Ukraine war: US hits back as Zelensky accuses West of ‘dragging out’ weapons delivery

Firefighters put out a huge blaze at a fuel depot in Russia’s Ural mountains, and a series of drone strikes were reported in areas close to the Ukrainian border, one of which also started a small fire at a fuel depot.

The emergencies ministry said it was still investigating the cause of the fire in the Perm region, which is in the Ural mountains 1,500 km (950 miles) away from the Ukrainian combat zone.

Separately, Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a statement that its air defences had shot down or intercepted 18 Ukrainian drones overnight, including six over the Belgorod region, six over the Voronezh region, one over the Rostov region and five over the Azov Sea. All are near Ukraine.

Voronezh regional governor Alexander Gusev said air defences had destroyed several Ukrainian drones and nobody had been hurt.

He said firefighters had put out a small fire at an empty storage tank at a fuel depot, which he said on his official Telegram channel had not been damaged.

The Ukrainian military has said it hit a fuel storage facility in Russia’s Voronezh region during an overnight attack.

“Russian air defence systems were observed operating in the area. It was confirmed that at least one of the vertical tanks was hit,” according to the statement on the Telegram messaging app.

Vladimir Putin’s offensive in eastern Ukraine is likely to culminate in the coming months, a US-based think-tank has assessed.

“Russian forces do not have the available manpower and materiel to continue intensified offensive efforts indefinitely, however, and current Russian offensive operations in eastern Ukraine will likely culminate in the coming months, if not weeks, as Ukrainian officials and ISW have previously assessed,” the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment.

Ukrainian forces, it said, also face serious operational challenges and constraints, which are providing Russian forces with opportunities to pursue tactically significant gains.

But the current Russian offensive, which was started in autumn last year, has not yielded operationally significant gains for Russian forces and only offered gradual tactical gains in specific sectors of the front, the ISW said.

Ukraine’s “effective defence in depth along the frontline” has caused Russia significant losses and prevent Mr Putin’s troops from making more rapid gains on the battlefield, it said.

Russia attacked Ukraine’s critical infrastructure with 19 drones overnight, the country’s air force said.

Air defences shot down nine drones with seven more likely impacted by electronic jamming, the Ukrainian air force said on Telegram, without saying what happened to the remaining three.

Russia’s Kursk nuclear power plant is operating as usual and radiation levels remain within normal limits, the plant’s operator, Rosenergoatom, said after unconfirmed Russian media reports of an attempted Ukrainian attack.

Several Russian Telegram channels claimed there had been a Ukrainian attack in the vicinity of the plant, which they said had been thwarted by air defences but had resulted in a fire several miles from the facility.

Ukrainian forces entered Kursk in a cross-border incursion on 6 August and have bedded in, still controlling scores of settlements despite a Russian counterattack.

Russia’s Defence Ministry has confirmed reports that its forces had taken control of the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, crediting what it called decisive action taken by units in its “East” military grouping.

The town, which Russia calls Ugledar, had resisted Russian assaults for more than two years.

A fuel depot was on fire in Russia’s Perm region this morning, Russia’s emergencies ministry said on Telegram.

The ministry said the fire had engulfed fuel tanks, but no one has been hurt. The cause of the fire in the region located near the Ural mountains was unclear.

Russian officials never disclose the full extent of the damage suffered in strikes and explosions.

Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the new head of Nato Mark Rutte who affirmed a commitment that “Ukraine’s rightful place is in Nato.”

“Ukraine is closer to Nato than ever before, and it will continue along this path until it secures Nato membership,” Mr Rutte said.

The new head of Nato Mark Rutte vowed to help shore up Western support for war-ravaged Ukraine as he took charge yesterday.

The former Dutch prime minister expressed confidence that he can work with whoever is elected president of the United States, the alliance’s most powerful member, in November.

“There can be no lasting security in Europe without a strong, independent Ukraine,” Mr Rutte said in his first speech on taking office.

He also affirmed a commitment made by the organisation’s leaders in 2008 that “Ukraine’s rightful place is in Nato.” He added: “The cost of supporting Ukraine is far, far lower than the cost we would face if we allow Putin to get his way.”

Mr Rutte singled out China, and particularly Beijing’s support for Putin. “China has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war in Ukraine. China cannot continue to fuel the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War without this impacting its interests and reputation,” he said.