3 killed in Russian strikes on Ukraine as Putin warns Europe against sending troops

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian strikes killed three civilians and wounded dozens in Ukraine, local officials said Saturday, after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that sending European troops into Ukraine would amount to direct conflict with Russia.

Ukraine is under mounting pressure from Russia’s intensifying air campaign that uses ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to pierce defenses. Moscow’s attacks have targeted Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter in what officials say is meant to demoralize civilians.

Two people were killed and one wounded when Russian drones struck a residential area overnight in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, regional head Ivan Fedorov said Saturday.

One person died and three others were wounded in strikes on Kryvyi Rih, according to local officials.

In the Black Sea port of Odesa and the surrounding area, 28 people were wounded in what regional head Oleh Kiper called a “massive attack.” Among the buildings hit was a residential highrise, whose upper floors were completely destroyed.

Putin, speaking to reporters at the BRICS summit in India on Friday, said that if European governments send troops into Ukraine, it will mean “a war with Russia.”

“Now they’re talking about how they’re considering sending troops into Ukraine. That means a war with Russia,” he said.

Some European leaders have pledged their commitment to a potential peacekeeping force, a prospect that Moscow has repeatedly described as unacceptable.

Putin also denied Russia posed any threat to Europe, saying “there is no such threat and never has been.”

“We do not threaten, nor do we intend to threaten, European countries,” he said.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Thursday that two incidents along Ukraine’s borders with Poland and Moldova this week were a preview of potential intensified Russian provocations at Ukraine’s border crossing points with Europe.

Two people died when Russian drones hit the Starokozache border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova on Tuesday night, while a “direct threat” to a Polish-Ukrainian crossing point on Wednesday night was only avoided thanks to cooperation between Warsaw and Kyiv, he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Deutsche Welle, in an interview published Saturday, that he would meet Putin if both leaders were invited to the Group of 20 summit of rich and developing nations in December in Miami.

Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said Saturday that the possibility of Putin attending the summit had not yet been discussed.

The Kremlin in the past has said that Zelenskyy can come to Moscow if he wants a meeting with Putin, a proposal Kyiv has rejected.

Morton reported from London.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out a fire following a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Smoke rises following a Russian drone attack on a residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with journalists on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi, India, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

A civilian walks by after a gas station was hit by a Russian drone in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s government was racing Saturday to contain the fallout after local Iran-backed militias were accused of attacking and shuttering a key Saudi pipeline. Iraq's government confirmed the attacks had originated from its territory, pledged to investigate and dismissed a military commander.

The country is under mounting pressure to prevent local militias from aiding other Iran proxy groups across the region. It's especially acute as the Iran-backed Houthi rebels make an advance across Yemen’s west coast in a major setback to the Saudi-backed coalition that risks escalating the war in the region.

The Iraqi government has set a Sept. 30 deadline for nonstate groups to disarm, but several of the most powerful militias have said they will not comply.

The Houthis on Friday seized an island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping lane through which around 12% of global trade passes.

Their virtual control of the strait could send global oil prices — already inflated by the six-month Iran-U.S. war — spiraling. The strait has become a vital commercial lane for Saudi oil ever since the Iran war disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iraqi authorities determined that attacks targeting the east-west Saudi pipeline were launched from a site in the country’s Maysan province on the borders with Iran, the government said in a statement early Saturday.

Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered an investigation into the province’s operations command and dismissed its commander, the Saturday statement said.

Saudi Arabia shut down the major, cross-country oil pipeline on Friday, saying it was a “precautionary measure” after the pipeline came under drone attack.

In a statement, the Saudi Foreign Ministry blamed the attacks on several drones that came from Iraq, but said the kingdom would not retaliate, to give the Iraqi government “an opportunity to take the necessary measures.”

Built in the 1980s, the East-West pipeline has played an important role in Saudi Arabia’s ability to export oil following the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war. By early June, Saudi Arabia had more than doubled oil exports from the Red Sea port at the pipeline’s end to more than 5 million barrels per day, according to the International Energy Agency.

Tehran-backed Iraqi militias have carried out strikes on U.S.-linked targets both inside and outside of Iraq since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, and have coordinated with Yemen’s Houthi rebels to attack Saudi Arabia.

In a move possibly linked to the investigation, Iraq closed two key border crossings with Iran, Iraq’s state-run news agency reported Saturday.

The report said that Iraqi officials were at the border, investigating previous “violations and infractions” at the crossings.

Valiollah Hayati, the deputy governor of Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province, named the closed crossings as Shalamcheh and Chazabeh. They are among the main official border crossings between Iran and Iraq.

Iranian state media said the measure would halt all passenger and commercial traffic through the two crossings until further notice.

Saudi Arabia and the United States bombed Iranian-backed militias in Iraq in July after blaming them for drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities that had been claimed by the Houthis. Regional officials told The Associated Press that the Houthis helped the Iraqi militias plan and execute the attacks.

The escalating fighting threatens to end a fragile truce that had largely halted Yemen’s civil war since 2022. At stake are 40 million people in the Arab world’s poorest country. The conflict killed 150,000 and brought many others to the brink of famine.

The surge in fighting in the past week has sent over 46,000 people fleeing, the U.N. migration agency said Friday.

The Houthis have been at war with Yemen’s government since 2014, when the rebels seized much of northern and central Yemen and the capital, Sanaa. Saudi Arabia entered the war the following year on behalf of the government.

Yemen's Houthi rebels chat as they check their weapons during a mobilization campaign in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP Photo)

Yemen's Houthi rebels march during a mobilization campaign in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP Photo)