Ukraine-Russia War: 2026-08-12

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia used North Korean ballistic missiles in strikes on Zaporizhzhia that killed seven people and injured at least 24, the BBC reported. All seven dead were employees of the Zaporizhstal metallurgical plant, which halted operations. Zelensky offered no public evidence for the North Korea claim. Ukrainian officials said Russia also launched about 120 drones overnight but, for the first time, did not disclose missile launch or intercept numbers.

Explosions and air defence activity were reported overnight across Sevastopol, Simferopol, Yalta, Bakhchysarai and Saky, according to the Crimean Wind monitoring channel cited by NV Ukraine. Power outages followed in Sevastopol, Simferopol, Yevpatoriya, Saky and parts of Bakhchysarai district. Occupation governor Mikhail Razvozhaev claimed 21 drones were shot down and that debris sparked several fires.

A large overnight drone attack struck Novorossiysk in Russia's Krasnodar Krai on Aug. 12, with local monitoring channels reporting damage around a grain elevator at the port, according to NV Ukraine. NASA FIRMS satellite data detected a fire at the port. Mayor Andrei Kravchenko said falling drone debris damaged six residential buildings, a commercial facility and a construction site, and described a combined aerial drone and unmanned surface vessel assault.

Romanian Naval Forces EOD divers carried out controlled detonations of two Gerbera-type UAVs found drifting in Romania's Black Sea exclusive economic zone, about 167 km east of Constanta near the Neptun Deep offshore gas project, acting Defence Minister Radu Miruta said on Aug. 11. A civilian vessel working near the platform spotted the drones; Ukraine confirmed they were not Ukrainian, Miruta said. Reuters and Romanian defence officials reported the systems as Russian-designed Gerbera drones.