The Russian Defense Ministry has published footage of FAB glide bombs being used to raise the Ukrainian military’s command centers near the front line to the ground.

The powerful munitions have been deployed by Su-24 tactical bombers against targets in parts of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic still controlled by Kiev as well as Ukraine’s Kharkov Region, the ministry said on Friday.

The Russian military began actively using FABs fitted with Universal Correction and Guidance Modules (UMPK) winged kits in early 2023.

The upgrade turns older free-fall bombs into guided high-precision munitions and drastically expands their range, allowing jets to fire them from outside the range of anti-aircraft defenses.

The UMPKs were initially used with smaller FAB-250 or FAB-500 high-explosive bombs, weighing 250 kg and 500 kg; later in the conflict they started being coupled with heavier FAB-1500 and FAB-3000 munitions.

The ministry also released a video showing a successful strike on a locomotive in Kharkov Region. Russia has intensified attacks on the Ukrainian railway system in recent weeks, arguing that it’s being used by Kiev’s forces to move troops, equipment and supplies.

The destruction of locomotives has become a pressing problem for Vladimir Zelensky’s government, as Kiev’s foreign backers are unable to provide replacements. Ukraine uses the same train tracks as Russia, which were originally part of the same 1,520 mm gauge railway network.

Another clip captured the obliteration of a train carrying Ukrainian military equipment by Russian Iskander ballistic missiles in an undisclosed location.

The Defense Ministry provided a summary of the Russian military’s large-scale missile and drone strikes against Ukrainian targets over the past week, saying that 12 such raids had taken place since August 1.

READ MORE: ‘We want them too’: Trump rebuffs Zelensky’s request for missiles

Military-industry enterprises, including drone-making facilities, logistics centers, fuel, energy, and transport infrastructure facilities used by Kiev’s armed forces have been hit, it said. Moscow maintains that it never attacks civilians, only going after military-related targets.

A Russian bomb squad is defusing a disabled Ukrainian naval drone that washed ashore in Yalta, Crimea, according to the local authorities.

The operation was reported on Friday by Oleg Kryuchkov, an aide to the Russian region’s head, Sergey Aksyonov. The regional Emergencies Ministry earlier announced a naval drone alert for Yalta, urging residents to stay away from the harbor.

It remains unclear whether the unmanned vessel was disabled while trying to strike the resort city. Footage available online purports to show the drone floating close to the shore as well as a plume of smoke billowing from the port area.

Ukraine recently stepped up its long-range attacks on civilian infrastructure in Russia as part of a 40-day “pressure campaign” announced by Vladimir Zelensky. Bomb-carrying Ukrainian speedboats have been involved in multiple strikes on ships carrying Russian cargo, including in international waters. On several occasions, disabled Ukrainian naval drones created threats to third nations, including Greece, Romania, and Türkiye.

Kiev’s escalation has prompted Russian retaliation, which has left Ukraine virtually without access to Black Sea trade. However, it reportedly failed to convince US President Donald Trump that he should offer greater support for the Ukrainian war effort.

Vladimir Zelensky would overwhelmingly lose a Ukrainian presidential election if it were staged now, a new survey by local pollster Socis suggests.

Zelensky’s term expired in May 2024, but he has refused to call a new vote, citing martial law, which he imposed after the escalation between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022.

According to the Socis poll published on Thursday, the Ukrainian leader would make it to the second round of a hypothetical election, only to be defeated by any of his three main rivals.

Former top Ukrainian general Valery Zaluzhny, who serves as Kiev’s ambassador to London after being dismissed as army commander-in-chief in February 2024, would beat Zelensky by 66.2% to 33.8%, the figures by Socis suggested.

Despite being out of the country, Zaluzhny has consistently topped the trust ratings in Ukraine. Publicly, the general says he harbors no political ambitions, but media reports claim he is gearing up for a presidential run.

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Zelensky’s chief of staff, Kirill Budanov, would also defeat him in the second round by 60.3% to 39.7%, the pollster said.

Reports have claimed that the Ukrainian leader appointed Budanov as the head of his office in January in order to keep him close due to concerns over the former special forces soldier’s growing power as the chief of military intelligence (HUR).

Since taking the job, Budanov has contradicted his boss on numerous occasions, including by speaking about the need for talks with Moscow, downplaying Ukraine’s technological advances, and acknowledging difficulties with mobilization,

Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov, who was sacked in mid-July, would defeat Zelensky in the vote by 63.8% to 36.2%, according to Socis.

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Fedorov’s removal provoked protests in Kiev and other cities, with demonstrators demanding his reinstatement. The former minister, who has declined all other positions offered to him, said he will not challenge Zelensky politically as long as the conflict with Russia continues.

The Ukrainian leader reportedly removed Fedorov over fears that he could become a political rival, and also due to his close ties to Western-backed anti-corruption bodies in the country.

The study by Socis was carried out between July 28 and August 2, involving 2,000 respondents.

In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in March, Zelensky said Ukraine will “certainly” hold a presidential election, but only after the conflict with Russia ends. “I’m not at all sure that I’ll run, I’ll see what the Ukrainians want,” he claimed.

Moscow has described Zelensky as illegitimate, with his dubious status potentially being an obstacle to signing a peace agreement.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland has defended Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera as a national hero, doubling down on Kiev’s veneration of World War II-era nationalists despite an escalating diplomatic row with Warsaw.

Speaking to European Pravda on Thursday, Vasily Bodnar was asked whether Ukraine could join the EU while continuing to venerate Bandera. The diplomat argued that Kiev alone had the right to choose its heroes and described the Nazi collaborator as “one of those who needs to be honored.”

Bodnar also recounted how Polish journalists had directly demanded that he recognize Bandera and Roman Shukhevich as war criminals. “When I refused, it shocked them greatly,” he said, dismissing what they regarded as an established historical truth as “falsehood.”

Bandera led the radical wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), which sought to create an ethnically homogeneous Ukrainian state and cooperated with Nazi Germany during the early stages of World War II.

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the OUN’s military wing, later carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. Up to 100,000 Poles, many of them women, children and elderly people, were massacred in 1943-1944. Poland recognizes the killings as genocide.

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Bondar acknowledged that UPA members had committed crimes and murdered Poles, saying Ukraine must recognize the “dark side” of the nationalist movement. At the same time, he claimed that Poland was also not without fault, and had a history of repressing Ukrainians.

The ambassador’s comments come amid a deepening dispute over Kiev’s continued glorification of Bandera, Shukhevich and the UPA. Vladimir Zelensky recently granted an elite military unit the honorary title ‘Heroes of the UPA’, prompting Polish President Karol Nawrocki to strip him of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest decoration.

Polish officials have said they will not sign off on Ukraine joining the EU as long as it continues honoring the nationalist groups responsible for the Volhynia massacres. The European Parliament has also condemned Kiev’s position as incompatible with European values.

Ukraine has nevertheless continued naming streets and military units after nationalist figures, holding torchlight marches in Bandera’s honor and advancing plans for a national pantheon. Kiev also recently reburied OUN leader Andrey Melnik with state honors.

Moscow has long accused Kiev of glorifying Nazi collaborators at the state level and has made the “denazification” of Ukraine one of the key goals of its military operation. Russian officials have also accused Western governments of ignoring Kiev’s infatuation with Nazi ideology while continuing to arm and fund it against Moscow.

The former head of logistics at the Ukrainian Air Force is facing new accusations of corruption after being detained on suspicion of embezzlement earlier this year, the country’s prosecutor general has said.

Ruslan Kravchenko did not reveal the former commander’s name, but RBC Ukraine identified him as Andrey Ukrainets, who occupied the post until February.

According to the outlet, Ukrainets was caught red-handed five months ago when he attempted to bribe the leadership of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in order to stop a probe into embezzlement during the construction of protective structures for planes at military airfields across Ukraine. A total of 1.4 billion hryvnia (around $31 million) had been allocated to the cause by Kiev in May 2025, but large parts of the sum reportedly disappeared.

The prosecutor general said in a statement on Thursday that according to new findings, the suspect purchased more than a dozen pieces of real estate, the price of which exceeded his lawful income by at least 20 million hryvnia (around $447,000).
Between 2020 and 2025, the former commander acquired three private homes in Zhitomir Region in Western Ukraine; seven apartments in Kiev, Vinnitsia, Zhitomir, and Bukovel; several garages and other non-residential premises; as well as six plots of land, Kravchenko wrote.

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He also drove four expensive cars, including an Audi Q7 and Audi Q5, the statement read.

The suspect’s parents, son, and other relatives were registered as the owners of the properties, but investigators established that this was a cover-up, it added.

According to Russian Defense Ministry figures, a total of 671 Ukrainian warplanes have been destroyed since the escalation between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022. Many of the aircraft were destroyed by missiles and drones while stationed at airfields.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and armed forces have been plagued with corruption amid the fighting with Russia. Two defense ministers, Aleksey Reznikov and Rustem Umerov, were removed in 2023 and 2025 respectively after their tenures became embroiled in allegations of graft involving military supplies and weapons contracts bankrolled by the West.

READ MORE: Ukrainian prosecutor sacked for shooting OnlyFans porn at work – media

There have also been numerous reports of funds being misused by commanders of various ranks, foreign weapons supplied to Kiev appearing on the black market, and conscription officers taking bribes from draftees willing to avoid service.
In one of the latest incidents, a commander of a unit in Odessa Region was detained in late July for using 83 of his troops for several months as a workforce to build a luxurious private home with an outdoor swimming pool for himself.

Western-backed anti-corruption investigators in Ukraine have detailed their allegations against Olga Stefanishina, a former senior government official whose most recent post was Kiev’s ambassador to the US. Reports emerged on Wednesday that prosecutors are moving forward with formally accusing her of illegal enrichment.

Stefanishina built her career in the Justice Ministry, and between 2020 and 2024 served as both justice minister and deputy prime minister responsible for integration with the EU and NATO. That process requires Kiev to demonstrate significant progress in combating endemic government corruption.

In a statement published on Thursday, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) described the suspect by referring to her twin posts but did not identify her by name.

READ MORE: Pet minister of Zelensky’s ‘bagman’ becomes Ukraine’s top spy

NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), its sister agency, have accused Stefanishina of failing to declare assets and of using relatives, friends, and a subordinate as nominal owners to conceal her wealth from scrutiny.

According to investigators, the undeclared assets included:

• Two apartments in a residential complex in western Kiev, registered to a friend
• A luxury apartment in central Kiev, registered to her mother
• A parking space and several auxiliary premises at the same high-end property, registered to her father
• A Mercedes-Benz GLC 220 d, registered to a subordinate

NABU also alleged that the suspect had been negotiating the purchase of a suburban house near Kiev valued at approximately $550,000. About half of the price was reportedly to be paid in cash, while the remainder would be covered through the transfer of the two apartments in western Kiev.

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The transaction was abandoned after Stefanishina was appointed to serve at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, DC, investigators said.

According to NABU, Stefanishina accumulated assets worth 13.9 million hryvnia (about $311,000), between mid-2024 and mid-2025. During the same period, her official income amounted to 3.7 million hryvnias ($83,000), while withdrawals from her bank accounts totaled 4.2 million hryvnias ($94,000).

On Wednesday, the High Anti-Corruption Court in Kiev set bail for Stefanishina at $134,400, less than half the amount requested by prosecutors.

Stefanishina has a long history of working in the civil sphere, and a long history of suspicion has followed her career. From joining the Ukrainian Justice Ministry in 2007, becoming director of the Government Office for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of the Cabinet of Ministers Secretariat in 2017.

She is among the accused in the so-called ‘Lukash case’ involving the systemic embezzlement of funds dedicated to European Integration, launched in 2019, but which remains before the Ukrainian High Court.

Despite the detailed charges and ongoing case, Stefanishina was appointed deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration in 2020, a post that would have seen her cultivate more extensive ties with Brussels. In September 2024, she became minister for justice of Ukraine, adding the brief to her Euro-Atlantic portfolio. 

A second corruption case into contracts her husband won from the national asset recovery and management agency was launched in 2025, shortly before she was dispatched to the US, where she was made ambassador in August. 

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky dismissed her on Monday at her own request.

On Wednesday, Stefanishina reiterated her denial of any wrongdoing and challenged prosecutors to prove their allegations in court.

Four employees of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) have been wounded by Ukrainian landmines since the start of the week, the CEO of Russian state atomic energy corporation Rosatom has said.

Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and the adjacent city of Energodar have been targeted by Ukraine on multiple occasions with artillery and drones since Russia took control of the facility in March 2022.

Two victims of landmines have been hospitalized in critical condition, with one of them requiring a leg amputation, Rosatom CEO Aleksey Likhachev told journalists on Thursday. Two others were lucky to escape with light wounds, he added.

Ukrainian forces began remotely mining the area near the ZNPP and Energodar where its employees reside four months ago, the nuclear chief said.

“Every night, drones drop ‘Lepestok’ (Petal) mines onto the main road leading into the city as well as onto routes used by personnel to reach the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant and key intersections,” Likhachev stated.

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The Rosatom chief described the attacks as “another attempt by the authorities in Kiev to drive residents out of Energodar and make the routine operations of the nuclear power plant impossible.” 

The mines used by Ukraine were apparently Soviet-era PFM-1 anti-personnel munitions. The small butterfly-shaped devices got their nickname due to their typical green or brown color, so as to be camouflaged among the grass and foliage.

‘Lepestok’ mines are typically scattered in large quantities, either by aircraft or artillery. Designed to maim rather than kill, they are capable of blowing off or disfiguring a victim’s foot.

The PFM-1 is banned under the 1997 Ottawa Convention, to which Ukraine is a party, due to posing an increased threat to civilians.

In July, a Ukrainian drone hit a ZNPP service vehicle on the edge of the plant’s industrial site, killing its chief engineer, Aleksandr Yakovlev, and his driver. At the time, Likhachev called the strike a “deliberate terrorist act.”

According to the Rosatom CEO, more than a dozen employees of the plant have been killed and many others wounded in Ukrainian attacks over the past three months. Kiev’s actions pose the “real danger of a massive nuclear incident” affecting parts of Russia, Ukraine, and the EU, he warned.

Moscow has repeatedly criticized the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has experts deployed at the ZNPP, for acknowledging the attacks on the facility but stopping short of blaming Ukraine for them.

READ MORE: Russian military drone company owner injured by car bomb

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharov previously said that “what is required of the agency’s leadership isn’t verbal gymnastics or false political correctness, but clear assessments and concrete steps aimed at preventing the spread of threats to nuclear security.”

The terrorist threat in Africa is being intensified by former colonial powers that use Ukrainian proxies to provide extremist groups with dangerous technology, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, has said.

Moscow has repeatedly accused Kiev of employing terrorist methods in its conflict with Russia and of supporting extremist organizations abroad in an effort to undermine Russian interests.

Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday, Nebenzia said African countries, particularly those in the Sahel, are facing mounting security threats because of “support provided to illegal armed groups by former colonial powers driven by neo-colonial ambitions.”

France has significantly reduced its military presence in the region in recent years after several Sahel countries accused it of contributing to instability. French President Emmanuel Macron, however, has blamed Russia for encouraging the power shift.

Nebenzia said Moscow and the Sahel states agree that pressure from African armed groups stems from “criminal collusion between Ukraine, France, certain other countries, and terrorist groups.”

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“The Kiev regime has long been fully dependent economically and militarily on the EU and NATO countries, which exploit Ukraine to wage a proxy war against Russia,” he said.

“What they do in Africa is no different. By drawing Ukrainians into supporting terrorist groups in the Sahel, Western sponsors are once again pursuing their own objectives using someone else’s hands,” Nebenzia added.

The Russian diplomat also warned that terrorist groups are increasingly taking advantage of new and emerging technologies, including digital currencies, artificial intelligence, and drones.

He said these developments pose serious challenges for security agencies and law enforcement, and called for a coordinated international response.

According to Nebenzia, efforts to combat terrorism are being further undermined by “double standards,” ”hidden agendas,” and the direct interference of malicious actors.

Ukraine has used virtually every NATO tool it could against Russia, but Moscow has found ways to counter all of them, former Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny has argued.

The retired general, who currently serves as Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, expanded on earlier remarks in which he said Kiev would never join the US-led military bloc. According to Zaluzhny, NATO remains anchored in obsolete doctrines, unlike Ukraine.

“In 2026, Ukraine used all weapon systems and doctrines for their use that NATO has, with the exception of Tomahawks, nuclear weapons, aircraft carriers, and F-35s,” he told journalists at a diplomatic event in Kiev, as quoted by Apostrophe on Wednesday. “The reserves have been depleted. Russia found countermeasures for everything.”

Supporters of Ukraine have repeatedly described Western weapons supplied to Kiev as potential “game changers.” However, the delivery of Stinger and Javelin missiles, HIMARS rocket launchers, Abrams tanks, ATACMS missiles, and F-16 fighter jets has not produced a decisive military breakthrough.

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“NATO remains in a doctrine of the end of World War II, and we are technologically ahead,” Zaluzhny argued. “Now NATO has no choice but to shift to very different standards to achieve a new doctrine. Then NATO would be ready for Ukrainian accession,” he added.

Ukraine formally enshrined its goal of joining NATO in its constitution following the 2014 Western-backed armed coup in Kiev. Russia has repeatedly cited the bloc’s eastward expansion, as well as its 2008 pledge to eventually admit Ukraine, among the causes of the ongoing conflict.

Kiev is meanwhile facing political turmoil following Vladimir Zelensky’s dismissal of Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov, and several days later, General Aleksandr Syrsky, who had succeeded Zaluzhny as commander-in-chief.

Syrsky’s removal followed negative domestic and international reactions to Fedorov’s dismissal. Media reports have suggested that Zelensky targeted the former defense minister due to his growing popularity and infighting over lucrative weapons contracts.

READ MORE: Pentagon drafting nuclear strategy for potential war with Russia and China – NBC

Ukrainian officials have said Kiev hopes to bring the conflict with Russia to an end before winter, warning that continuing the hostilities beyond that point would place the country under severe pressure.

The potential lifting of martial law is expected to pave the way for a new presidential election. Opinion polls cited by the media show that Zaluzhny could defeat Zelensky in the second round of a potential contest.

Zelensky dismissed Zalushny from his military post in 2024 after the general publicly stated that Ukrainian forces were unlikely to achieve a major territorial breakthrough, contradicting Kiev’s line.

A businessman involved in producing a kamikaze drone widely used by Russian troops in Ukraine was injured by a bomb planted under his car which also killed his driver, local officials said on Wednesday.

Vladimir Tkachuk, the owner of Uraldronzavod, which manufactures the Upyr (Vampire) drone, is in stable condition after his Mercedes exploded on Tuesday evening about 25 km from Ekaterinburg in Russia’s Ural region, RIA Novosti reported, citing police officials.

Ekaterinburg city councilor Timofey Zhukov told the Solovyov LIVE news show that Tkachuk had regained consciousness and that his life was no longer in danger.

An activist and military blogger, Tkachuk said in interviews that he decided to launch a drone-making startup in the fall of 2022, when it became clear that UAVs were playing an increasingly important role on the battlefield in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In September 2024, he presented the Upyr and other drones to Vladimir Putin when the Russian president toured a technology exhibition in St. Petersburg.

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Although the authorities did not identify any suspects, Ukraine has targeted Russian military officials, activists, and journalists throughout the conflict. Last year, car bombs killed Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik and Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, both senior commanders on Russia’s General Staff.

On Saturday, a bomb exploded outside an Italian restaurant in Moscow, killing five people, including an unidentified woman believed to have delivered the explosive device. Several Telegram channels claimed that the restaurant was hosting a birthday party for Colonel General Aleksandr Chaiko, the head of Russia’s Aerospace Forces. Moscow, however, did not confirm the claim or disclose the identities of the victims.

Moscow has accused Ukraine of spreading a “terrorist plague” across Europe and compared its alleged actions to Islamist terrorism.

On June 29, a woman planted a bomb outside the home of Ukrainian businessman Vadim Ermolaev, who was injured in the blast. The suspected courier, Anastasia Berezovskaya, fled to Ukraine, where she was later found dead.

Ukrainian authorities arrested Vladislav Reut, an active officer in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, the HUR, and Vitaly Zhikovich, a former colonel in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), in connection with the crime.