Ukraine launched a broad drone offensive into Russian territory on 24 Aug., damaging a transformer at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant and forcing reactor No. 3 to halve its output, Russian officials said. The plant’s operator reported no casualties and confirmed radiation levels remained within normal ranges. The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was monitoring the situation and reiterated that all nuclear facilities must be protected at all times. Several hours later, debris from roughly 10 downed drones ignited a fire at Novatek PJSC’s fuel export terminal in the Baltic port of Ust-Luga, according to Leningrad region governor Alexander Drozdenko. Video circulating on Russian social media showed a fireball and thick black smoke rising from the condensate-processing complex, a key hub for naphtha and jet-fuel shipments. Emergency crews contained the blaze, and no injuries were reported. Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences intercepted at least 95 Ukrainian drones across more than a dozen regions overnight. The strikes coincided with Ukraine’s 34th Independence Day and extend a campaign that has already disabled parts of Russia’s oil infrastructure; a blaze at the 5 million-tonne-a-year Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Rostov has been burning for four days. Kyiv has framed the cross-border attacks as retaliation for continuing Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities, while Moscow called the Kursk incident “a threat to nuclear safety.” Diplomatic efforts to halt the 3½-year-old war remain stalled.