Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that Kyiv wants peace but will not surrender to Russia, as foreign leaders joined Independence Day events marking 35 years since Ukraine’s independence.
Britain and France have pledged increased military support for Ukraine, including faster deliveries of air defence missiles and access to Storm Shadow missile technology.
Speaking in Kyiv during Ukraine's Independence Day events, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said allies must strengthen Ukraine's defences against Russian attacks.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for at least 300 Patriot interceptors ahead of winter, while more than 50 countries at the UN renewed calls for Russia to accept an unconditional ceasefire.
Britain and Ukraine signed a partnership on Monday to develop AI tools for defence and security, giving British researchers access to Ukraine's Avengers AI Labs. Prime Minister Andy Burnham and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the agreement in Kyiv.
The platform uses five million annotated battlefield images from Ukraine's DELTA combat system. Ukraine's Defence Ministry said AI models trained on the data analyse more than 100,000 drone video feeds monthly and identify about 70% of enemy targets in real time.
The countries will also develop AI-enabled sensors, low-power chips for drones and other defence technologies.
Russia's Defence Ministry said on Monday that Russian forces had struck a cargo vessel in Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa.
The ministry did not identify the vessel, but said it was carrying what it described as military cargo.
Reuters could not independently verify the claim.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that Kyiv would pursue a diplomatic track with Russia to discuss Moscow's stepped-up attacks in the Black Sea.
The attacks have affected Ukraine's ability to export goods through its Black Sea ports. Zelenskyy said Ukraine would also strengthen its air defences in the region.
“There is no total blockade today, but there is an attempt at one,” he told reporters.
He added that three or four ships a day were still entering and leaving the Greater Odesa area.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that recent weeks had made clear the need to accelerate deliveries of air-defence interceptors to Ukraine.
He said France would step up its support and called for increased efforts to target Russia's "shadow fleet" and coordinate sanctions against Moscow.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham urged allies on Monday to "do everything we can" to strengthen Ukraine's air defences against Russian missile attacks.
He called on countries to draw from their own air defence stocks to protect Ukrainian civilians and urged tougher sanctions on Russian oil and LNG exports.
Romania’s Defence Ministry said on Monday that drone fragments found on a property in Galați County likely came from a drone detected earlier in the day and contained no explosives.
Romanian radar systems had tracked intermittent aerial signals over Moldova before they appeared in the Târgu Bujor area of eastern Romania, prompting two F-16 fighter jets and a military helicopter to be deployed.
NATO member Romania shares a 614-km border with Ukraine and has reported repeated airspace breaches involving Russian drones in recent years.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine had brought home 10 soldiers as part of a special stage of a prisoner exchange conducted through Belarus.
The servicemen, from the Ukrainian Armed Forces and National Guard, had fought in the Donetsk sector and were previously considered missing in action.
Zelenskyy thanked those working to bring Ukrainian soldiers home and said authorities would continue efforts to locate and free those still in captivity.
Russia and Ukraine exchanged 10 captives each on Monday in the latest prisoner swap between the two sides, Belarusian state news agency BELTA reported.
The exchange took place via Belarus, which has previously facilitated prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine.
The latest swap comes as the two countries continue negotiations over efforts to end the conflict.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivers his Independence Day address from Kyiv's St. Michael's Monastery, marking 35 years since Ukraine's break from the Soviet Union — and rejecting Russia's demand that Kyiv cede the remainder of Donbas.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, First Lady Olena Zelenska and foreign leaders, including UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, attend a ceremony marking Ukraine’s Independence Day in Kyiv on 24 August 2026.
A Russian attack on warehouse facilities in the Odesa region injured five people on Monday, regional governor Oleh Kiper said.
A spokesperson for the home improvement retailer told Ukrainian media that two of its hypermarkets in Odesa were hit in the attack.
Speaking on AnewZ’s Daybreak programme, Andrij Dobriansky, Policy Expert at the Centre for U.S.-Ukrainian Relations, discussed Ukraine’s strikes on Russian logistics facilities, Western support and the changing dynamics of the conflict.
Ukraine's military struck a Russian military plant in the Rostov region overnight, causing a fire, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Monday.
The General Staff said on the Telegram messaging app that the Kamensky plant is producing rocket fuel ammunition and missile systems.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was not ready for a deal to halt attacks on ships carrying agricultural exports in the Black Sea.
Moscow wants any agreement to also include a halt to Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries and energy infrastructure.
Zelenskyy said any such arrangement must be reciprocal, with Russia also stopping attacks on Ukraine’s energy system. The Kremlin said it was taking measures to minimise the impact of Ukrainian strikes on Russian grain exports.
Russia's Defence Ministry said on Monday that its forces have captured three more eastern Ukrainian villages.
In its daily briefing, the ministry named the villages as Kucheriv Yar in the Donetsk region, Dolynka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and Novokostiantynivka in the Sumy region.
Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report.
The Kremlin said that Britain's decision to hand Ukraine classified information on British-made components used to make SCALP long-range cruise missiles would "add fuel to the fire" and was regarded by Moscow extremely negatively.
Asked about UK Prime Minister's visit to Kyiv and the new British missile support, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Britain was a participant in the war on Ukraine's side and accused London of doing everything it could to prevent any progress towards an eventual peace deal.
The Kremlin said that measures were being taken to minimise the impact of Ukrainian strikes on Russia's grain exports.
Asked on Monday about possible state support for online retailer Ozon, whose warehouses have been targeted by Ukrainian drones, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the government was working with businesses to provide support amid a “difficult situation.”
“I would like to kindly ask one and only thing ... anti-ballistic missiles,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi told Kyodo News in an interview released on Monday.
Koretskyi “expressed hope that Japan will provide Kyiv with air defence systems.”
Ukraine is supplied with Patriot interceptor missiles by a coalition of Western nations, but its stockpile has been depleting.
Japan, a defence ally of the U.S., is one of the manufacturers of the Patriot surface-to-air missile interceptors under a U.S. license, the report added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Independence Day that Ukraine wants peace but will not surrender its territory, warning that Russia remains focused on mobilisation rather than ending the war.
In a speech in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not allow Russia to seize the initiative or convince Europe and the world that giving up Donbas would quickly end the conflict.
“We have no illusions. We do not trust them. We will not save the Kremlin half a million soldiers,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy also called for greater pressure on Moscow and urged Ukraine’s partners to help force Russia into negotiations.
“We must bring the Russians to the negotiating table. Sanctions are finally needed - ones that will make them cry out in pain,” he said.
Three teenagers were killed and another eight people, including seven children, were wounded after drone debris hit a private childcare centre in southern Russia's Krasnodar region overnight, Russian officials said.
In a post on Telegram, Russia's children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova said that three teenagers, aged 13, 15 and 16, had been killed, with six more children hospitalised.
Kondratyev said in a statement on Telegram that the deaths had occurred after drone debris struck a private children's centre in Krasnodar city.
There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.
Two people were killed and two more injured in Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia's Belgorod region on Monday, the region's government said in a post on Telegram.
The European Commission approved a further €6.1 billion ($7.12 billion) in financial aid for Ukraine to procure new defence systems, such as air defence, missiles, ammunition and radars.
The Commission said this latest aid package came on top of €16 billion ($18.69 billion) of previously approved procurement plans, of which €8.35 billion ($9.75 billion) had already been disbursed.
"As Russia intensifies its attacks, we are stepping up to help Ukraine protect its people and defend its skies. Europe stands with Ukraine, and we will deliver what it needs, when it needs it," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The Ukrainian military struck a Russian MiG-29 fighter aircraft and two Russian vessels in the Black Sea overnight, Ukraine's drone forces commander Robert Brovdi said on Monday.
Brovdi said on the Telegram app that one of the vessels attacked was a tanker, and the other was a bulk carrier.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has arrived in Kyiv on his first foreign trip since taking office, reaffirming the UK's support for Ukraine. Monday's visit comes as Ukraine marks 35 years of independence from the Soviet Union.
Burnham will be co-chairing a meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, a group established by France and the UK under former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, backing Ukraine. Burnham is also due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He is also expected to accept an award on behalf of the British people, recognising Britain's support for Ukraine.
Russian online retailer Ozon's logistics hub in Makhachkala in Dagestan was on fire after a drone attack, the company said on the Telegram messaging app on Monday.
The company has also temporarily shut down two warehouses in the nearby regions of Stavropol and Adygeya in the North Caucasus amid a drone attack alert, it said, though they were not damaged.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X that the European Union had lit up its building in blue and yellow on the eve of Ukraine’s 35th Independence Day.
Russian online retailer Ozon said on Monday that a major fire broke out at its logistics hub in Krasnodar in southern Russia after a drone attack, with operations there stopped.
In a Telegram messaging app, Ozon said that there were no casualties, according to preliminary data.
South Korea's Defence Ministry said North Korea was continuing preparations for an additional troop deployment to Russia, but had detected no signs that such a deployment was imminent, according to a South Korean lawmaker's office.
The assessment came after North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, sister of leader Kim Jong Un, last week denied Ukrainian President's claim that Pyongyang planned to send up to 50,000 more troops to Russia to fight for its ally.
"Ukraine has never officially taken part in any operations regarding the blowing up of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv.
The Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines between Russia and Germany were damaged in explosions in September 2022. Two Ukrainian suspects are currently in custody related to the incident.
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in New Delhi on Friday to attend the weekend BRICS summit, amid the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict, joining a host of foreign dignitaries.
Saudi Arabia has temporarily shut down its 1,200-kilometre East-West oil pipeline after it was hit by a drone attack, with Riyadh and Baghdad saying the strike originated from Iraq.
Mexico and the U.S. are racing to secure a trade deal before the U.S. midterm elections in less than eight weeks, according to six sources familiar with the talks, with failed negotiations between Washington and Canada adding urgency.
Dubai’s property market has spent years climbing. Now, for the first time since 2021, prices are moving in the opposite direction.
A Russian strike on a gas station in Kyiv has killed two people, the city's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a statement on Telegram. In Russia, online marketplace Ozon has suspended operations in Saratov, southwestern Russia, following a drone strike on a warehouse in the region.
Russia and Ukraine are continuing to exchange long-range strikes, with Russian attacks killing at least 10 people and injuring dozens across several Ukrainian regions on Saturday, while both sides reported damage to infrastructure and shipping.
Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, the leading opposition candidate in Brazil’s upcoming presidential election, is under investigation for alleged corruption, money laundering and currency evasion tied to the financing of a film about his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Philippine rescuers recovered 41 more charred remains from a ferry fire on Saturday (12 September), taking the death toll to 76, while 13 people remained unaccounted for as forensic teams worked to identify the victims.
Saudi Arabia has temporarily shut down its 1,200-kilometre East-West oil pipeline after it was hit by a drone attack, with Riyadh and Baghdad saying the strike originated from Iraq.
Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces struck two cargo vessels overnight in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Chornomorsk, the Interfax news agency reported on Saturday.
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