FUKUOKA, Japan (AP) — Fijian rugby player Saimoni Vunilagi has died of suspected heatstroke after a training session in Japan. He was 26.
His death was announced on Saturday by his team, Kyushu Electric Power Kyuden Voltex — known as Kyushu KV.
The Japanese second-division club said Vunilagi died Friday after falling ill Monday and being hospitalized.
“After team practice on Monday ... Saimoni displayed symptoms consistent with severe heatstroke,” the team said in a statement Saturday. “He was transported to a medical facility for treatment, but despite the best efforts of the medical team, he sadly passed away.
Kyushu KV is based in Fukuoka, a city in southwestern Japan. Temperatures there reportedly reached around 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) on Monday.
“The players, staff, and all team associates are devastated by this sudden news," the team said.
Back rower Vunilagi joined Kyushu KV last month, having previously played in the Japanese top flight with Tokyo Sungoliath.
“Although Saimoni had only recently joined Kyushu KV, his generous spirit and powerful style of play had raised high hopes for his contributions in the upcoming season,” Kyushu KV added.
“We humbly pray for the repose of his soul and extend our heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family.”
The club supplied no other details surrounding the death. News reports said he was from Fiji.
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
FILE - Rugby balls are lined up on the pitch prior to the start of the rugby union international match between Scotland and Italy at the Murrayfield stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland, on March 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell, File)
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced Russia’s latest deadly attacks on Kyiv on Saturday as he visited Serbia, one of the few European countries that has maintained friendly relations with Moscow throughout its invasion of Ukraine.
Four people, including a child, were killed in the overnight strikes on Kyiv and the surrounding region. Ukrainian forces hit Russian oil facilities.
Zelenskyy arrived in Belgrade on Friday for his first official visit to Serbia.
Speaking at a news conference in Belgrade with Zelenskyy, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic described Ukraine as a “friendly nation” and said he was honored to welcome the Ukrainian leader — the first visit by a Ukrainian president in eight years.
The two leaders discussed their countries’ efforts toward joining the European Union, bilateral ties and ways to expand cooperation.
Kyiv’s residents face regular drone and missile barrages that Ukraine’s depleted air defenses are struggling to counter amid Moscow’s 4-year-old full-scale invasion, while repeated Ukrainian strikes on oil facilities have caused fuel shortages and rattled Russians.
Vucic, who has maintained close ties with Moscow and refused to sanction Russia over the invasion — drawing pressure from the EU to change course — reiterated that Serbia respects Ukraine’s territorial integrity and said that position would not change.
“The situation in Ukraine is difficult,” Zelenskyy said at the press conference. “There was another missile strike last night — ballistic missiles targeting our infrastructure. There were also attack drones.”
Zelenskyy said that deliveries of Patriot air defense interceptors — the sole air defense weapon in Ukraine’s arsenal able to shoot down ballistic missiles — have slowed compared with a year ago.
“There are fewer of these missiles in 2026. In 2025 there were more, I’ll tell you honestly, in terms of monthly supplies,” he said.
Zelenskyy said Washington has agreed to let Ukraine manufacture its own Patriot air defense interceptors, but that they are “stuck dealing with paperwork.”
“The process for some of these licenses is also taking a long time,” he said.
The talks in Belgrade came after multiple Russian drones destroyed the home of a family in the Brovary district, northeast of Kyiv, killing a 3-year-old child and his grandparents, local officials said.
Three other members of the same family and a neighbor who came to their aid were hospitalized, local authorities said. The attack reduced the house to rubble and wrecked outbuildings and cars.
Zelenskyy said at least one other person died in a “strike involving six ballistic missiles against civilian infrastructure” in the capital.
In its daily report, Ukraine’s air force said it had downed or intercepted 135 of 151 drones launched by Russia overnight. The attack also involved six ballistic missiles and other guided missiles.
Russia has relentlessly pounded civilian areas of Ukraine, even though Moscow insists its forces target only military facilities.
Ukraine’s air defenses shot down around 5,300 drones and missiles last month, Ukraine’s defense ministry said Friday, just under 60% of the around 9,000 attack drones and missiles Russia fired in the same period.
Moscow is exploiting Ukraine’s critical shortage of interceptors for the U.S.-made Patriot systems, the sole air defense weapon in its arsenal able to shoot down ballistic missiles.
Zelenskyy has pleaded with other countries, especially the U.S., to send more of the ammunition made scarcer by the Iran war. Failing that, he wants to make Patriot ammunition in Ukraine or win permission from Elon Musk to use his Starlink satellite communications system to guide strikes inside Russia that can hit its missile launchers.
Following the latest attacks, Zelenskyy appealed on X for more sanctions to “prevent the production of these ballistic missiles,” along with “anti-ballistic capabilities” and “interceptor missiles.”
In Russia, six people were wounded when a fire broke out at the Ilsky Oil Refinery, in the southern Krasnodar region, due to debris from a falling drone, local officials said.
Ukraine's General Staff said Ukrainian forces struck the refinery in Krasnodar, along with the Syzran Oil Refinery in the Samara region, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) inside Russia.
Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, governor of Russia’s Samara region, said drones hit an “industrial enterprise,” but he did not mention the refinery.
Ukraine’s almost daily long-range drone and missile strikes using domestically developed weapons have battered Russian oil facilities for months. The operation has brought a fuel crisis that is embarrassing the Kremlin.
Yurchuk reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Associated Press writer Elise Morton in London contributed to this report.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, shakes hands with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic after a welcome ceremony at the Serbia Palace, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stands with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic during a welcome ceremony at the Serbia Palace, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reviews an honor guard with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic during a welcome ceremony at the Serbia Palace, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives for joint press statements with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic at the Serbia Palace, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stands with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic during a welcome ceremony at the Serbia Palace, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic adjusts his headphones during a press conference with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Serbia Palace, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy grimaces during a press conference with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic at the Serbia Palace, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press conference with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic at the Serbia Palace, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shakes hands with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic at the Serbia Palace, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
FILE - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy looks od during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Firefighters work at the site of a fire after Russian missiles hit a food warehouse near Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Firefighters put out a fire after Russian missiles hit a warehouse in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)
Firefighters put out a fire after Russian missiles hit a warehouse in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)
