Kyiv strikes a Russian refinery. Putin visits the Kuril Islands and reignites the dispute with Japan

The Japanese reaction was immediate. “I learnt from the media today that Russian President Putin has visited Etorofu. The four northern islands, including Etorofu, are an integral part of our country’s territory, both historically and under international law. The Japanese Government lodges a strong protest against this visit,” said Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. The Russian ambassador to Japan, Nikolay Nozdrev, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to protest against the incident.

Tokyo lays claim to Iturup/Etorofu, Kunashir/Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai Islands, collectively referred to in Japan as the ‘Northern Territories’. The islands were occupied by Soviet forces in the final weeks of the Second World War and have since been administered first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Moscow regards its sovereignty over the Southern Kurils as a consequence of the outcome of the war and maintains that it cannot be called into question. Japan disputes this interpretation and regards the four islands as Japanese territory.

It was precisely the territorial issue that prevented Moscow and Tokyo from reaching a definitive peace treaty after the Second World War. The 1956 Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration re-established diplomatic relations and provided for the handover of Shikotan and the Habomai Islands to Japan following the conclusion of a peace treaty, but it did not resolve the dispute over the four islands.

On the eve of the visit, Putin had stated that Russia is ready to work with Japan to find a solution “with a view to concluding a peace treaty”, specifically referring to the precedent set by the 1956 declaration. The Russian president’s remarks come, however, at a time when political dialogue between the two countries is effectively at a standstill.

In March 2022, Moscow suspended negotiations on the peace treaty and put joint economic projects on the islands on hold in response to the sanctions imposed by Japan following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As recently as last February, the Kremlin had stated that no dialogue was taking place with Tokyo regarding the peace treaty, accusing the Japanese government of pursuing a ‘hostile’ policy. Japan, however, continues to officially state that its objective is to resolve the issue concerning the four islands and subsequently conclude the treaty.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an interview with CNN, reiterated that his country urgently needs interceptor missiles from the United States to counter the increase in Russian ballistic missile attacks.

Meanwhile, this morning, a Ukrainian drone strike hit an oil refinery and a logistics centre belonging to Wildberries – “the Russian Amazon” – in Bashkortostan, west of the Urals. This was reported by Ukrinform, citing reports from Astra’s Telegram channel, according to which the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat oil refinery caught fire following the attack. It is one of Russia’s largest oil and petrochemical complexes.

In 2024, the refinery processed around 7.2 million tonnes of crude oil, accounting for approximately 2.7 per cent of Russia’s total crude oil refining volume. In September 2025, the refinery was attacked twice by Ukrainian drones, on 18 and 24 September. Following an attack on 14 July this year, the refinery had suspended operations. According to Astra, the drones also attacked a Wildberries logistics centre in the Chishmy district, also in Bashkortostan. As reported by RBC-Ukraine, the facility – one of the main logistics centres of the Russian e-commerce company – caught fire following the attack by Ukrainian forces.

Negotiations over US Patriot missiles: Kyiv is currently in talks with its allies to secure more missiles, including the possibility of obtaining a licence to enable Ukraine to manufacture them itself. Ukraine has only a tenth of the interceptors it needs from the United States to halt the wave of Russian ballistic missile attacks. According to the United Nations, July was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since April 2022. Zelensky said doubts remain as to how President Donald Trump’s apparent commitment to allow Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles itself will materialise. “I hope to achieve this,” said Zelensky. “At the moment, I don’t have that 5 per cent, nor have I received that approval. And for me, this is a major challenge, one of the biggest I have faced since the start of the war.”