Explosions have put the Central Asia-Center gas pipeline in Russia's Volgograd region out of service. The pipeline is owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom. US President Donald Trump has confirmed that nuclear submarines, which he ordered to be moved in response to threats from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, have already approached Russia. After Trump's sanctions on Russia, Moscow will no longer have friends, trading partners or money for war, according to US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker.
20:13 British Foreign Secretary David Lammy does not believe that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin is currently ready for serious negotiations on peace in Ukraine. "My sober assessment is that Putin is not ready for serious negotiations. He still has maximalist and imperialist ambitions," Lammy said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper.
Lammy added that he admires the Ukrainian people and their resilience and steadfastness."Even if the world forgot about them, they would still be fighting a guerrilla war, such is their faith in their country. It is deeply inspiring," the British foreign minister said.
In June, the British Foreign Secretary declared that the loss of one million Russian soldiers in Ukraine demonstrates Putin's use of Russians as cannon fodder.
18:13 US President Donald Trump confirmed that the nuclear submarines, which he ordered to be moved in response to threats from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, have already approached Russia. Trump said this to the American broadcaster Newsmax Trump. The Ukrainian Pravda website reports this.
The White House chief of staff noted that Medvedev has a"bold mouth." Asked whether the submarines had moved closer to Russia, Trump replied:"They're closer to Russia. Yes, they're closer to Russia." He also reiterated that if a peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine is not reached, the United States will impose sanctions on Moscow.
The former Russian president and key ally of current Russian leader Medvedev previously said that Trump was issuing a"theatrical ultimatum" and that "every new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war." He made the remarks after Trump gave Russian leader Vladimir Putin an ultimatum to end the war in Ukraine.
17:24 Explosions today put the Central Asia-Center gas pipeline in the Volgograd region of Russia out of operation. This was reported by the Ukrinform agency and other Ukrainian media. The pipeline is owned by the Russian concern Gazprom, the Ukrainian agency did not mention the cause of the explosions.
The pipeline carries natural gas from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to Russia. In the Volgograd region, which is located in southwestern Russia, gas transportation has been suspended indefinitely, according to Ukrinform sources. According to local residents, repair teams are working on the site.
The Ukrainian agency writes that the gas pipeline supplies energy to several key facilities of the Russian military-industrial complex, including a munitions factory.
Russia has been waging a three-and-a-half-year war against Ukraine, which has also resulted in attacks on Russian infrastructure. The agency did not say whether the damage to the gas pipeline was one of those attacks.
16:39 During the past week in Ukraine, according to Kiev, Russia lost 5 960 soldiers. The number of Russian armed forces members eliminated from combat since the beginning of the war has increased to 1 055 210. This is according to data published on Facebook from Sunday to Saturday by the Ukrainian General Staff. According to him, over the past week, Moscow also lost 11 tanks, six armored infantry fighting vehicles, 160 artillery systems and three rocket launchers.
Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has lost a total of 11,068 tanks, 23,069 infantry fighting vehicles, 30,982 artillery systems and 1,452 rocket launchers, according to Kiev.
14:17 At least three people died on Saturday night in western Russia as a result of Ukrainian drone attacks. Two more people were injured. Local governors announced this on Saturday, TASR reports based on a report by the AFP agency.
One woman was killed and two other people were injured in an attack on a business in the Penzionskaya region, the governor of the region, Oleg Melnichenko, reported on the Telegram platform.
Another death from such an attack occurred in the Samara region. An elderly man died in a house that caught fire after being hit by a fragment from a drone, the regional governor, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, also said on Telegram.
In the Rostov region, a guard at an industrial facility was killed in a drone attack and a fire that broke out in one of the buildings of the complex, acting governor Yuri Slyusar said."The army repelled a massive air strike at night" and destroyed drones over seven districts of the region, he wrote on Telegram.
The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, reported that its air defenses destroyed a total of 112 Ukrainian drones over its territory on Saturday night - over a period of almost nine hours. The drones were reportedly destroyed over eight of its regions, as well as over Crimea and the Black and Azov Seas. The largest number, 34 drones, were reportedly destroyed over the Rostov region.
10:56 A drone attack and large-scale fires in Russia's oil refineries, explosions in radio plants and near a military air base were reported by Russian Telegram channels on Saturday night. This is reported by the Ukrainian Pravda website.
Videos posted on social media showed a large fire reportedly burning at the Novokuybyshevsk oil refinery in Russia's Samara region. The region's governor, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, confirmed the drone attack on Novokuybyshevsk."This morning, hostile drones attacked one of the industrial facilities in Novokuybyshevsk," he wrote.
Drones also reportedly hit the Electropribor company in the city of Penza in the Penza region of Russia. The company is directly linked to the Russian arms industry and specializes in the production of control components for Russian missile and communication systems. The Radiozavod company is located nearby and was also likely hit. Eyewitnesses also reported explosions near the Diagilevo air base in the Ryazan region. An oil refinery in the city of Ryazan was reportedly hit.
9:21 AM At least one person has been killed and 13 others, including three children, have been injured in Russian shelling of the Kharkiv region over the past 24 hours, regional administration chief Oleh Synehubov said today. One person was injured in Russian shelling in Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine, BBC News reported, citing mayor Vadym Lyakh.
According to Synehubov, enemy strikes hit Kharkiv and ten other villages. In Kharkiv alone, 11 people were injured, including three children, including a five-month-old baby. In the village of Lisna Stinka, a 75-year-old woman died.
Russia sent 53 drones against Ukraine overnight, 45 of which were shot down by air defenses, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Eight drones were shot down in five locations, it added, without giving further details.
8:06 The Indian government has not ordered the country's oil refineries to stop buying Russian oil or to look for other energy suppliers instead of Russia, a government source told the Russian news agency TASS in response to US President Donald Trump's claims that India would no longer buy oil from Russia.
"The government has not asked oil refineries to stop buying Russian oil," the source said, adding that there were no instructions to import oil from other sources instead of Russia.
Trump previously said India would stop buying oil from Russia in order to make a trade deal with the US, adding that he"doesn't know if that's true or not."
India is the world's third-largest oil consumer with a high level of import dependence. Indian refineries purchase raw materials from more than 30 countries, including Russia. As Indian Oil and Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in an interview with TASS, cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi, especially in the energy sector, remains at a high level and is developing despite international instability. Russia's share in the republic's total imports consistently exceeds 30 percent.
7:27 US President Donald Trump is still trying to achieve a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine, said US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker. According to the Ukrainian agency Unian, he made this statement in an interview with the TV channel Newsmax. However, he added that tough US sanctions against Russia and countries that trade with it will take effect next week if Putin does not agree to a ceasefire.
"On August 8th, if there is no ceasefire, he (Trump) will impose crippling tariffs and sanctions on Russia... Essentially, Putin needs to sell his oil," Unian quotes Whitaker on Newsmax's American Agenda.
President Trump has pursued peace since day one, but @POTUS’s patience is wearing thin.
—U.S. Ambassador to NATO (@USAmbNATO) August 1, 2025
In my interview with @NEWSMAX, I emphasized that ending the Russia-Ukraine war is a top priority as we push for a durable, negotiated settlement. pic.twitter.com/hMG2xS0p8S
The US permanent representative to NATO said that Putin sells oil to India, Brazil and China, so these countries will also face serious consequences for cooperating with Russia.
"Russia will have no friends. It will have no trading partners. And its ability to finance war will end," Whitaker said.
A ceasefire is needed and that can only be achieved through diplomacy and negotiations. Whitaker does not see the agreement as ideal conditions for either side, but that should not prevent Ukraine and Russia from reaching an agreement to end the war, Unian added in an interview with Newsmax.
7:25 The number of Russian drone attacks on Ukraine reached a record monthly level in July. According to an AFP analysis based on data from the Ukrainian Air Force, Moscow launched 6,297 long-range drones into Ukraine, an increase of almost 16 percent compared to June and the third consecutive month of increasing attacks. In July, 198 missiles were also fired, the second highest number this year after June.
At least 11 people were injured in an intense Russian drone attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, authorities there said on Friday, the DPA agency reported.
The injured include a five-month-old baby and two children aged nine and ten, local officials said. The drone struck near a residential building, shattering windows. Five of the injured were treated in hospital, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said on the Telegram platform.
On Friday, a 75-year-old woman was also reportedly killed and two men were injured in another attack, authorities said.
Ukraine has been resisting Russian aggression for more than three years, with the conflict causing extensive damage and numerous civilian casualties, DPA recalls.
