Published on, Aug. 25 -- August 25, 2025 2:19 AM

Ukraine launched a wave of drone strikes on Russia on Sunday, triggering a fire at a nuclear power plant as it celebrated Ukrainian Independence Day against a backdrop of fading hopes for recent peace efforts.

After a flurry of diplomacy and a push by US President Donald Trump to broker a summit between his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, the prospects for peace appeared to stall on Friday when Russia ruled out any immediate meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.

The three-and-a-half-year war, which has killed tens of thousands of people, has ground to a virtual stalemate, though Russia has managed to eke out recent advances in a grinding offensive - including claimin...