least 180 drones in the Moscow region overnight, the capital's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in the early hours today.
Overall, 620 drones were heading for the region surrounding the Russian capital between Monday evening and 5am, he said.
Pictured: A resident collects things from a private house damaged during a Russian missile and drone strike in Odesa
03:00 , Bryony Gooch
Huge inferno engulfs ‘Russian Amazon’ Wildberries after Ukraine strike
02:00 , Bryony Gooch
Huge inferno engulfs ‘Russian Amazon’ after Ukraine’s largest ever drone strike
Watch: Nine injured in Russian attack on Ukraine's Odesa region
01:00 , Bryony GoochRussia jails opposition politician for 11 years over war criticism
Tuesday 18 August 2026 00:00 , Bryony Gooch
Russia jails opposition politician for 11 years over Ukraine war criticism
Pictured: Workers dismount a Soviet Union era monument to the Communards in Dnipro
Monday 17 August 2026 23:00 , Bryony Gooch
Italy sees no sign of Russian link to Colleferro munitions blast, minister says
Monday 17 August 2026 22:00 , Bryony GoochItaly's government has seen nothing to suggest that Russia was behind last week's explosion at a munitions plant near Rome, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto was quoted as saying on Monday.
The blast struck a KNDS Ammo Italy factory in Colleferro, southeast of Rome, on Thursday after firefighters had already been called to tackle a fire at the site. No injuries were reported.
While the government has not commented on reports that the plant produces ammunition for Ukraine, Crosetto sought to dampen speculation that Russian sabotage was behind the explosion.
"There is no indication to anyone that this could be anything other than an internal problem," Crosetto told Italian news agency Adnkronos.
Meet the grandmothers caring for Ukraine’s stray animals
Monday 17 August 2026 21:00 , Bryony Gooch
‘They won’t survive without us’: The grandmothers caring for Ukraine’s stray animals
Watch: Wildberries logistics centres hit in Ukraine's biggest drone strike of the year
Monday 17 August 2026 20:00 , Bryony GoochIn pictures: Police detain opposition supporter as Yabloko party leader attends a supreme court session
Monday 17 August 2026 19:00 , Bryony Gooch
Russia's Supreme Court rejects appeal by anti-war Yabloko party against election ban
Monday 17 August 2026 18:00 , Bryony GoochRussia's Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by the anti-war Yabloko party against a ruling last week that bans it from taking part in a parliamentary election next month.
The court imposed the ban one week ago, sidelining the only registered political party that is calling for an end to Russia's war in Ukraine.
The lawsuit against Yabloko was filed by Rodina, a small pro-Kremlin nationalist party.
Rodina's leader accused Yabloko of being a Western-backed movement seeking to undermine both the election process and Russia itself. Yabloko rejects that and says it speaks on behalf of millions of Russians in seeking an end to the war.
Russia expanding secret bases that can launch drones deep inside Nato: report
Monday 17 August 2026 17:00 , Bryony Gooch
Russia expanding secret bases that can launch drones deep inside Nato: report
Russia says it hits two cargo vessels in Ukrainian ports, RIA reports
Monday 17 August 2026 16:26 , Bryony GoochRussian forces struck two cargo vessels in Ukrainian Black Sea ports on Monday, Russian state-run RIA news agency reported citing the Defence Ministry.
One vessel was hit in the port of Odesa and the other in the port of Mykolaiv, the ministry said, adding that both had been used to supply the Ukrainian military.
The Independent could not independently verify the ministry's claims.
Russian state bank chief fired for saying Moscow losing 'war of attrition' with West
Monday 17 August 2026 16:00 , Alex CroftThe chief economist of Russian state development bank VEB has been fired over remarks in which he said the country was falling behind the West and China and suffering mounting economic damage from the war in Ukraine, sources have told the Reuters news agency.
Prominent macroeconomists Andrei Klepach made the remarks to a financial forum in May, but they were reported in Russian media only last week.
"We are falling behind. We are losing both the technological and economic competition in the world. And we are losing it not only to China and the United States, in some ways we are losing it to Ukraine too," he said, adding that this was due to Kyiv receiving financial support from the West.
"We will not win the competition in this war of attrition. We have the illusion that everything there (in Ukraine) will collapse. It has not collapsed and will not collapse. Our costs are mounting," he said, predicting a social crisis.
Senior member of Russian opposition party jailed for 11 years for criticising Ukraine war
Monday 17 August 2026 15:01 , Alex CroftA senior member of Russia's liberal Yabloko party has been sentenced to 11 years and one month in a penal colony, independent news outlet Mediazona said.
Lev Shlosberg, the party's deputy chairman, was accused by discrediting Russia’s armed forces and spreading false information by criticising the war in Ukraine, which he described at his trial as a catastrophe for Russia.
He was accused of discrediting Russia's armed forces and spreading false information about them.
In a closing speech to the court in the city of Pskov last Friday, he maintained his innocence, said he was the victim of a political trial and repeated his call for a ceasefire in the war.
The verdict follows an August 10 decision by Russia's Supreme Court to ban Yabloko from taking part in a parliamentary election next month.
Russian state bank fires economist who warned Moscow 'we will not win'
Monday 17 August 2026 14:30 , Suha KidwaiRussian state development bank, VEB has fired its chief economist after he said that the country was falling behind as a result of the mounting costs of sustaining war in Ukraine.
At a a financial forum in June, Andrei Klepach, one of Russia's most prominent macroeconomists, said: "We are falling behind. We are losing both the technological and economic competition in the world.
“And we are losing it not only to China and the United States, in some ways we are losing it to Ukraine too."
"We will not win the competition in this war of attrition. We have the illusion that everything there (in Ukraine) will collapse. It has not collapsed and will not collapse. Our costs are mounting," he said, predicting a social crisis.
For Russia, the speech marks a rare public critique by a senior figure at a state institution.
VEB, which finances state projects, confirmed in a written response that Klepach was no longer its chief economist, but did not say why.
Klepach, who was appointed to the role in 2014, also confirmed his dismissal to Reuters.
Kyiv's strikes cost Russia 5 times more, says Ukrainian defence ministry
Monday 17 August 2026 14:00 , Suha KidwaiIn June, every $1 spent by Ukraine’s Defence Forces to hit Russian targets caused nearly $5 in losses to Russia, the country’s defence ministry has shared.
Ukraine spends $3,032 per strike on a Russian soldier, while Russia spends approximately $65,000 to sustain one service member, according to data published by Mission Control.
In June, every $1 spent by Ukraine’s Defence Forces to hit Russian targets caused nearly $5 in losses to Russia.
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 17, 2026
• Enemy casualty: $3,032 per strike vs. ~$65,000 Russia spends to sustain one service member
• Equipment: $2,674
• Infrastructure: $1,487
This is what…
“This is what cost-effective warfare looks like,” the ministry said in a post on X.
“In every category, the enemy incurs costs several times greater than ours.”
