Ukraine war updates: Moscow says 35 Ukrainian drones shot down

Russian air defenses shot down 35 Ukrainian drones fired overnight, Moscow said on Sunday, on the country's third and final day of voting in the presidential election.

The Defense Ministry said air defenses "intercepted and destroyed" 35 unmanned aerial vehicles in eight different regions, including five over Moscow.

Seventeen drones were also destroyed over the southern region of Krasnodar and the rest over six other regions, the ministry said.

"The drones were neutralized, but a fire broke out as a result of the fall of one of the devices," the operational headquarters of the Krasnodar region in southern Russia said on Telegram. 

The fire at a refinery in the Krasnodar region was put out. The administration reported no casualties, though preliminary information had indicated one death due to a heart attack.

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Ukrainian forces have attacked, with several drone strikes, the Slavyansk-on-Kuban oil refinery, in Krasnodar Krai, Russia.

This will mark the 6th Russian oil refinery and depot destroyed by Ukraine in just the past 7 days.#Russia #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/4Z1Vaz0jDh

— The_anonymous_wave (@anonymouswave1) March 17, 2024 >

Another oil refinery in Samara, some 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) east of the Ukrainian border, also caught fire on Saturday.

Moscow accused Kyiv of election sabotage. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, thanked in his nightly address the military forces and intelligence for new "long-range capabilities," yet stopped short of mentioning the intensified attacks, among the most sweeping since the start of the war.

Russia launches 14 drone attacks on Odesa, Kyiv says

Russia attacked the southern port city of Odesa with 14 drones overnight, the south command of Ukraine's armed forces said, destroying buildings and damaging agricultural infrastructure.

"Fires were extinguished promptly," the command said on the Telegram messaging platform. "People were not injured."

The command said 13 of the drones were destroyed over the Odesa region, while one was shot down as it approached the Mykolaiv region.

It was not immediately clear how the reported damage was caused or whether it was due to falling drone debris.

Ukraine strikes Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia polling station, Moscow says

Two Ukrainian drones attacked a polling station in Ukraine's Zaporishzhia region, which is controlled by Moscow, a Russian-installed local official said on Sunday.

The attack set fire to the building, Vladimir Rogov told the AFP news agency. However, it did not cause any casualties.

The attack occurred before the polling station opened, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Macron says differences with Scholz over Ukraine about style, not policy

French President Emmanuel Macron does not see himself in conflict with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, but he admits the two have different styles when it comes to supporting Ukraine.

"There has never been any trouble between the chancellor and myself. We have a lot in common in terms of objectives and the situation," Macron told French newspaper Le Parisien.

Tensions have escalated recently between France and Germany's leaders after Macron refused to rule out deploying troops to Ukraine, a step Scholz said neither Germany nor NATO would take.

The two European leaders and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk met  in Berlin on Friday for a summit of the so-called "Weimar Triangle." It refers to a regional alliance of France, Germany and Poland created in 1991 in the German city of Weimar, intended to promote cooperation in cross-border and European issues.

"I wanted to come to Germany very quickly so that there would be no debate about alleged strategic divergences: they don't exist," Macron told Le Parisien.

Macron said that while he and Scholz agree on their support for Ukraine, their presentation might differ "because the strategic cultures of our countries are different."

He said Germany's was characterized by "great restraint, non-interference."

Macron continued to insist that ground troops might be necessary. 

"Perhaps at some point, I don't wish it, I won't initiate it, it will be necessary to have operations on the ground, whatever they may be, to counter Russian forces. France's strength is that we can do that," he said.