Ukraine says its drone forces have killed a Russian general in eastern Ukraine just weeks after he was decorated as a "war hero" by Vladimir Putin.
Major General Anton Grunis was given the "Hero of Russia" medal after it was claimed he led the capture of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine, despite independent military analysts confirming the city remained contested and that the claim of victory was Russian propaganda.
Ukrainian drone commander Robert Brovdi said Grunis had been killed in a nighttime strike in the Donetsk region.
"General Grunis was eliminated on 12 September," Brovdi wrote in a Telegram post on Wednesday.
In Moscow, his death was confirmed by commander Apti Alaudinov, but Russian officials otherwise did not share further details.
Meanwhile, overnight Russian strikes on Kyiv and the port city of Odesa have left at least 18 injured as the Ukrainian military warned of incoming jet-powered Russian drones in several Ukrainian cities.
A child was among the three injured as Russia hit a 19-storey apartment building in Odesa, authorities there said on Telegram.
Key Points
- Russian general killed in drone attack days after being lauded for 'victory'
- UK armed forces member killed in Ukraine road traffic accident named by MoD
- Five killed in Russian drone attack on bus and train in southern Ukraine
- 13 injured in overnight Russian strikes on Kyiv
- Ukraine tests new anti-drone weapon during latest barrage of Russian attacks
Russia’s parliamentary vote features no real opposition to Putin's policies
06:07 , Arpan Rai
Russia’s parliamentary election features the Kremlin's main party, United Russia, and nine others that all support president Vladimir Putin’s policies. The only party that dared to oppose the war in Ukraine has been barred from the ballot.
The absence of genuine opposition all but assures the Kremlin will keep tight control of the Russian political scene amid mounting economic costs and increasing Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries and online retailers.
Those drone strikes have made Russians feel the pain from the war more than when it began in 2022.
The Kremlin wants the election — the first since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022 — to underline public support for the war and give a veneer of legitimacy to its action.
It has sought to avoid any political risks by stamping out even the slightest sign of dissent.
Number of injured in Kyiv rises to 18 after overnight strikes
05:41 , Arpan Rai
Russian air strikes injured 18 and damaged buildings in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, among other locations, in the early hours today, officials said.
In Odesa, a child was among the three injured as Russia hit a 19-storey apartment building and three others were wounded in Zaporizhzhia in the southeast where a missile strike also caused a fire at an industrial facility, authorities there said on Telegram.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said 12 people, including two children, were wounded in the city, adding that apart from apartment and inhabited buildings, debris also fell on warehouse facilities and near a petrol station, which are now a frequent target of attacks.
Ukraine drone attack damages oil refinery in Russia's Yaroslavl
05:41 , Arpan Rai
A Ukrainian drone attack damaged an oil refinery in the Russian city of Yaroslavl and efforts are ongoing to put out the fire, regional governor Mikhail Yevrayev said this morning.
UK armed forces member killed in Ukraine road traffic accident named by MoD
04:59 , Arpan Rai
A 40-year-old intelligence officer has died in a road collision in Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.
Major Paul Wilks was killed in a traffic accident away from the front lines on Saturday 12 September.
Having commissioned from Sandhurst in 2012, he spent his entire military career serving in the Intelligence Corps.
His Commanding Officer described him as a "man of great intellect", who frequently spoke of his deep love for his wife and two sons.
UK armed forces member killed in Ukraine road traffic accident named
US House passes sanctions and tariff bill to raise economic pressure on Russia
04:26 , Arpan Rai
The US House of Representatives passed a sweeping sanctions and tariff bill intended to increase economic pressure on Russia for its war on Ukraine.
The bill was cleared almost one and a half years after the late US Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, introduced it with dozens of other senators.
The Republican-majority House voted 262 to 159 in favour of the bill.
13 injured in overnight Russian strikes on Kyiv
03:57 , Arpan Rai
Russian air strikes injured 13 and damaged buildings in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and in the Black Sea port city of Odesa in the early hours today, officials said.
City authorities said 10 people were wounded in Kyiv, with mayor Vitali Klitschko adding that apart from apartment and inhabited buildings, debris also fell on warehouse facilities and near a petrol station, now a frequent target of attacks.
Explosions were heard in Kyiv, a Reuters witness said.
A child was among the three injured as Russia hit a 19-storey apartment building in Odesa, authorities there said on Telegram.
Russian general killed in drone attack days after being lauded for 'victory'
03:52 , Arpan Rai
Ukrainian drone forces killed a Russian general in eastern Ukraine, a little over two weeks after he received a Hero of Russia award for his wartime service, Ukrainian drone commander Robert Brovdi said.
Major General Anton Grunis had won praise from president Vladimir Putin earlier this year after helping capture Kostiantynivka, territory disputed by Kyiv and independent military analysts.
Brovdi, who commands Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, said Grunis had been killed in a nighttime strike in the Donetsk region.
"General Grunis was eliminated on 12 September," Brovdi wrote in a Telegram post on Wednesday.
The Independent could not independently verify Brovdi's assertions.
Russian commander Apti Alaudinov, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, said Grunis had died, without giving further details.
Ukraine tests new anti-drone weapon during latest barrage of Russian attacks
03:00 , Maira Butt
Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that Ukraine successfully tested a new domestically developed weapon to intercept Iranian-designed Shahed drones.
Ukrainian forces downed 187 airborne targets overnight, with Ukraine's president reporting a 93 per cent interception rate for Russian drones.
Zelensky stated that the new weapon destroyed a target, but noted that further technical refinements are required before full deployment.
Tensions widened as Denmark accused a Russian warship of firing flares within metres of a Danish military helicopter without prior warning.
Russia rejected the accusations, claiming Danish military helicopters conducted dangerous manoeuvres in the Baltic Sea and issuing a formal note to Copenhagen.
Ukrainian drone commander says his forces killed decorated Russian general
02:00 , Maira Butt
Ukrainian drone forces killed a Russian general in eastern Ukraine on Saturday, a little over two weeks after he received a Hero of Russia award for his wartime service, Ukrainian drone commander Robert Brovdi said.
Major General Anton Grunis had won praise from President Vladimir Putin earlier this year after helping capture Kostiantynivka, territory disputed by Kyiv and independent military analysts.
Brovdi, who commands Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, said Grunis had been killed in a nighttime strike in the Donetsk region.
"General Grunis was eliminated on September 12," Brovdi wrote in a Telegram post on Wednesday, adding that the general was the seventh Russian The Independent could not independently verify Brovdi's assertions.
Russian commander Apti Alaudinov, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, said Grunis had died, without giving further details.
A personal account of daily life in Kyiv amid intensified Russian attacks, in photos
01:00 , Maira Butt
This was my fourth trip to Ukraine as a photojournalist. During my previous visit, I found confidence and hope that the war might soon end. This time, I saw greater exhaustion, resignation and little hope of an immediate end to the fighting.
I spent a month in Kyiv and the surrounding areas as Russian drone and missile attacks on the capital intensified. Air raid alerts sounded day and night, and thousands of residents slept in metro stations when major attacks were expected. Firefighters and emergency workers responded repeatedly to strikes across the city.
Read the full story below
A personal account of daily life in Kyiv amid intensified Russian attacks, in photos
Watch: Canada seeks 'unique alliance' with EU amid trade tensions with US
Thursday 17 September 2026 00:01 , Maira Butt
Five killed in Russian drone attack on bus and train in southern Ukraine
Wednesday 16 September 2026 23:14 , Alex Croft
Russian drones struck a passenger bus and a train in southern Ukraine on Wednesday, killing five people, Ukrainian officials said.
Moscow has been ramping up its strikes on transport links and infrastructure.
A photo posted on Telegram by a regional governor showed a white vehicle with blown-out windows and a line of what appeared to be blood streaming down its side. Reuters has not verified the image.
"There is no military logic to this, just another act of brutality," Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media, urging the US and Europe to toughen sanctions against Russia.
Moscow and Ukraine have traded strikes in recent months on logistics and other economic targets, aimed at hampering each other's war effort and damaging morale.
With Ukraine's airspace closed since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, buses and trains have become a vital transport link for Ukrainians and businesses.
The drone attack on the passenger bus near the frontline city of Nikopol killed four men and a woman early on Wednesday, police said.
Seven people were wounded in the attack, said the governor of the surrounding Dnipropetrovsk region, Oleksandr Hanzha, who posted the photo.
This morning, the Russians struck a regular intercity minibus near Nikopol with an FPV drone. As of now, five people have been reported killed, and seven others are receiving medical care. No military rationale, just another atrocity. My condolences to the families and loved… pic.twitter.com/QFetF4Ww0s
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 16, 2026
In pictures: Aftermath of a Russian drone strike in Kyiv
Wednesday 16 September 2026 23:00 , Maira Butt
Russia's Syzran and Saratov oil refineries on hold after drone attacks, sources say
Wednesday 16 September 2026 22:00 , Maira Butt
Russia's Rosneft-owned ROSN.MM oil refineries in the Volga river cities of Syzran and Saratov have stopped processing following Ukrainian drone attacks this month, three industry sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
They said the Syzran plant was halted on Tuesday, while Saratov suspended operations last Friday.
Russia and Ukraine continued attacks on each other's energy infrastructure this week despite an announcement by President Donald Trump that they had agreed to stop.
Rosneft did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Analysis: Russia will celebrate almost killing Boris Johnson – this is Putin’s plan for chaos
Wednesday 16 September 2026 21:30 , Maira Butt
If blowing up a petrol station and railway carriage close to a train carrying two former European prime ministers and the man who used to run America's war in Afghanistan, the CIA – and rewrote US military doctrine – was an accident, it isn’t one the Russians are admitting to in the Kremlin.
Boris Johnson, Carl Bilt – once Sweden’s PM – and general David Petraeus, the “warrior priest” of America’s War on Terror, are tiptop scalps for Vladimir Putin’s collection and his external spy agency, the FSB, will get kudos for nearly taking them.
Johnson, especially, is a national hero in Ukraine. His record in Britain, where he enhanced Russia’s strategic standing by helping take the UK out of Europe, doesn’t worry frontline soldiers in a country that is grateful for his stentorian support from the early days of the 2022 full-scale Russian invasion.
Russia will celebrate almost killing Boris Johnson – this is Putin’s plan for chaos
What is 'spoofing'? Experts explain how Russia could be jamming Ukrainian drones to veer off course
Wednesday 16 September 2026 20:45 , Maira Butt
As Russia and Ukraine increase their dependence on drones, more seem to be veering off course into neighbouring airspace causing alarm and concern.
Experts told The Independent that stray Ukrainian aircraft can be symptomatic of something more sinister – Russia hijacking weapons systems to direct Ukrainian aircraft into Europe.
“Ukraine uses core UAVs to basically overload Russian defence,” explained Mykola Bielieskov, an analyst based in Ukraine. These “saturation attacks”, whereby a swarm of the unmanned aircraft are sent at a single location all at once, are a common method used in drone warfare. “But not all of the UAVs are protected in the same way.”
Because decoy drones are used to fool air defences, they can be more susceptible to what is known as “spoofing”. Russia has been known to use the technique to jam radio signals and force the aircraft to veer off course and into the Baltic states.
Spoofing involves transmitting fake signals that imitate a real GPS satellite signal, to mislead a phone, ship or aircraft into thinking it is in a different place.
The tactic has been acknowledged by the victims of the stray drones, with Lithuanian foreign minister Kęstutis Budrys accusing Russia in May of “deliberately” redirecting Ukrainian drones into Baltic airspace with electronic interference.
Watch: The woman making Ukraine safe from landmines amid a brutal war
Wednesday 16 September 2026 20:15 , Maira Butt
EU opens door for Canada to become its first associate member after clashes with Trump
Wednesday 16 September 2026 19:45 , Maira Butt
The EU has opened the door for Canada to become its first “associate member”, as Ottawa’s relationship with Washington continues to deteriorate.
Ties between traditional allies Canada and the United States have strained under Donald Trump, after the president threatened to make the country the 51st American state and imposed hefty tariffs on Canadian goods.
Without mentioning Trump, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen highlighted the benefits of closer ties with Canada in her annual State of the European Union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg Wednesday.
EU opens door for Canada to become its first associate member after Trump clashes
Ukraine proposes record defence spending next year as war costs soar
Wednesday 16 September 2026 19:15 , Maira Butt
Ukraine is proposing record defence spending for 2027 as the cost of the war with Russia, now in its fifth year, rises officials said on Wednesday.
Defence spending is expected to hit 4.89 trillion hryvnias ($110 billion) in 2027, 12 per cent higher than this year. It accounted for about two-thirds of the total spending in a draft 2027 budget of 7.27 trillion hryvnias presented to parliament on Wednesday.
Budget revenues are forecast at 5.6 trillion hryvnias.
"This is the sixth budget of the full-scale war, and it's again bigger than the previous one. During these years, the war has become more expensive," said Roksolana Pidlasa, head of the parliamentary budget committee told lawmakers.
"At the same time, state revenues ... are not growing at the same pace as spending is increasing."
What Putin’s war in Ukraine means for Russian elections this week
Wednesday 16 September 2026 18:45 , Maira Butt
Russia is holding its first parliamentary elections this week since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.
They come amid plummeting approval ratings for Vladimir Putin, mounting casualties on the frontline and minimal territorial gains in the grinding war.
The country’s electoral system is tightly controlled and Putin’s United Russia party is expected to retain its majority in the State Duma, which comprises 450 members. It currently has 310 seats and needs to win at least 300 in order to retain its supermajority.
What Putin’s war in Ukraine means for Russian elections this week
Drone shot down over Nato member Lithuania appears Russian, say sources
Wednesday 16 September 2026 18:15 , Maira Butt
A drone shot down by an Italian Nato fighter jet in Lithuanian airspace yesterday “most probably” came from Russia, according to Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto.
Authorities in Lithuania, a Nato and European Union member, said on Tuesday they were still investigating the origin of the debris.
A Ukrainian military source said the debris in the images appeared to be from a Geran-2, a long-range attack drone widely used by Russia.
If confirmed, it would be the first known instance of a Russian military drone entering Lithuania since last summer, when two Russian drones accidentally crashed in the country.
The drone entered Lithuanian airspace from Belarus, a Russian ally.
Lithuania’s president said on Wednesday that the drone was likely aimed at Ukraine and “not a conscious action against Lithuania” and “deviated off course”.
Belarus frees 25 prisoners in exchange for US lifting some sanctions
Wednesday 16 September 2026 17:45 , Maira Butt
Belarusian authorities have agreed to release 25 prisoners following a deal that sees the United States remove sanctions against two Belarusian firms, according to Washington’s special envoy.
John Coale, President Donald Trump's special envoy for Belarus, announced the agreement on Wednesday after conferring in Minsk with the country's authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has pressed for all remaining American sanctions to be lifted.
Belarus frees 25 prisoners in exchange for US lifting some sanctions
Kim Jong Un says he will continue to back Putin’s ‘sacred war’ on Ukraine
Wednesday 16 September 2026 17:15 , Maira Butt
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to “expand and deepen” his cooperation with Russia and support for what he called Vladimir Putin’s “sacred war”, presumed to be a reference to the invasion of Ukraine.
The North Korean leader was replying to a congratulatory message sent by the Russian president on the hermit kingdom’s 78th founding anniversary.
North Korea remains the only third party to involve its ground troops directly in the Russia-Ukraine war, sending thousands of soldiers who were largely deployed to help Putin push back a Ukrainian counter-offensive in Russia’s Kursk region.
Kim Jong Un says he will continue to back Putin’s ‘sacred war’ on Ukraine
