Ukraine-Russia war: latest news. CIA Director John Ratcliffe in Moscow on a military flight

It is explained that the man is said to have received a request for a pardon to sign whilst in prison this summer, which he is said to have signed.

The Ukrainian drone attack last night, between 24 and 25 August 2026 , resulted in the deaths of two people and caused a fire at an oil refinery in the Russian region of Krasnodar, north-east of the Black Sea, according to local authorities. This was reported by AFP. “Debris from the drones fell on the Afipsky railway station. Unfortunately, two people were killed,” regional governor Veniamin Kondratiev said on Telegram. According to Ukrainian media reports, the plant specialises in refining crude oil and gas condensates. It produces petrol, diesel and other petroleum products. The plant’s production capacity is 6.25 million tonnes of crude oil per year.

On the Ukrainian side, two people were killed in Zaporizhzhia, according to the head of the local military administration, Ivan Fedorov, who also reported this on Telegram.

Russia retaliated by striking four cities simultaneously during the night: Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro. Fires broke out and several residential buildings were damaged. This was reported by the Ukrainian news agency RBC, citing the Air Force, which reported the presence of Banderol missiles in the Kyiv region and a drone near the capital.

In the Goloseevsky district, debris from a drone falling onto a 16-storey residential block caused the destruction of several walls and shattered windows on the 14th floor, but no fire broke out. According to the mayor of Kharkiv, Igor Terekhov, a rocket struck the Osnovyansky district in Kharkiv, killing one person.

The Kremlin has rejected Volodymyr Zelensky’s proposal for a peace plan that would see part of the disputed territory in Ukraine transformed into a free economic zone under the control of third countries. “The Donbass is part of the Russian Federation, a region of the Russian Federation, and it is hardly conceivable that a third country could take charge of the administration of regions of the Russian Federation,” said the spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, as quoted by the Interfax news agency.

“To tell the truth, some Patriot missiles have actually arrived. I can’t say how many, but there are some. We need more”: this was stated by the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, at a press conference reported by Interfax Ukraine, which the leader from Kyiv attended alongside the Estonian President, Alar Karis.

The Financial Times reports that, last week, officials from the Trump administration allegedly asked Kyiv not to strike Moscow, St Petersburg and the northern regions of Russia with long-range missiles and drones yesterday, today and tomorrow, to coincide with the United States sending a plane carrying a senior official to Moscow. According to sources familiar with the request, Ukraine has agreed, the FT reports.