{"id":369648,"date":"2025-08-24T11:49:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T11:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/369648\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T11:49:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T11:49:22","slug":"ukraine-and-russia-trade-drone-strikes-on-kyivs-independence-day-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/369648\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine and Russia trade drone strikes on Kyiv\u2019s independence day \u2013 POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kyiv responded with a barrage of long-range drones that struck inside Russia. Authorities in the Kursk region said one strike damaged a transformer<\/a> at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, cutting output at one reactor by half and sparking a fire that was later extinguished. Radiation levels remained normal, the plant operator said.<\/p>\n

The International Atomic Energy Agency urged restraint after the Kursk strike<\/a>, warning of the risks of combat near nuclear facilities.<\/p>\n

In Russia\u2019s Leningrad region, debris from intercepted drones ignited a fire at the Novatek fuel terminal<\/a> in the port of Ust-Luga, one of the country\u2019s largest export hubs. Flights were briefly suspended at airports<\/a> in St. Petersburg, Samara and Izhevsk after additional drones were shot down.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed Ukrainians from Kyiv\u2019s Independence Square, tying the attacks to the broader struggle for sovereignty. \u201cWe are building a Ukraine that will have enough strength and power to live in security and peace,\u201d he said in a video message<\/a>. \u201cUkraine has won its independence. Ukraine is not a victim, it is a fighter.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the south, Ukraine\u2019s military said troops unfurled national flags<\/a> over occupied towns in the Kherson region, a gesture meant to signal that \u201cthe Kherson region will forever remain part of Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Western allies also used the occasion to signal support. The U.K. and Sweden raised Ukrainian flags on government buildings, while Norway and Germany announced the joint delivery of two Patriot air defense systems<\/a> with missiles, radars and short-range batteries worth about \u20ac650 million.<\/p>\n

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said<\/a> Ukrainians were \u201cmost courageously defending themselves against Russia\u2019s attacks. They are fighting for our liberal order in Europe, and for a just peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kyiv responded with a barrage of long-range drones that struck inside Russia. Authorities in the Kursk region said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[2594,4328,11078,28,5719,473,2595,35,1214,1945,1824,2597,2598,1115,1303,7697,41764,2822,332,811,812,1263,657,15,333,2601,335],"class_list":{"0":"post-369648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-air-defense","9":"tag-airports","10":"tag-batteries","11":"tag-buildings","12":"tag-cities","13":"tag-defense","14":"tag-drones","15":"tag-energy","16":"tag-exports","17":"tag-friedrich-merz","18":"tag-germany","19":"tag-military","20":"tag-missiles","21":"tag-norway","22":"tag-nuclear-power","23":"tag-ports","24":"tag-radiation","25":"tag-regions-cohesion","26":"tag-russia","27":"tag-security","28":"tag-sweden","29":"tag-transport","30":"tag-ukraine","31":"tag-united-kingdom","32":"tag-vladimir-putin","33":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","34":"tag-war-in-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115083592591182127","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}