Ukraine-Russia war latest: Huge fire erupts at Russian oil refinery after Kyiv launches drone strikes

Russia is witnessing a decrease in its population inside prison, with a drop of more than 180,000 people, in the past five years, the country’s prison chief said.

“If at the end of 2021 there were 465,000 (prisoners), then now there are 282,000,” said Arkady Gostev, the head of Russia’s penitentiary service.

Around 85,000 of the current prison population is held in pre-trial detention, he told TASS state news agency.

Gostev said the major decline in the prison population was partly driven by the army’s recruitment drive, but also due to more suspended sentences and other forms of punishment handed out.

Moscow has regularly relied on recruiting its prisoners in exchange for buying out their sentences and sent them on the Ukraine frontline, but experts flagged that their lack of military and battlefield knowledge made them vulnerable to killings.

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky said at least 24 people were killed and 48 left wounded in the “savage” Russian strikes yesterday.

“The Russians practically demolished an entire section of the building with their missile. Twenty-four people were killed by this strike, including three children. My condolences to their families and loved ones. Everyone who was wounded or lost their home must receive the necessary assistance,” Zelensky said, adding that the rescue operations took more than a day.

“In total, 48 people were wounded in Kyiv as a result of yesterday’s attack, including two children,” he added.

“A Russia like this can never be normalised – a Russia that deliberately destroys lives and hopes to remain unpunished. Pressure is needed,” he said.

The Ukrainian leader added that the war-hit nation facing Moscow’s aggression is defending Europe and the rest of the world so that the strikes don’t spread further.

“I am grateful to everyone who did not remain silent and condemned this savage strike,” he said.

Russian forces have intercepted and destroyed at least 355 Ukrainian drones in the country’s airspace, the defence ministry said this morning.

In the ⁠central ‌Russian city of Ryazan, ‌a drone ‌attack killed three people ⁠and injured 12, damaged high-rise apartment buildings and hit an industrial ‌enterprise, ​regional governor Pavel ‌Malkov ⁠said.

Russia typically reports only how many drones its air defences say they downed, not how many Ukraine launched, and rarely discloses the full extent of damage unless civilians are killed or civilian sites are hit.

Finland has said the suspected drone activity in the early hours today in the skies above the country’s capital region no longer posed a threat and that the situation was returning ⁠to normal as Helsinki’s airport reopened.

Finland and the nearby Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have seen a string of recent incidents where Ukrainian drones aimed at Russia have strayed into their ⁠airspace, but it was not immediately ​known ⁠if Friday’s incident was similar.

The Finnish defence forces earlier scrambled fighter jets and other emergency services in response to the situation, but said in a statement that Finland was not facing a direct military threat.

“The danger is over. People can go to work and school safely,” interior minister Mari Rantanen said in ‌a post on social media website X.

Traffic at Helsinki’s airport also resumed after a three-hour suspension, according to a statement on its website. “Authorities are taking action. The Defence Forces have enhanced ⁠their own surveillance and response capabilities. I urge everyone to follow the authorities’ bulletins,” prime minister Petteri Orpo said in a statement on X.

The Pentagon has canceled plans to temporarily deploy 4,000 US-based troops to Poland, two US officials said as the surprise decision renews questions about president Donald Trump’s expected troop cuts in Europe.

A Pentagon spokesperson declined comment, a lawmaker said the decision had not yet been notified to Congress, and no formal announcement has been made.

The decision, first reported by Army Times, came just two weeks after the Pentagon announced it was withdrawing 5,000 troops from Nato ally Germany, in part due to a widening rift over the Iran war between president Donald Trump and Europe.

One US official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, suggested the Poland decision was part of a near-term solution to ultimately allow for the previously announced drawdown in Germany, which hosts 35,000 US forces.

That would suggest the troops that were meant to temporarily deploy to Poland might come from elsewhere.

Still, the US has been reviewing its troop presence in Europe and ​has long ⁠been expected to scale it back, following demands ‌from Trump that Nato take a larger role in the defence of Europe.

The Pentagon has not yet detailed how it envisions future troop laydowns across the continent.

Trump has also been angered that European ‌allies did not join the US war against Iran, and sparred with ‌German chancellor Friedrich Merz, who last month said Iranians were humiliating the US in negotiations.

A Ukrainian drone attack killed three people in the central Russian city of Ryazan, damaged high-rise apartment buildings and hit an industrial enterprise, regional governor Pavel Malkov said in the early hours today.

“To ⁠our great regret, three people have been killed and 12 injured, ‌including ​children,” Malkov ‌wrote ⁠on the ⁠Telegram messaging app.

North Korea condemned sanctions imposed by Britain over a summer camp that London says was part of Kremlin-run youth programmes and entities involved in the deportation and indoctrination of Ukrainian children.

Britain imposed sanctions on dozens of Russian officials and organisations on Monday. The Songdowon International Children’s Camp was also listed as part of the sanctions for its alleged involvement in Russia’s forced deportation and reeducation of Ukrainian children.

Pyongyang’s ⁠foreign ministry said in a statement ⁠carried by state media KCNA this morning ​that ⁠the sanctions on ‌the Songdowon camp were a malicious act that London ‌would pay a price ‌for.

It called them groundless and said they damaged ⁠the rights and interests of its children, who it said received the “most precious” treatment.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces aimed at Ukraine’s military-industrial complex, including air bases and fuel and transport facilities, claiming it hit all its targets in the attacks yesterday.

Among the weapons deployed, it said, were Kinzhal missiles, which Moscow says can fly 10 times the speed of sound.

The attacks reported from Ukraine were mostly from neighbourhoods and civilian areas, in which a school, a veterinary clinic and several apartment buildings housing civilians were hit.

At least 21 people were killed and more than two dozen were reported injured in the attacks.

Russian drones also struck a vehicle carrying UN staff who were delivering aid to residents of Kherson in southern Ukraine, foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said.

The vehicle was marked and was attacked twice, in two different locations, but nobody was hurt, he said.

Defence secretary John Healey has called the attack on Ukraine yesterday “shocking” and said he had accelerated UK deliveries of air defences.

“Shocking Russian drone attacks on Ukraine over the last 24 hours. I’ve directed for UK deliveries of air defence and counter-drone systems to be accelerated as fast as possible,” he said in a post on X.

He added: “We stand with Ukraine in the face of Putin’s aggression. Our thoughts are with Ukrainian families.”