GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — India was heading towards a win over Sri Lanka with six more wickets needed after four days of the first test at Galle International Stadium on Tuesday.
India was all out for 193 in its second innings about midway through the day, setting Sri Lanka an improbable winning target of 372 in four-plus sessions.
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India's Rishabh Pant plays a shot during the day four of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
India's Mohammed Siraj celebrates the dismissal of Sri Lanka's Nishan Madushka during the day four of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
India's Prasidh Krishna celebrates the dismissal of Sri Lanka's Kamindu Mendis during the day four of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Sri Lanka's Asitha Fernando, right, celebrates taking the wicket of India's Yashasvi Jaiswal during the day four of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Sri Lanka's Asitha Fernando celebrates taking the wicket of India's Yashasvi Jaiswal during the day four of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
India's KL Rahul plays a shot as Sri Lanka's Niroshan Dickwella watches during the day four of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
By stumps, Sri Lanka was 84-4, trailing by 287 runs. Sonal Dinusha and captain Dhananjaya de Silva thwarted India's charge by safely reaching stumps.
First innings centurion Dinusha was 25 not out off 36 balls and de Silva was on 31 from 73 balls.
In the morning session, India lost four wickets to reach 116-4 at lunch. It kept an eye on quick scoring and possible bad weather in order to force a win.
Rishabh Pant led the way for India on either side of lunch. He hit 50 off 53 balls including eight fours and two sixes. Pant was out for 66 off 69.
Devdutt Padikkal added 44 off 75 and Lokesh Rahul 35 off 47 before India was all out for 193 in 48.5 overs.
Early in the day, Sri Lanka's Dinesh Chandimal injured his right shoulder while fielding on the boundary. He dived and landed hard to save two runs then collapsed on the other side of the boundary. Chandimal was taken to hospital and Sri Lanka Cricket said the scans were clear.
But he was replaced by Pasindu Sooriyabandara as a concussion substitute. Sooriyabandara made his test debut.
Left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya picked two wickets before lunch, including trapping Shubman Gill on 8, while pacer Asitha Fernando took 4-31.
Pant and Ravindra Jadeja (9) combined for 54 off 60 balls until Pant was sent back in the 41st over by Lahiru Kumara. India lost its last four wickets for just 19 runs.
Sri Lanka’s second innings was delayed due to a passing shower, but it didn’t get a good start after play resumed.
Mohammed Siraj bounced out opener Nishan Madushka for 6 and Manav Suthar struck twice. Lahiru Udara was caught on 16 and Suthar trapped debutant Sooriyabandara for a golden duck.
Sri Lanka was 21-3 in the 11th over then 47-4 in the 22nd when Kamindu Mendis was caught on 2 at slip off Prasidh Krishna.
De Silva and Dinusha dug deep to bat out the last hour when bad light was called. They face six more hours on the final day on Wednesday, when there's a threat of rain.
See AP’s full cricket coverage here
India's Rishabh Pant plays a shot during the day four of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
India's Mohammed Siraj celebrates the dismissal of Sri Lanka's Nishan Madushka during the day four of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
India's Prasidh Krishna celebrates the dismissal of Sri Lanka's Kamindu Mendis during the day four of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Sri Lanka's Asitha Fernando, right, celebrates taking the wicket of India's Yashasvi Jaiswal during the day four of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Sri Lanka's Asitha Fernando celebrates taking the wicket of India's Yashasvi Jaiswal during the day four of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
India's KL Rahul plays a shot as Sri Lanka's Niroshan Dickwella watches during the day four of the first cricket test match between Sri Lanka and India in Galle, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies announced Wednesday that they are investigating senior officials in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, a day after the country’s recently fired defense minister called for national elections despite the ongoing fight against Russia’s invasion.
The political drama was an unwelcome distraction for Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s war with its bigger neighbor extends into its fifth year.
Investigators are conducting an operation to expose a criminal organization allegedly led by a sitting and a former lawmaker, involving senior officials from the presidential office and other individuals, according to a joint statement from Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
Further details would be released later, the agencies said in a joint statement.
The revelation brought another test of Zelenskyy’s political resilience. Last year, his chief of staff Andriy Yermak resigned and was later named as a suspect in a major graft probe in the biggest threat to Zelenskyy’s government since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Zelenskyy is already under pressure over his firing last month of defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov, one of the longest-standing members of his team and a close ally since he helped Zelenskyy win the 2019 presidential election.
Zelenskyy, seeking to reconcile tensions between the defense ministry's young and tech-savvy innovators and Ukraine's seasoned, Soviet-trained battlefield leaders, risked angering both sides by reshuffling his wartime leadership. He ousted both Fedorov, whose changes to military procurement aimed to stamp out corruption, and commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi.
The move sparked days of street protests in support of Fedorov. For Zelenskyy, it was the second time in a year that a wartime decision triggered a strong public backlash, after he moved in mid-2025 to curb the powers of anti-corruption agencies.
Fedorov, in a video address posted to YouTube late Tuesday, called for elections to be held in Ukraine in a bombshell statement that appeared to directly confront Zelenskyy, who says a ballot can't be held under the martial law that is currently in place due to the war.
“We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even amid a prolonged war,” Fedorov said.
He said Ukraine is facing a systemic crisis in how it is governed, arguing that the current system is oriented toward protecting itself and resisting change. He also condemned corruption among officials without naming anyone, saying it had weakened Ukraine’s ability to fight the war.
Zelenskyy’s office did not immediately comment on Fedorov’s address.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has balked at negotiating a peace deal directly with Zelenskyy, says the Ukrainian president is an illegitimate leader because his term expired in 2024.
Fedorov published his speech hours after Ukraine’s Parliament received a submission from Zelenskyy nominating Yevhenii Khmara as the new defense minister.
Lawmakers were due to debate the president's candidate on Wednesday.
The political disarray comes after recent successes in the war for Ukraine. Using its innovative drone technology, it has repeatedly hit Russian oil facilities, causing fuel shortages. It has also shocked the Russian public by striking warehouses of Wildberries, Russia's biggest online retailer, and stalled front-line advances by Russia's bigger army.
But Zelenskyy has been unable to get traction in U.S.-led peace efforts, and Ukraine is at the mercy of Russia's ballistic missiles because more U.S.-made Patriot interceptors aren't available due to low international stockpiles.
In its latest strike on oil facilities, a drone hit an oil refinery in Ufa in Russia's Bashkortostan, its Gov. Radiy Khabirov was quoted as saying by Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti.
The city of Ufa is located roughly 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) east of the border with Ukraine. There are three oil refineries in Ufa, and all three have been attacked before.
Russian air defenses overnight intercepted 453 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions, as well as occupied Crimea and the Black Sea, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine, a Russian drone attacked a minibus in the southern Kherson region on Wednesday morning, killing four people, said Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson regional military administration.
Four women were also wounded in the strike and were hospitalized, he said.
Also, a Russian drone struck a civilian car in Kherson city, the region's capital, on Wednesday, killing a woman, said Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson regional military administration.
Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
People sing and hold up their cell phone flashlights during a rally to protest the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov as Ukraine's Defense Minister in Kyiv, late Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
People stand still for a minute of silence during a rally to protest against the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov as Ukraine's Defense Minister in Kyiv, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
People march during a rally to protest the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov as Ukraine's Defense Minister in Kyiv, late Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
FILE - Ukraine's Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov speaks to journalists during a joint press conference with Sweden's Defense Minister Pal Jonson in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, file)
