Despite a claim from the US president on Monday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop hitting each other’s energy infrastructure, a night of drone and missile fire occurred on Tuesday. The US president had tied the idea to record diesel prices, but the Ukrainian president refused an open-ended pause, stating Kyiv would only take de-escalatory steps if Washington first secured a genuine, long-term Russian halt on attacks against power, heat, and food systems. The Kremlin spokesman called the notion a good idea still being discussed rather than a finished deal, and the White House did not immediately explain the gap between the announcement and the bombardment.
Overnight into Tuesday, Russia launched about 200 drones. Strikes on Kyiv hit two fuel stations, warehouses, and other sites, killing one person and wounding seven, while further attacks killed two more people in Sloviansk and Kramatorsk and damaged homes, port, and transport infrastructure in the south and west. Meanwhile, Ukraine stated it hit the Syzran oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region, a drone plant in Taganrog, and a launch site in Oryol, with regional Russian officials reporting dozens of drones shot down and fires in apartment blocks and warehouses.
On the ground, a Ukrainian commander reported that forces had cleared infiltration groups from about 29 square miles in northern Donetsk and retaken another four near Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. The fighting also reached NATO’s edge as alliance jets shot down an unmanned aircraft over Lithuania, and Denmark summoned Russia’s ambassador after a Russian warship fired flares toward a Danish military helicopter in the Baltic.