Ukraine-Russia war live: Smoke spreads over 300km from Russian port on fire after deadly strike – UK Times

A massive fire at an oil refinery in Russia’s Tuapse has sent thick plumes of smoke drifting hundreds of kilometres.

Satellite imagery from NASA Worldview showed dark smoke from burning oil storage tanks spreading inland as far as the Stavropol region, some 300km away.

Visuals indicate extensive smoke from burning oil storage tanks, while Nasa’s FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System) project continues to detect active hotspots, suggesting the blaze remains uncontrolled, reported RBC Ukraine.

Authorities in the Krasnodar region say firefighting efforts are still underway.

At least one person was killed, and another was injured after the second Ukrainian strike within four days that hit an oil terminal in the same area.

The first attack took place on 16 April and second followed on 20 April.

It’s not the first time the port has been targeted. As many as two people were killed in a previous drone attack on Tuapse last week.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said a decision on a crucial loan for Ukraine could come within 24 hours after the repair of a key pipeline was completed.

Ukraine needs around $52bn in external funding this year and could begin running short of money by June without fresh support.

EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said funding needs for 2026 are already secured, with the first tranche of the loan likely by late May or early June.

Volodymyr Zelensky called on the EU to unblock a €90bn loan after he said the Druzhba pipeline carrying Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia has been repaired.

The damaged pipeline has become a politically charged issue after Hungary’s Viktor Orban refused to allow the EU loan to proceed until oil flows were restored. Election winner Peter Magyar has also called for flows to resume once the pipeline is operational.

Part of a residential apartment block has collapsed in the Russian city ⁠of ​Syzran after a Ukrainian drone attack, a local governor said.

Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said four people, including one ‌child, have ​been ‌rescued as search and ⁠rescue ⁠operations are ongoing.

Dua Lipa has funded the delivery of a vital new pickup truck to Ukraine’s medics on the frontline against Russia.

The British singer organised an event to raise money for Ukraine’s First Separate Medical Battalion by the UK-based Driving Ukraine project, a charity that delivers evacuation vehicles to the frontlines in Ukraine.

“The probability of Dua Lipa helping to raise funds to provide a vehicle for our unit is not high… but it is never zero,” Ukraine’s First Separate Medical Battalion wrote on Instagram.

“Thank you to Dua Lipa, Service 95 [the star’s digital platform], and Driving Ukraine for this powerful pickup truck for the First Separate Medical Battalion,” it added.

Her mother, Anesa Lipa, was also part of the humanitarian convoy which delivered the truck.“It will help us perform life-saving missions in the combat zone,” the post read.

The post was accompanied by a video showing a combat medic reclining on a vehicle, listening to Levitating, Dua Lipa’s 2020 hit, as medical supplies were loaded into the back.

“Hello. Dua Lipa joined the fundraiser and purchased a pickup truck for the First Medical Battalion. Goodbye,” Roman Hryshchuk, a Ukrainian politician, wrote on social media.

Italy summoned ​the Russian ambassador to protest against insults directed at prime minister Giorgia Meloni by a pro-Kremlin Russian television host, ⁠Rome’s foreign minister said on Tuesday.

“I had the Russian ambassador… summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to express formal protests ⁠following the extremely serious ​and offensive ⁠statements made by the host Vladimir Solovyev on Russian television,” Antonio ⁠Tajani said on X.

In a one-minute segment, ​Solovyev ⁠swore in Italian, ‌calling Meloni a “certified idiot” and worse.

In Russian, he added: “Meloni is fascist scum who ‌betrayed her voters, having campaigned on ‌completely different slogans. Betrayal is her middle name: she also betrayed (US president Donald) Trump, to whom ⁠she had previously sworn allegiance.”

Meloni leads a right-wing government that has provided military and civilian aid to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, but her coalition includes the League party, which has had close ties with ‌the Kremlin.

She has recently fallen ​out of favour with Trump, ‌previously a close ally, ⁠distancing herself from the war ⁠with Iran and openly criticising the US president for ‌lashing out ​at Pope Leo.

Russia has warned that the safety of its citizens in Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestria region is under threat, with Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu saying Moscow is prepared to act if needed.

Transdniestria, a pro-Russian enclave that split from Moldova before the collapse of the Soviet Union, has existed in a fragile peace since a brief war in 1992. Tensions have risen in recent months as Moldova’s pro-European government increases pressure on the region.

In an interview with Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, Shoigu said more than 220,000 Russian citizens live in Transdniestria and their safety is at risk due to what he described as “irresponsible actions” by Kyiv and Chisinau.

He warned that Russia could use “all available methods” to protect its nationals, adding that “nothing should be ruled out”, though he expressed hope the situation would not escalate.

The remarks come after stalled talks between Moldova and Transdniestria, and fresh friction over Moldova’s move to bar entry to commanders of Russian “peacekeepers” stationed in the region, as well as plans to extend customs duties and VAT there.

Moldovan president Maia Sandu has pushed for EU membership by 2030, saying it could proceed even without resolving the Transdniestria conflict.

Volodymyr Zelensky said the Druzhba pipeline carrying Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia has been repaired, calling on the EU to unblock a €90bn loan halted by an argument over the pipeline.

The oil flows are likely to start and the first shipment would be divided equally between Hungary ​and Slovakia, a source said.

The pipeline was damaged by a Russian attack in January, leading to a lengthy suspension of oil flows, which subsequently sparked a backlash from European Union members Hungary and Slovakia, which remain reliant on Russian oil imports via Druzhba.

They accused Kyiv of deliberately dragging its feet over the repairs, which it denied.

Speaking in his nightly video address, the Ukrainian leader called in turn for officials in Brussels to ensure the release of the funding: “There can now be no grounds for blocking it.”

“The European Union asked Ukraine to repair the Druzhba oil pipeline, which the Russians had damaged. We have repaired it. We hope that the European Union will also implement the agreements.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has accused Europe of holding clear ambitions to “nuclearise and militarise”.

Peskov was commenting on a Politico report that French and Polish leaders had discussed holding joint nuclear exercises.

France – the European Union’s only nuclear power – is leading an effort to include allies in its nuclear deterrent. Peskov said such efforts do not contribute to stability on the European continent.

Ukrainian drones have struck an oil dispatch facility in Russia’s Samara region overnight, an official within Ukraine’s SBU security service has told Reuters news agency.

The attack caused a fire the official said on Tuesday.

According to preliminary data, he added, it also damaged five tanks containing crude oil, each with a capacity of 20,000 cubic metres.

Across the Chernobyl exclusion zone, a radioactive landscape too dangerous for human life, the world’s wildest horses roam free. Przewalski’s horses – stocky, sand-coloured, and almost toy-like – graze an area larger than Luxembourg.

This desolate territory was created on 26 April 1986, when an explosion at the Ukrainian nuclear power plant sent radiation across Europe, forcing the evacuation of entire towns and displacing thousands. It remains the worst nuclear disaster in history.

Four decades on, Chernobyl (Chornobyl in Ukraine) remains too dangerous for humans. Yet, wildlife has moved back in. Wolves now prowl the vast no-man’s-land spanning Ukraine and Belarus, and brown bears have returned after more than a century. Populations of lynx, moose, red deer, and even free-roaming dogs have rebounded.