Have you missed the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 Minutes takes stock for you every evening. Here is the gist of this Sunday, May 31, 2026, on the 1,558th day of the conflict.
Fact of the day
Already hit on Saturday evening by a drone which opened a breach in the wall of the engine room, located “10 meters from the reactor room” but did not damage the essential equipment of the plant, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, a new drone attack hit the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant this Sunday.
Six buses and two trucks were destroyed in this attack, according to the same source, which specifies that the plant continues to “operate normally” and that its operational safety is “fully assured”. The two belligerents mutually blame each other for these strikes on the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, occupied by Russia and located on the Dnieper, which acts as a natural front line.
“There should be no attack of any kind coming from or targeting the plant,” commented the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), quoting its director general, Rafael Grossi. “Attacking nuclear sites is playing with fire,” he warned.
Today’s statement
« We have to take the microphone away from her because in reality, she’s not a journalist, she’s not a commentator, she’s a Russian agent and she’s been a Russian agent from the start »
Guest this Sunday morning of the “RTL Grand Jury”, the soon-probably-candidate Raphaël Glucksmann was questioned about the Russian columnist Xenia Fedorova, employee of the Bolloré media and ex-boss of RT France, a Russian channel banned from broadcasting in France shortly after the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian journalist received the support of Arnaud Lagardère, manager of Lagardère Radio (which owns Europe 1), and Gérald-Brice Viret, general director of Canal+ in an article published in the JDD. “For almost ten years, it has contributed to the diversity of the French audiovisual landscape” and “sheds a light on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict that is not heard elsewhere,” the two leaders affirmed.
The trend
kyiv continues its work of undermining Russian infrastructure, particularly oil. Ukraine claimed on Sunday to have struck with drones an oil depot and a pumping station in Russia, the latest attack aimed at depriving Moscow of revenues from the sale of hydrocarbons.
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According to the Ukrainian army, drones targeted a “distribution station of a major oil pipeline” in the Russian region of Kirov (center) and an oil depot in the region of Rostov (south). The governor of the Kirov region, Alexander Sokolov, confirmed on Telegram that Ukrainian drones hit an “installation” and caused a fire, without causing any casualties.
Already this Saturday, Ukrainian drones struck an oil tanker and an oil depot in southern Russia on Saturday, causing fires.
