Ukraine Navy's First Drone Battle in Black Sea

A Ukrainian Sargan 3000 unmanned naval boat engaged a Russian drone on the Black Sea, striking it with its 12.7‑mm turret and sending the target into thick grey smoke before it sank. The navy released footage on Telegram, describing the encounter as the first “naval battle” between maritime drones.

The day also saw heavy casualties on the ground. At least 12 people were killed in Ukraine’s Kramatorsk, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih regions, while Russian‑installed authorities in the occupied Donetsk region reported three deaths from Ukrainian attacks. A Russian drone also struck near the Ukrainian‑Polish border in Yahodyn overnight, according to Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

Zelenskyy accused Russia of expanding the war beyond the front line into the economy, saying the Russians were “destroying every site that could help people cope with the conditions of war.” Trump, speaking in Ireland, urged Zelenskyy to stop targeting diesel fuel in Russia, warning that such strikes were causing a global shortage and hurting farmers who rely on diesel for harvesting corn and soybeans.

In Lithuania, a suspected drone sighting prompted the closure of Vilnius airport and the summoning of a NATO fighter jet. The alert was lifted after 38 minutes when the jet confirmed the intruder was a flock of birds, allowing the airport to reopen. Meanwhile, Russia’s new 50‑ft Soviet war monument depicting a Soviet soldier shattering a Japanese chrysanthemum emblem has drawn criticism from Japan, which called the statue “unacceptable.”