Topic: Russia
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U.S. House passes sweeping Russia and Iran sanctions bill, sending it to Trump
The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, sending the legislation to President Donald Trump for signature. The bill imposes mandatory sanctions on Russian leadership, oligarchs, banks, energy firms and the shadow fleet, and authorizes tariffs of up to 100% on countries among the top five buyers of Russian oil and gas. Ukraine welcomed the measure; China, India and Russia sharply criticized it; Germany praised it; Hungary is seeking an exemption.
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Russian strike drone falls near Polish border; Poland scrambles jets, shuts airports
On 17 September 2026, a Russian strike drone fell or was destroyed approximately 4 km from the Polish-Ukrainian border on Ukrainian territory in Volyn Oblast, near the Dorohusk–Yahodyn crossing. Poland scrambled fighter jets, put air-defence and radar systems on alert, and temporarily suspended operations at Lublin and Rzeszów airports. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the drone likely hit a petrol station, and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced increased F-16 and helicopter activity in response.
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Ukraine hits Rostov airfield and Yaroslavl oil refinery in overnight strikes
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukrainian forces struck a military airfield in Rostov-on-Don and the Slavneft-YANOS oil refinery in Yaroslavl on the night of September 17. The SBU carried out the airfield strike, while the refinery hit was a joint operation of the SBU, the Unmanned Systems Forces, military intelligence (HUR) and the Foreign Intelligence Service. Russian governors reported no casualties from either attack.
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Two Russian oil refineries halt processing after Ukrainian drone strikes
The Syzran and Saratov oil refineries in Russia stopped crude processing following Ukrainian drone attacks, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing three industry sources. The Syzran plant halted operations on 15 September after its main primary distillation unit was damaged, while the Saratov plant stopped on 11 September. The stoppages add to a string of Ukrainian strikes on Russian refining capacity and come as Russia has already restricted fuel exports.
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Ukraine says Belarus has reactivated signal repeaters boosting Russian drones near Polish border
Ukraine's State Border Guard Service says Belarus has switched back on signal repeaters on its territory that boost Russian Shahed and Gerber drones, allowing them to fly deeper into western Ukraine. Spokesperson Andriy Demchenko said the repeaters, which had been turned off after a presidential warning in June, are now active again and supported recent strikes on Rivne, Volyn and Lviv oblasts, including the September 13 attack on the Yahodyn border crossing with Poland.
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Germany reviews hospital readiness for potential conflict with Russia
Germany is conducting a large-scale review of its hospitals to assess their ability to cope with a potential military conflict, including a possible Russia–NATO war. The Bundeswehr is considering reopening a Cold War-era underground medical bunker in Ulm, while training programs are being expanded to address a shortage of combat trauma specialists. Officials warn that Germany's five military hospitals would be overwhelmed by a worst-case scenario of up to 1,000 wounded soldiers arriving per day.
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Russian Major General Anton Grunis killed in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine's drone forces claim strike
Russian Major General Anton Grunis, commander of the 4th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, was killed in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast. Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces commander Robert "Madyar" Brovdi said the 427th Separate Unmanned Systems Battalion "Rarog" carried out the strike on September 12. Grunis had earlier briefed Vladimir Putin about the alleged capture of Kostiantynivka, a claim Ukraine denies.
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Atesh partisans report sabotage of substation powering Russian missile-components plant in Voronezh
Ukraine-linked Atesh partisan movement says one of its agents infiltrated an electrical substation near the VZPP-Sborka plant in Voronezh and destroyed its main distribution cabinet. The plant produces components for Kh-101 missiles, Iskander-K systems, and Pantsir-S1 air defense complexes. Atesh reports the outage disrupted component deliveries and that full power restoration took weeks.
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US indicts five alleged Russian intelligence operatives for murder-for-hire and sabotage plots targeting Ukraine's allies
The US Department of Justice has charged five people it says are linked to Russian intelligence services with conspiracy to finance terrorism and, in three cases, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire. Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York allege the network recruited US-based individuals to surveil and kill Russian opposition figures in Washington and Lithuania, and coordinated sabotage attacks in European countries that support Ukraine. All five defendants remain at large; the Kremlin has rejected the allegations.
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Half of Russia's largest diesel refineries cut or halt output after Ukrainian drone strikes
Three of Russia's six largest diesel-producing refineries have been forced to significantly cut or halt production in September following Ukrainian drone attacks, disrupting output from facilities that together account for roughly half of Russian diesel. The Kirishi (Kinef) refinery fully halted operations, while Volgograd and NORSI are running at about a quarter of normal capacity. U.S. President Donald Trump on 13 September urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to stop the strikes, attributing global diesel shortages and price increases to the Russia–Ukraine war rather than the U.S.–Iran conflict; Ukraine responded that it is ready for a ceasefire only if Russia also stops strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
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Russia hits Poland-Ukraine border crossing with drone strike
Russia launched a drone strike on an international road checkpoint on the Poland-Ukraine border, according to reported information. The attack targeted a border crossing with a NATO and EU member state, raising escalation concerns.
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Valdai Discussion Club moved from Sochi to Moscow Oblast over Ukrainian drone threat
The annual Valdai Discussion Club meeting, traditionally held in Sochi each autumn, has been relocated to Moscow Oblast because of security concerns linked to intensified Ukrainian drone attacks, the Financial Times reported, citing four sources. About 120 invited participants learned in August that the venue had changed, after initially receiving invitations to Sochi; the forum is scheduled for 28 September to 1 October.
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Kim Jong Un pledges to deepen cooperation with Russia, backs 'sacred war' against Ukraine
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent Vladimir Putin a message pledging to expand and deepen cooperation with Russia across all areas and expressing confidence in Russia's victory in what he called a "sacred war." The message, sent on Monday via the state news agency KCNA, was a response to Putin's congratulatory letter on North Korea's 78th founding anniversary.
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US imposes new sanctions on Russia's VTB Bank over Iran sanctions evasion
The US Treasury announced new sanctions on Russia's second-largest bank, VTB, accusing it of helping Iran circumvent existing restrictions. The measures are framed as part of a US pressure campaign on Tehran and supplement sanctions imposed on VTB in 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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Trump announces Russia–Ukraine energy-strike deal; Kyiv says no agreement exists yet
On September 14, US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to mutually stop targeting each other's energy facilities. Neither Kyiv nor Moscow confirmed the claim. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was ready to refrain from striking Russian infrastructure only if partners guarantee Russia would stop striking Ukrainian energy and other critical infrastructure, and he stressed no final deal exists.
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Ukraine's daily war cost rises to $190 million, budget chief says
Roksolana Pidlasa, head of the Verkhovna Rada budget committee, said at the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv that one day of war now costs Ukraine $190 million — $50 million more than in 2024. She warned that domestic resources are running short of defense needs and that Russian strikes have driven a VAT revenue shortfall.
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Ukraine strikes S-400 radar in Sochi and multiple Russian military targets
Ukraine's Defense Forces struck a 92N6 multifunctional radar station of a Russian S-400 Triumph air defense system in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, on September 13 and overnight into September 14, 2026, according to Ukraine's General Staff. In the same operational window, Ukrainian forces hit drone storage, preparation and launch sites in the Kursk area and occupied Donetsk, a drone control point in Novohrodivka, radar stations and repeaters in Bryansk Oblast, and a short-range navigation radio system near the Saky airfield in occupied Crimea. The extent of the damage is being clarified; local Krasnodar Krai authorities reported damage to private houses in Sochi.
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Zelensky says he may meet Trump in New York to push for energy and Black Sea ceasefire
President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a telethon interview aired on September 14 that he may meet US President Donald Trump in New York on September 21–23 during the UN General Assembly high-level week. The talks would focus on an energy ceasefire and a pause in mutual strikes on the Black Sea ahead of winter, with Zelensky saying Ukraine is open to a maritime-plus-energy ceasefire even if Russia will not agree to a full end to the war.
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Russian drone strikes passenger train near Ukrainian-Polish border; diplomatic train with European officials had just left
On the morning of 13 September 2026, a Russian jet-powered mesh drone struck the locomotive of a Kyiv-to-Warsaw passenger train at the Yahodyn station, about two kilometres from the Polish border in Volyn Oblast. A diplomatic train carrying former European leaders and current security advisors, returning from the YES conference in Kyiv, had departed the station shortly before the strike. No one was injured. Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) suggested the diplomatic train may have been the intended target; the Institute for the Study of War assessed the strike was meant to wound or kill European officials leaving Ukraine.
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Iran seeks modernized Russian Geran-5 drones for use against Israel and the US, FT reports
Iran has asked Russia to supply it with modernized Geran-5 jet drones — the Russian-developed evolution of Iran's own Shahed design — for potential strikes against Israel and the United States, the Financial Times reported, citing Western intelligence. The request marks a reversal of the original Shahed supply relationship and comes as Moscow scales up jet-powered drone production, producing more than 1,400 such units since the start of the year.