Ukraine marked its 34th Independence Day on Sunday amid tit-for-tat drone strikes, with Moscow targeting cities across Ukraine and Kyiv hitting a Russian nuclear power plant and a major port.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched more than 70 Shahed drones and a missile overnight, mostly from bases in Kursk, Millerovo and Primorsko-Akhtarsk. Air defenses downed 48 of them, but others hit targets in at least 10 regions, setting off fires and injuring civilians.
A rocket attack in the city of Pavlohrad caused a large blaze, while local officials reported nine injuries and one death in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Kyiv responded with a barrage of long-range drones that struck inside Russia. Authorities in the Kursk region said one strike damaged a transformer at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant, cutting output at one reactor by half and sparking a fire that was later extinguished. Radiation levels remained normal, the plant operator said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency urged restraint after the Kursk strike, warning of the risks of combat near nuclear facilities.
In Russia’s Leningrad region, debris from intercepted drones ignited a fire at the Novatek fuel terminal in the port of Ust-Luga, one of the country’s largest export hubs. Flights were briefly suspended at airports in St. Petersburg, Samara and Izhevsk after additional drones were shot down.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed Ukrainians from Kyiv’s Independence Square, tying the attacks to the broader struggle for sovereignty. “We are building a Ukraine that will have enough strength and power to live in security and peace,” he said in a video message. “Ukraine has won its independence. Ukraine is not a victim, it is a fighter.”
In the south, Ukraine’s military said troops unfurled national flags over occupied towns in the Kherson region, a gesture meant to signal that “the Kherson region will forever remain part of Ukraine.”
Western allies also used the occasion to signal support. The U.K. and Sweden raised Ukrainian flags on government buildings, while Norway and Germany announced the joint delivery of two Patriot air defense systems with missiles, radars and short-range batteries worth about €650 million.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Ukrainians were “most courageously defending themselves against Russia’s attacks. They are fighting for our liberal order in Europe, and for a just peace.”
