Live blog Ukrainian war:
NATO shoots down drone in Romanian airspace
08/16/2026, 06:01 Reading time: 1 min.
Romanian F-16 fighter jets fly as part of an air surveillance exercise.Vadim Ghirda/AP/dpa
Kiev: Space factory in Russia attacked +++ Polish cardinal condemns attacks on Ukrainians +++ Bremen Research Center for Eastern Europe “unwanted” in Russia +++ all news in the live blog
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NATO shoots down drone over Romania
A Spanish fighter jet shot down a drone over Romania as part of NATO airspace surveillance. The drone was noticed at 4:44 a.m. coming from Moldovan airspace over Romania, and was shot down by the F-18 fighter aircraft at 5:01 a.m., as the Ministry of Defense announced via platform X. The debris is believed to have fallen over uninhabited terrain in the Galati district. The ministry did not provide any information about the origin of the drone.
Romania, an EU and NATO member state, borders Ukraine and Moldova. Russia repeatedly attacks Ukraine with numerous drones. In Romania, Russian drone debris has already been recovered several times in the border area. At the end of May, a Russian drone also hit a high-rise building in the town of Galati near the border.
Ukraine attacks rocket fuel facility in Rostov
The Ukrainian military says it has attacked a rocket fuel production facility in Russia's Rostov region. “The company produces solid rocket fuel for multiple rocket launchers as well as for a range of missile systems and air-launched weapon systems,” the Ukrainian military said on Telegram. Rostov is located in the south of Russia and borders Ukraine.
Mayor: 600 drones against Moscow
According to mayor Sergei Sobyanin, the Russian capital was attacked with 600 drones during the night. Three people were injured. Of these, 201 were destroyed by air defense in the Moscow region, he wrote on Telegram. Most of the drones had already been repelled on approach.
The governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, spoke of one of the largest attacks in recent times. An 83-year-old man was killed when a drone fell onto his property. There were also several injuries in the Moscow region.
According to authorities, at least three people died in a Ukrainian drone attack in the Rostov-on-Don region in southern Russia. A person was injured. Three people were injured in the town of Podolsk, around 40 kilometers from Moscow.
Victims of Russian night attacks
According to authorities, a woman was killed in Russian attacks in Ukraine. At least seven other people were also injured. According to the local governor, the woman died in a ballistic missile and drone attack on Kryvyi Rih - the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Six people were also injured.
Kremenchuk in the central Ukrainian region of Poltava was also attacked, according to local authorities. However, no information about damage or victims was initially provided here.
Russia attacks Kyiv with missiles
According to the military administration, one person was injured on Sunday night. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said fires broke out in at least two districts. Falling debris set cars on fire.
Polish cardinal condemns attacks on Ukrainians
Krakow Cardinal Grzegorz Rys has condemned attacks on Ukrainians in Poland. Not a day goes by without media reports of new acts of violence against migrants, especially from Ukraine, says a pastoral letter read out on Saturday at mass in his archdiocese for the holiday of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “Violence is a sin. So is indifference to violence,” said Rys.
The cardinal called for help to those who are being attacked. All people should look at the world through the eyes of the poor and learn from it. In Poland there have been a series of acts of violence against Ukrainians in public spaces in recent weeks.
The Social Democratic Parliament Speaker Wlodzimierz Czarzasty had already criticized the attacks a few weeks ago. He blamed the incitement of right-wing opposition politicians for the acts. There have recently been solidarity rallies for Ukrainians in some cities. After Russia's attack on Ukraine in 2022, Poland took in more than a million war refugees from its eastern neighbor.
Zelenskyj: Attacked rocket factory in Samara
The Ukrainian military has attacked a rocket and space factory in Samara, Russia, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. The armed forces also shelled the Zavasleika military airfield, a base for Russian fighter jets, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram on Saturday.
Flamingo cruise missiles hit the rocket factory in Samara, around 900 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. “It is important that Russia’s war potential is reduced,” Zelenskyj wrote on Platform X. “Peace is necessary, and that must be felt in Russia – through concrete damage to certain facilities.”
According to the Ukrainian General Staff, there were hits and fires at the airfield in the Nizhny Novgorod region and at the Progress space center in the Samara region. Samara is considered one of the most important centers of the Russian aerospace industry.
According to Ukrainian information, the factory in Samara produces rockets for the development of the Rasswet broadband network. Russia is developing this as an alternative to US company SpaceX's Starlink system, which gives Ukraine significant advantages in drone control and battlefield communications.
In the Samara region, local officials said air defenses repelled a massive rocket attack. The industrial infrastructure suffered localized damage, said the head of the regional capital's administration, Ivan Nosko.
Russia: Capture of 19 towns in summer offensive
According to the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russian troops have taken control of 19 towns in the southeastern Ukrainian regions of Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia as part of their summer offensive. The ministry cites a report by the commander of the eastern group of troops, Pyotr Bolgarev. The names of the towns are not mentioned. Independently of this, the Interfax news agency reports that the Russian armed forces have also taken the town of Rybalskoye in Zaporizhzhia. The information cannot be verified.
Ukraine: Baby killed in Russian attack
A baby has been killed in a Russian drone attack in the southeastern Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk. According to military governor Olexander Hanscha, the three-month-old boy died when a residential building was hit in the town of Marhanez near the front. Eleven other people were injured, including a five-year-old boy and a twelve-year-old girl.
Putin critic Nadezhdin: “I stayed in Russia as long as I could”
The exiled Russian opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin sees his calls for an end to the war in Ukraine as a reason for increasing persecution by the Russian authorities. “I stayed in Russia as long as I could,” the 63-year-old told the AFP news agency near Paris.
Nadezhdin said he left Russia via Kazakhstan on July 22 after being summoned for questioning. He feared criminal proceedings would be brought against him.
Bremen Research Center for Eastern Europe in Russia “undesirable”
Russia has added the Eastern European Research Center (FSO), based at the University of Bremen, to its list of so-called undesirable organizations. The Ministry of Justice thus expanded its list of foreign and international entities whose work on the territory of the Russian Federation is prohibited.
Moscow does not want a ceasefire in the Black Sea
Russia rejects a ceasefire with Ukraine in the Black Sea. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said there was no basis for “half-measures” that would only give the other side a breathing space.
