Three killed in Russia as Ukraine takes aim at Putin’s oil and military sites

Kyiv blasted Russia with a barrage of drone strikes overnight, killing at least three people in retaliation for one of Moscow’s deadliest attacks of the more than three-year-old war.

Drone storage sites and oil refineries bankrolling Russian strongman Vladimir Putin’s invasion into Ukraine were targeted, Ukrainian military officials said.

Among the casualties was a guard at an industrial facility near the Ukrainian border. Further from the frontline, a woman died in a drone strike and an elderly man was crushed by drone debris that fell on his house, according to field reports.

The Kyiv offensive also sparked a massive fire at the Novokuybyshevsk oil refinery, leading to significant damage to the facility. A thick orange ball of flames and plumes of smoke resembling that of a nuclear explosion could be seen, Russian media reported.

Meanwhile, two Ukrainians were killed Saturday morning in Kherson, north of Crimea, according to the head of the Regional Military Administration.

Another 11 civilians were wounded in an overnight attack on Kharkiv, Ukrainian’s second largest city, near the Russian border, where a drone slammed a large residential building.

Ukraine’s retaliatory strikes came after a day of mourning in the capital following one of the deadliest assaults of the conflict – where 31 were killed in Kyiv — including five children — and 150 were wounded.

“It’s impossible to justify what Russia is doing,” Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky said on social media.

“There was no military purpose at all,” he added about Thursday’s devastating assault that targeted residential buildings.

The relentless Russian attacks continued this week after President Trump gave Putin an Aug. 8 deadline to agree to a cease-fire deal aimed at ending the escalating war.

Trump said special envoy Steve Witkoff is headed to Russia, to push Putin to end the war.

But some talks had already taken place earlier this week with the Kremlin and “no progress” had been made, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Trump is threatening new economic sanctions against the Kremlin if progress stalls, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) ready to move on a bill introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and cosponsored by more than 80 senators.

“Only sanctions will convince Moscow to genuinely work for peace,” Zelensky said in a video on X.

In the wake of the fast-approaching Friday deadline, Putin has proposed a new negotiation framework, the Kyiv Independent reported.

The Russian tyrant floated the creation of three working groups toward peace talks — but insisted the format would remain behind closed doors.

“It was agreed that we could hold these negotiations without cameras, without any political nonsense — in a calm manner and with a focus on finding compromises,” Putin said.

With Post wires