Authorities in Ukraine say 11 people have been killed following a Russian missile attack in Dobropillia. It comes a day after Donald Trump threatened sanctions against Moscow, adding Russia is “bombing the hell” out of Ukraine. Listen to the Trump 100 podcast as you scroll.
Saturday 8 March 2025 09:18, UK
Thousands of Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region are nearly surrounded by Russian forces there.
Kyiv’s force in the area have deteriorated sharply in the last three days, open source maps show, after Russian forces retook territory as part of a gathering counteroffensive.
Military analyst Pasi Paroinen told the Reuters news agency the situation for Ukrainians in Kursk “is very bad”.
“If Ukrainian forces are not able to restore the situation quickly, this could be the moment where the Kursk salient begins to finally close into an encircled pocket,” he said.
For context: Thousands of Ukrainian troops stormed into Russia’s Kursk region last August, partly as a way of diverting parts of Moscow’s army away from the frontline in eastern Ukraine.
Analysts believed Kyiv had been hoping to use its presence in Kursk as leverage over Russia in any peace talks.
We’ve been getting more reports of overnight Russian drone attacks on several Ukrainian regions.
The country’s military said it had shot down 79 of 145 drones launched by Russia.
The regional governor of Kharkiv says at least three men were killed and another seven injured in a drone attack in Bogodukhiv.
Oleh Syniehubov says four drones hit a meat processing plant, sparking a fire that damaged workshops and garages.
The southern city of Odesa was also hit once again by Russian drones.
The city is home to Ukraine’s biggest energy company, which says its facilities in the port were struck once more.
Ukraine’s largest private gas producer, DTEK, has reported seven attacks in the past two and a half weeks on its facilities.
A tank at one of Russia’s key oil refineries was hit by a drone last night during a major Ukrainian attack, local authorities said.
Drones targeted the Kinef oil refinery in the Kirishi district near St. Petersburg, damaging the external structure of one of the tanks at the facility, governor Alexander Drozdenko said.
Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian energy infrastructure in recent months, targeting a major source of revenue for Moscow.
Kinef is one of the largest oil refineries in Russia, refining about 6.4%, or 17.7 million tons, of the country’s total supply of crude each year, according to industry sources.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the strike.
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has condemned last night’s Russian missile attack on Dobropillia.
Local authorities say the strike killed 11 people and injured dozens more (see 7.13am post).
Zelenskyy said two missiles hit the town first before Russia launched another strike “deliberately targeting rescuers” after services had arrived at the scene.
Ukraine’s president called this a “vile and inhumane tactic for intimidation that the Russians often resort to”.
“Such strikes show that Russia’s goals are unchanged,” he wrote.
“Therefore, it is very important to continue to do everything to protect life, strengthen our air defence, and tighten sanctions against Russia.
“Everything that helps Putin finance the war must break down.”
Donald Trump spoke in the Oval Office last night, where he took questions from reporters about Ukraine and Russia.
The US president, who one week ago publicly berated Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office over “gambling with World War Three”, said Kyiv has to “get on the ball and get the job done”.
Trump said Russia has “all the cards” and said it “may be easier” to deal with Moscow.
“They’re bombing the hell out of Ukraine… I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine,” he added.
Asked if he believes Vladimir Putin when he says he wants peace, Trump said: “Yeah… I believe him”.
“I think both parties want to settle. I think we are going to get it settled,” he added.
Posting on social media yesterday, Trump said he was “strongly considering” placing additional sanctions on Russia to force it into peace talks with Ukraine.
The president also acknowledged that his decisions to halt military aid to Ukraine and stop sharing intelligence with Kyiv have caused Russia to “hit harder”.
“I think he’s doing what anyone else would do,” Trump said.
As we mentioned in our last post, a devastating Russian attack in eastern Ukraine has killed at least 11 people and wounded another 30, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The town of Dobropillia lies northwest of the Russian-held Donetsk city in eastern Ukraine.
Regional emergency services said eight residential buildings and an administrative building were also damaged in the attack.
It added that another drone struck the area while emergency services worked to extinguish the fire, damaging a fire truck.
Posting on Telegram this morning, the governor of the Donetsk region said Russian strikes killed a total of 20 people in the region yesterday, with another 43 injured.
It comes as Donald Trump last night acknowledged his decision to withhold intelligence from Ukraine is leaving them open to fierce attacks – adding Russia is “bombing the hell out of Ukraine”.
Welcome back to our coverage of the war in Ukraine, where Russian attacks continue unabated despite Washington’s claims that Vladimir Putin wants peace.
In its latest offensive, Russia targeted the eastern town of Dobropillia late last night, according to its regional governor.
Vadym Filashkin said this morning that at least 11 people had been killed and dozens more were injured – we’ll bring you the latest on that shortly.
Before we start bringing you the latest developments from today, here’s a quick recap of the past 24 hours:
Here’s the latest territorial map of eastern Ukraine, including the town of Dobropillia…
That’s all for our coverage of the war in Ukraine for today.
If you’re just checking in, here is a quick recap of the key developments over the last 24 hours.
Donald Trump is delivering unexpected remarks in the Oval Office.
You can watch it live in the stream above.
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