Vladimir Putin launched new savage attacks on Ukrainians overnight, casting doubts on his commitment to seek a peace deal. This came as dramatic footage emerged of a Ukrainian drone attack on the car of highly decorated Russian war commander Lt-Gen Esedulla Abachev, 57, now fighting for his life with an amputated arm and leg.
Hungary and Switzerland emerged as favourite locations for a meeting brokered by Donald Trump between the Kremlin dictator and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky. But Russian forces staged brutal strikes on the Sumy region, where two innocent children were among a dozen civilian victims.
The terror strike was on Okhtyrka, some 28 miles from the border, where 13 homes were hit. Ukrainian national police said: “The enemy launched a massive drone strike on Akhtyrka. This cynical shelling was again directed against the civilian population.”
In the Odesa region, Russian strikes hit a Triton oil depot and port infrastructure in Izmail. A fire train was battling to extinguish the blaze after being involved in ballistic missiles and Shahed drones. In the Kherson region, the Russians wounded a woman pensioner 70 in an artillery strike on the Bilozerka village.
Footage emerged of a weekend strike that took a key Putin general out of the war. Lt-General Abachev was hit in his vehicle while driving on the Rylsk – Khomutivka highway in the Kursk region.
Ukraine evidently had intelligence on the longtime war commander’s movements. Abachev has been fighting in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine since 2022. The wounded general was urgently evacuated by military transport to the Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow.
Abachev has been fighting in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine since 2022, and was serving as the deputy commander of the Russian North group of forces when he was wounded in the Ukrainian strike.
The Russian dictator earlier awarded him the country’s highest honour, the Hero of Russia—the Gold Star—for “courage and heroism.”
New war footage shows a devastating Ukrainian strike on a Russian train crossing the occupied Zaporizhzhia region.
Repeated strikes target oil wagons supplying Putin’s frontline, with the damage far greater than first reported. They are seen exploding in fire between Urozhayne and Tokmak.
This is a key supply artery linking Fedorivka through Verkhniy Tokmak to Molochansk, and onward toward Volnovakha and southern logistics networks in the region.
Another successful Ukrainian strike shows the moment a Ukrainian drone explodes a Russian Molniya unmanned suicide plane near Lyman in the Donetsk region.
The targeting was by the crew of Ukraine’s 63rd brigade. Russia hit Ukraine with two Iskander-M missiles and 90-plus drones in overnight strikes.
Switzerland was reported as ready to grant Putin immunity from arrest if it hosts war-ending talks with Zelensky. But Hungary is also seen as a likely venue for such a summit. Budapest was “becoming the White House’s priority choice”, said reports citing Politico.
Yet Ukraine has strained relations with Hungary, which has tilted towards Moscow during the war. The US has said a Putin-Zelensky meeting is in the “process of preparation”. But Russia has not publicly stated that Putin is ready to attend talks with Zelensky, despite Trump saying the Kremlin dictator is ready for a meeting.
