Ukrainian drones penetrated deep into Russian territory on 24 August, damaging the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant and igniting a large fire at Novatek PJSC’s fuel export terminal in Ust-Luga, Russian officials said. The Kursk facility, about 60 km from the border with Ukraine, reported that shrapnel from a downed drone hit an auxiliary transformer shortly after midnight, forcing reactor No. 3 to halve output. The International Atomic Energy Agency said radiation levels remained normal and no injuries were recorded. In the Leningrad region, Governor Alexander Drozdenko said debris from at least ten intercepted drones sparked a blaze at the Baltic-Sea terminal, one of Russia’s key outlets for processed gas condensate and oil products. Flights at several regional airports were briefly suspended, and emergency crews worked for hours to contain the fire; Novatek reported no casualties. Russia’s defence ministry claimed its air defences shot down roughly 95 Ukrainian drones across more than a dozen regions on the day Ukraine marked its independence from the Soviet Union. Separately, a blaze at the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in the Rostov region has burned for four to five consecutive days following earlier drone strikes, underscoring Kyiv’s effort to disrupt Russian energy infrastructure far from the front line.