EU approves Ukraine and Moldova accession talks as Russia escalates drone strikes
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10 months · 11 summary articles
Russia launched 118 drones at Ukraine overnight, killing at least one civilian in a maritime terminal attack, as the European Union voted late Friday to open the first cluster of accession negotiations with Kyiv and Chisinau on Monday. Ukrainian forces shot down or jammed 110 of the unmanned aerial vehicles, but the assault continued into Saturday morning, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service . Russian authorities separately reported one death in the southern port city of Novorossiysk after a Ukrainian strike on a maritime terminal .
The EU’s 27 member states approved the opening of accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova in a late-night vote, marking the first formal negotiating cluster since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 . Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the move “of important political significance,” signaling Kyiv’s progress toward eventual EU membership despite the ongoing war . The negotiations are scheduled to begin Monday in Luxembourg, with energy, transport, and market policies expected to dominate the first cluster.
Moscow, meanwhile, escalated its aerial campaign. Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Ukrainian drones targeted oil infrastructure in the Volgograd region, igniting fires at a refinery . Kyiv denied responsibility for the Volgograd blaze but confirmed strikes on Russian oil facilities, including a drone attack on a terminal in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk that killed one worker . The Ukrainian military also claimed to have turned a key bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland into a “highway of death” through repeated drone strikes, disrupting Moscow’s logistical lifeline to the occupied peninsula .
Civilian casualties reached a post-2022 high in May, the United Nations reported, with intensified Russian strikes on urban centres driving the toll . NATO scrambled fighters over Lithuania on Friday after Russian incursions near the alliance’s eastern flank, underscoring the war’s spillover risks .
Amid the fighting, Ukraine faces a critical shortage of US-made Patriot air-defence interceptors, with Kyiv urgently requesting replacements as Russia deploys ballistic missiles at an accelerating rate . The Pentagon has not confirmed additional deliveries, raising concerns about Kyiv’s ability to protect its cities and energy grid.
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