Burnham likens Ukraine fight to British stand against Nazis

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a presidential decree that will allow the Russian state to take control of critically important infrastructure facilities if they are deemed to be inadequately protected against Ukrainian attacks.

Reuters reports that under the decree, the state can take control of physical and financial assets, as well as ownership rights, if operators fail to protect critical facilities or are too slow to repair damage after an attack.

Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on oil refineries and warehouses.

Overnight, Ukraine targeted four of Ozon’s logistics hubs, Russia’s second-largest online retailer said.

Over the past few weeks Ukraine also targeted warehouses belonging to the country’s largest online marketplace, Wildberries. 

While Kyiv argues that the retailer helps supply Russia’s military, Moscow maintains that it serves only civilian purposes.

Putin last week ordered the government to rebuild commercial warehouses damaged or destroyed in Ukrainian attacks in recent weeks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says 10 Ukrainian prisoners of war, previously listed as missing in action, have been released in a prisoner exchange.

Zelenskyy says the soldiers returned via Belarus. The Belarusian state news agency BELTA separately reported the swap, which also saw 10 people returned to Russia.

According to Kyiv, the Ukrainians fought in Donetsk and were officially considered missing.

Prisoner swaps remain among the few areas of cooperation between Ukraine and Russia, with thousands of captives exchanged since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Ukraine was “Europe’s protector, not a drain on our security but the front line in keeping Europe safe.”

Speaking in Kyiv alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Council President Antonio Costa, Burnham compared Ukraine’s resistance to Russia to the UK’s fight against Nazi Germany.

“My nation kept the flame of European freedom alive in the 20th century, you hold that flame in the 21st.”

Burnham, making his first visit to the Ukrainian capital as prime minister, was due to announce British support to help Kyiv boost its domestic production of long-range missiles, a move the Kremlin has criticized while also warning the UK of “consequences” for supplying drones to Kyiv.

“Despite Russia’s outrageous threats to my country, we will continue our support for Ukraine’s defence,” Burnham said.

President of the European Council Antonio Costa has said the European Union will continue supporting Ukraine for as long as necessary, “during the war, in future peace negotiations and in reconstruction.”

Speaking in Kyiv at a ceremony marking the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, Costa has said Ukraine’s future in the European Union is the strongest guarantee of long-term security and democratic stability.

He has said Ukraine’s accession process will be challenging but should not be blocked by political hesitation.

Costa has said Russia has failed to achieve its objectives after more than four years of full-scale war, despite the heavy human and economic costs.

Costa has added the EU wants to see a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

“We support all serious initiatives aimed at achieving peace in Ukraine. But ultimately, it is Ukraine – and only Ukraine – that must define the terms of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace,” he said.

“That peace must affirm Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. And it must guarantee Ukraine’s long-term security and its ability to defend itself,” Costa added.

Russia accused the UK of being a participant in the war on Ukraine’s side.

The accusation comes as UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham reportedly plans to provide Ukraine with plans to build its own SCALP long-range cruise missiles, capable of hitting targets deep into Russia.

“Britain is involved in this war on the side of the Kyiv regime. Britain methodically and regularly adds fuel to ​the fire and methodically and regularly hatches schemes to prevent even the slightest progress in the peaceful settlement process,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

He added Russia would target and “destroy” facilities producing the missiles in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his country wants peace, but will not surrender territory to Russia to end the war.

“Ukraine absolutely wants peace, but it’s not ready to simply surrender,” Zelenskyy said.

Speaking during Ukraine’s Independence Day celebrations, Zelenskyy rejected Russian demands that Ukraine give up the remaining parts of the Donbas region under its control.

“We will not let them [Russians] seize the initiative, deceive Europe ‌and ​the entire world into thinking that we simply need to give up Donbas and everything will be over soon,” he said.

Paying tribute to the ​people and soldiers defending Ukraine, Zelenskyy also urged allies to give it “everything” needed to stop the war.

Russia launched a Soyuz rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the country’s north on Monday, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

In a statement, the ministry said the rocket was carrying a spacecraft “in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defense.”

The cosmodrome is known for launches that place low-Earth-orbit Rassvet satellites into space, although it was not immediately clear whether this mission was intended for that purpose.

Rassvet is Russia’s alternative to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian intelligence officials said Russia plans to have 300 of these satellites in orbit by 2027.

Major General Vadym Skibitsky told RBC-Ukraine: “They have already begun launching it much faster than originally planned.”

SpaceX currently has more than 10,000 satellites in orbit. Starlink is banned in Russia, and the use of its equipment can result in fines.

Ukrainian forces use Starlink to communicate on the battlefield.

The European Commission has approved an additional  €6.1 billion ($7.12 billion) in financial aid for Ukraine to procure new defense systems.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the money is for “air and missile defense systems, missiles, ammunition and radars that Ukraine urgently needs.”

The EU said the latest aid package is in addition to €16 billion in previously approved procurement plans, of which €8.35 billion has already been disbursed.

Von der Leyen said Europe would stand with Ukraine, “as long as it takes.”

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and European Council President Antonio Costa have arrived in Kyiv.

Burnham is on his first international visit since becoming prime minister.

He was welcomed by Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, at the train station.

Burnham and Costa will meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later and attend Ukraine’s Independence Day celebrations.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden, Moldova’s President Maia Sandu and Estonia’s President Alar Karis, along with Sybiha, were also in the Kyiv to mark the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence.

Russia’s Defence Ministry has said its forces struck a tanker carrying fuel and lubricants for Ukrainian troops at the port of Pivdennyi near the southern city of Odesa.

The ministry said the attack also hit port infrastructure used to unload and store military cargo.

There was no immediate independent confirmation of the Russian claims.

Ukraine has struck warehouses belonging to Russian e-commerce giant Ozon on three consecutive days, with the company reporting another logistics center on fire.

The attacks mark an expansion of Kyiv’s campaign against Russian logistics infrastructure after weeks of strikes on Wildberries, the country’s largest online retailer.

Kyiv has accused Wildberries of supplying components to the Russian military.

Ozon said a “major fire” broke out at one of its logistics centers in the southern Krasnodar region following a drone attack.

“All systems operated as designed, and we promptly evacuated staff. Preliminarily, there are no casualties,” the company said on Telegram.

On Sunday, Ozon said a drone attack caused a fire at its logistics hub in the central Orenburg region, forcing the warehouse to suspend operations.

That came a day after another Ozon center was hit in neighboring Samara, where the company said an unspecified number of employees were wounded.

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In recent weeks and months, Russia has intensified its airstrikes on Ukraine, regularly firing dozens of ballistic missiles and drones, often at civilian targets.

To defend itself, Ukraine relies on advanced, foreign-made weapons systems — most importantly, US Patriot missiles.

The US war with Iran has depleted its own stockpiles, and Washington has resisted providing Kyiv with large numbers of missiles, leaving Ukraine more exposed to Russian bombs.

Even before the war with Iran, US support for Ukraine had wavered after Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025.

Trump, who had an angry public spat with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, has sought to mend ties with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and ordered a pause of US military aid to Kyiv.

Over the weekend, Zelenskyy revealed that deliveries of Patriot interceptors had dropped by 50% since 2023.

“Over the entire year of 2023, Ukraine received 675 missiles, and over all of 2025 — 364, even though Russian missile strikes have increased,” he said. “For 2026, as currently projected, it is 264.”

Falling debris from a Ukrainian drone attack landed on a childcare facility in Krasnodar, southern Russia, killing two children, the regional governor said early on Monday.

Seven other children and two adults were wounded in the attack, Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram. He added that a fire started at a warehouse after a drone fell on it.

Ozon, a Russian e-commerce company, said there was a “major fire” at one of its logistics centers in Krasnodar as a result of a drone attack.

Another Ozon logistics complex in Dagestan was also hit, sparking a massive fire, Ukrainian monitor Exilenova+ reported. If confirmed, it would be the third Ozon facility to be struck on Monday.

Ukraine has also hit warehouses belonging to Russia’s other major e-commerce website, Wildberries, in recent weeks.

While Kyiv has stepped up its attacks on Russian oil and gas infrastructure, it has also struck commercial hubs and warehouses, which are easier targets and less heavily defended than military or energy sites. The attacks have inflicted losses worth billions of dollars.

At least three people were killed after a Russian attack on the outskirts of Kharkiv, the local governor said on Telegram.

Oleh Syniehuhov said eight people were rescued by the emergency services, which were still working to identify other potential casualties.

Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second-largest city, and lies around 30 kilometers (about 18 miles) from the border with Russia.