European leaders mark Ukraine’s 35th Independence Day as Russian
invasion pushes on
[August 25, 2026]
By SAMYA KULLAB
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — European leaders joined President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Monday to celebrate the 35th anniversary of
Ukraine’s independence and boost its long-range missile program as
Russia pressed on with its 4-year-old invasion of the country.
One of President Vladimir Putin’s key goals in starting a war with
Russia’s neighbor in February 2022 was to return Kyiv to Moscow’s orbit.
Ukrainian lawmakers voted on Aug. 24, 1991, to proclaim the country’s
independence, and a nationwide referendum later that year overwhelmingly
approved it.
With no significant changes on the front line for months and no apparent
progress after more than a year of U.S.-led peace efforts, both
countries are locked in a spiral of escalating aerial attacks that are
killing civilians and smashing infrastructure.
Europe rallies around Ukraine
U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham, on his first overseas trip since
taking office last month, joined almost a dozen other European leaders,
as well as other dignitaries in Kyiv on Monday.
“For Ukraine, independence is not an abstract idea. We defended it
against all odds,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on
social media. “In times like these, nations learn how important it is to
have allies by your side.”
Burnham co-chaired a meeting of what's been dubbed the Coalition of the
Willing — a group of over two dozen countries helping Ukraine resist
Russia's onslaught.
Burnham said he is pushing British industry to help a Ukrainian project
that is working on a low-cost alternative to the U.S.-made Patriot air
defense systems that are desperately needed but are in short supply. He
urged other countries to encourage Washington to adopt stiffer sanctions
on Russia and press Moscow to accept U.S. attempts to secure an
unconditional ceasefire.
Zelenskyy said in a speech at Kyiv’s St. Sophia Square that the presence
of European leaders reflected continental fears about Russia’s wider
ambitions.
“We all understand that in this Russian war against us — against Ukraine
— far more is being decided than the future of Ukraine and Eastern
Europe,” he said.
“No nation in a war like this could rely solely on its own weapons,"
Zelenskyy said. "No nation could withstand attacks of such intensity
without the world’s help.”
Ukraine eyes local production of Anglo-French missile
The leaders brought pledges of further military and financial support.
Burnham announced his government has agreed to allow defense company
MBDA to release classified information relating to British components
used in the SCALP long-range missile. That paves the way for France and
Ukraine to advance plans for the weapon's production in Ukraine.
SCALP is the French version of the U.K.’s Storm Shadow missile, with
both systems incorporating shared technology.
“Ukraine has been Europe’s protector, not a drain on our security, but
the front line of keeping Europe safe,” Burnham said, adding that Kyiv
and its partners “must keep up the pressure on Moscow.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin views the plan
“extremely negatively.” He accused the U.K. of “taking part in this war”
on Kyiv’s side.
Ukraine has leaned heavily on NATO countries for help fighting Russia’s
bigger army, although relations with the United States have been cooler
under President Donald Trump.
Russia, meanwhile, is getting help from North Korea and China.
Ukraine displays its drones in a parade
Ukraine’s swift development of innovative drone technology has enabled
it to blunt Moscow’s battlefield progress as well as hit targets deep
inside Russia, as far as 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from their
border. The speeches in St. Sophia Square were accompanied by a parade
of domestically produced weapons.
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Ukrainian and foreign officials attend a ceremony marking Ukraine's
Independence Day in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Aug. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem
Lukatsky)
Both Russia and Ukraine are trying through long-range strikes to
inflict economic pain, disrupt military supplies and erode public
morale.
Ukraine's long-range drones have repeatedly hit facilities in
Russia's vital oil industry, causing fuel shortages, and have also
engaged in a campaign against Russia's largest online retailer,
Wildberries.
But foreign suppliers also have to take into account their own
needs, weapon production levels and the depth of stockpiles.
As the air war has intensified, Ukraine’s stocks of Patriot
interceptors to counter Russia’s ballistic missiles have dwindled.
Kyiv urgently needs more interceptors before winter, when Russia
routinely bombards its power grid, but the demands of the Iran war
and slow output of the sophisticated interceptors have left Ukraine
short and vulnerable.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb said he believed that striking
Russian targets like Wildberries was a “sensible military strategy”
that would hasten peace negotiations.
Ukrainian strikes kill 3 teenagers
Three teenagers were killed and six children were wounded in the
southern Russian city of Krasnodar, Russia’s children’s rights
ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova said, as Ukraine attacked several
warehouses of Ozon, another online retailer, for the third straight
day, according to officials and the company.
Ozon said a large fire raged at its logistics facility in the
suburbs of Krasnodar following the overnight attack.
A drone also hit the grounds of an Ozon logistics center in the
southern Russian region of Adygeya, said regional Gov. Murat
Kumpilov, although the company said its warehouse wasn’t damaged.
In all, four Ozon premises appeared to have been targeted.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces struck the
Russian state-owned Kamenetsky Combine defense company in the Rostov
region overnight, starting a fire. The plant produces rocket and
missile fuel, it said.
Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight
intercepted and destroyed 351 Ukrainian drones over eight Russian
regions, the Crimean Peninsula and the Azov and Black seas. Moscow
illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.
The ministry also said its forces overnight struck Ukrainian ports
and vessels delivering military cargo.
Russia has also turned its sights on Ukrainian shopping malls,
supermarkets and gas stations in recent months. Russian drones
struck a shopping center in central Ukraine in a daytime attack
Friday, killing 16 people and wounding 130, Ukrainian officials
said.
Ukraine’s southern Odesa region came under a large-scale Russian
missile and drone attack Monday, with food storage facilities and
energy infrastructure among the targets, regional authorities
reported.
Eighteen people, including two children, were injured in a Russian
drone strike on Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, according to
Ukraine’s Emergency Service.
It was not possible to independently verify each side's reports.
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