Huge mushroom cloud after Ukraine strikes oil refinery 1500km inside Russia

Ukraine: The Latest

The episode covers significant escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war, including deep-strike Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refinerie

Key takeaways

• Ukraine successfully struck two oil refineries in Russia, including one in Perm, 1-500km from the border.
• The UK government announced a reduction in monthly support for the 'Homes for Ukraine' scheme from £350 to £100.

Main topics

• Russian oil refinery strikes
• UN General Assembly diplomacy

Notable quotes

Russia does not want peace.

Conclusion

The episode provides a comprehensive look at the intersection of battl

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:03) The Telegraph. In 2018, a billionaire diamond tycoon accused of one of the world's biggest ever bank frauds went missing. This is the story of the rise and fall of Nirav Modi. And of how we caught him. He was in the news all the time. Where is Nirav Modi? Why can we not find him? He's one of the most sought-after criminals in India. You owe a lot of people a lot of money, Mr Modi. Who would very much like to know where you are. Sorry, no comment. The Diamond King. A new podcast from The Telegraph. Speaker 5 (0:44) I'm Dom Nichols and this is Ukraine The Latest. Today, as the UN General Assembly in New York winds down, but not before UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was all smiles and handshakes for Russia's foreign minister, I'm sure he took the time to mention a few things about his boss's sick war, although actually, no, I'm not. Ukraine lets Donald Trump know quite how seriously they take his warnings these days by attacking at least two more oil refineries inside Russia. And then after another cosy meeting with Sergei Lavrov, this time with Marco Rubio, the Kremlin shows how seriously it is pursuing peace by dropping high explosives on a medical centre, farm workers and a 14-year-old boy. And Britain quietly announces it is cutting the money used to support Ukrainian families that have fled the bloodshed seeking shelter in the United Kingdom. Plus later, a dispatch from Francis' recent trip to Germany where he toured the Ukraine museum in Berlin. Speaker 1 (1:39) Bravery takes you through the most unimaginable hardships to finally reward you with victory. Speaker 6 (1:48) Russia does not want peace. Speaker 1 (1:51) First of all, we defend with our help for Ukraine also our freedom and our European values. If I'm president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours. Russia cannot win this war. Speaker 8 (2:06) We cannot, as Europeans, let Russia win in Ukraine. Speaker 5 (2:28) Now, Ukraine hit two oil refineries in Russia last night, at least two, one in Perm and one in Novoshaktiysk. The latter is just over the border from Luhansk Oblast, but Perm is about 1,500 kilometres east of Ukraine. That produced quite a spectacular mushroom cloud. Ukrainian MOD said they also hit the Iskra plant defense enterprise in Ulyanovsk. That's only a thousand kilometers inside Russia. And they say the occupiers now have two fewer radar stations in the Rostov region. Correct use of the word fewer there. Mr. Hexeth. Please take note. Now, Russia's defence ministry claimed air defences intercepted 40 Ukrainian drones across several regions, including occupied Crimea. The governor of Russia's Rostov region, Yuri Slusha, said falling debris had damaged administrative buildings at an oil depot without causing fire or casualties. However, fires were reported at an oil depot in Krasnodar Krai, about 100 kilometres east of the Kerch Bridge. Russian news agency TASS later confirmed a facility fire in Krasnodar-Kraisdinsky district had also been caused by falling drone debris. Ukraine has not commented on any of the attacks. Into Ukraine and Russian attacks killed 10 people and injured 61 across the whole country over the past day. This comes from local authorities speaking this morning. Most of the dead were in the Kharkiv region. Three Russian S-8000 Bandarol cruise missiles targeted a farm, which included a vegetable storage barn where workers were sorting produce. One missile hit the building, killing six workers. 267 of 295 drones were shot down, which may include this Gerbera drone being hit by a Ukrainian minigun mounted on the side of a helicopter. This is undated footage, so we're not sure if it's from the attacks yesterday. However, of those that did get through to hit 16 locations in Ukraine, one landed on a multi-storey residential building in Kyiv's Pachersky district that's in the centre of the capital, killing a 14-year-old boy. At least 20 other people were injured in that strike, according to city authorities. Yana, a woman who lives in the residential block that was hit, told the Kyiv Independent, there was no alarm, just a muffled explosion. We try to put it out of our minds and stay composed, but lately our morale has taken a hit. Another resident said, the attacks are non-stop right now. We see the missiles flying, we see the Shaheds flying, but they've never hit us. And now this tragedy has happened. It hit a place we never expected it to hit. President Zelensky called the attack an absolutely savage and sickening strike, devoid of any military logic. Russian attacks were also reported in Kiev's Solomiansky and Podilsky districts, that's in the cities west and northwest. One person was killed in Odessa in a double-tap strike on a postal facility, and in Zaporizhia, a medical clinic was hit while people were inside. Sumy and Mykolaiv regions were also hit. That comes as NATO says it's increasing intelligence sharing among its allies following a series of suspected Russian sabotage incidents and hybrid operations. Supreme Allied Commander of Europe, General Alexis Grinkovic, announced this to Reuters in an interview. He said the alliance possesses the necessary tools to manage the escalating risks. Now, as the UN General Assembly winds down, President Zelensky announced a very important agreement yesterday for a new package of Patriot air defence interceptors. Speaking to representatives of the Ukrainian community in the United States during the international gathering, he refrained from naming the supplying nation, the delivery schedule or the missile quantity. But we were told the deal addresses critical air defence shortages, particularly interceptors capable of stopping ballistic missiles. OK, our last couple from me. The Guardian are reporting this morning that the British government has act 70 % of the funding for the Homes for Ukraine scheme that will take place from January the 1st next year. Launched after the start of the full-scale invasion, this scheme supports 181,000 Ukrainians living in the UK. Their sponsors receive a tax-free thank-you payment from the government of £350 a month per household. That is going down to £100 per month from January next year. That's giving a rough saving of about 10 million quid a year. It's absolutely peanuts in government terms. That was announced on the same day as chief execs from sensitive defence and critical national infrastructure sectors in Britain are to be given sensitive closed-door government briefings on the threat posed by Russia, according to the Cabinet Office. The meeting is said to be chaired by Security Minister Dan Jarvis and Armed Forces Minister Louise Sander-Jones. Mr Jarvis said strong defences are built on a clear understanding of the threat. Ms Sander-Jones said Russia is actively seeking to disrupt the organisations that form the bedrock of our national security. By bringing government and defence industry leaders together, we can deepen our shared understanding of the threat and strengthen our collective resilience. Protecting our defence sector, she said, is essential to helping keep Britain secure. But sure, £10 million saving is worth it, I'm sure. Speaker 5 (7:32) Possibly slightly incoherent language there from the British government, British policy changing. But anyway, what else have you seen on the diplomatic front, Natalie? Speaker 7 (7:39) Well, Dom, if you think the UK is being incoherent, wait until I get to the French item on my list. But before that, the United States has proposed that the UAE host trilateral meetings with Ukraine and Russia to discuss the ending of the war. Zelensky spoke to reporters in a briefing via WhatsApp. Speaker 4 (7:58) Regarding the trilateral meeting, the American side has proposed to prepare it and to hold a meeting at a technical level in a three-way format. We are awaiting a proposal from the United States regarding the date, and the United States has suggested the Emirates as a possible location. Speaker 7 (8:15) And he actually had some updates on the Patriot missiles licenses that you mentioned, Dom. Speaker 1 (8:21) At our Speaker 4 (8:22) last meeting, President Trump confirmed that yes, I had taken the final decisions and that Ukraine would receive licenses to manufacture Patriot missiles. Speaker 7 (8:34) And let's go now to Central Europe and to the tensions between Ukraine and Hungary. So we mentioned earlier this week that Hungary had refused to participate in Ukraine's new diplomatic initiative in Central Europe called the Carpathian Eight, which is quite a cool name, I should say. But you may remember that Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar rather catty tweet condemning Ukraine for supposedly claiming that a sovereign country is a member of an international cooperation without prior consultation or... consent, calling it completely unacceptable. Instead of attending himself, Budapest sent a deputy ambassador, so quite low in the pecking order. Not exactly ringing endorsement of this new grouping. Well, Sergei Sidorenko, the editor of the European Pravda, has done a lengthy analysis on this. He reports that during preparations for the C8 summit in western Ukraine, Budapest attempted to humiliate Kiev and provoke a reaction. Unfortunately, Sergei says, these events reflect Hungary's new policy. He says that over the summer, Magyar had rejected numerous offers to meet with Zelensky and lower level visits to Budapest by Ukrainian officials were buffed as well. Meanwhile, Hungary has consistently vetoed Ukraine's path to EU membership, a policy that started under Magyar's predecessor, Putin ally Viktor Orban. As Sergei explains, it's unclear exactly why. is being obstructive about this new alliance and why he hasn't shifted more decisively away from Orban's stance on Ukraine and Russia. Hungarian public opinion is not especially supportive of Ukraine, which could go some way in explaining this trend. But the upshot is that Madja might not be as different from Orban's regime as many had hoped, something that Francis had hinted at earlier in the year, at least on the issue of Ukraine. Speaker 5 (10:28) Strong statement. Speaker 7 (10:30) But let's go to Brussels now. You will remember the deadlock over the latest sanctions package from the EU earlier this week. France, Slovakia and Luxembourg insisted that two Russian oligarchs be dropped from the sanctions list. And Latvia in particular initially refused to agree on dropping these two oligarchs before abstaining. Eventually, the two oligarchs were indeed dropped from the list and that list will be voted on again at the beginning of October before coming into force. France cited cryptic national security issues. You can put whatever you want behind that. When pushing for the Russian Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov, who'd been sanctioned since 2022, to be dropped from the list. France was reportedly pressured by Azerbaijan, who is holding two French citizens. Usmanov has strong ties with the country and its president, Ilham Aliyev, had been lobbying for Usmanov to be desanctioned for a long time. Azerbaijan has also been angry at France for its support to Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh. As a result of Usmanov's desanctioning, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has pardoned Martin Ryan, one of the two French citizens being held. Martin Ryan, who was freed, ran a food import business in Azerbaijan and was arrested in December 2023 and sentenced to 10 years on espionage charges, amongst others. Paris rejected the accusations last July. So France has effectively chosen its national interest over Ukraine's. or over Europe's, it sets a dangerous precedent whose ripple effect can already be felt. Russia took the opportunity to ask for all Russian businessmen to be taken off sanction lists. Separately, it also blurs Macron's message, both domestically and on the world stage, while he has been overtly trying to convey the escalating threat from Russia, both in gathering the presidential candidates last week or in his speech to the UN earlier this week. Speaker 8 (12:39) Ultimately, the question posed to us in a very simple way is whether we want to live in this state of nature, with a kind of return to the law of the jungle, or in a civilized international society. Our duty, more than ever, is to stand firmly alongside the United Nations, to decide together precisely on the common interest. That is to say, on the side of those who want to freely choose their destiny, their alliances, their development model, their future. On the side of those who refuse to have their sovereignty confiscated by unjust force or by fear. And on the side of hope. Speaker 7 (13:17) The second French national that is being held in Azerbaijan has not been freed. It is Anas Deraz, who is being imprisoned on bribery charges. He was condemned to 12 years in prison in 2025 for accepting a bribe from a Russian billionaire, originally from Azerbaijan, Farhad Ahmedov. The case also cites another Frenchman, Alexandre Benalla, who was part of Macron's security detail and very close to the president. In 2019, a scandal reported in the French media detailed how Haubinalla drew up security contracts with two Russian oligarchs, totalling 2.2 million euros, including the Azerbaijani billionaire Ahmedov and another Uzbek Russian billionaire, though not the one who was disanxioned. Speaker 5 (14:01) Sounds a bit rum or whatever you drink in France. Speaker 7 (14:08) Wine, I suppose. Speaker 5 (14:09) Sounds a bit wine. Sounds Speaker 7 (14:10) a bit wine. Red wine or white wine? Speaker 5 (14:12) Both right now. Speaker 7 (14:14) So we've also reported throughout this