Russia has blamed Ukraine for setting ablaze one of its oil refineries, while Kyiv has accused Moscow of launching dozens of overnight strikes by unmanned aerial vehicles for the second day running. The targeting of the fuel facility on Thursday occurred at the Ilsky refinery near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in the Krasnodar region, Russia's TASS news agency reported citing local emergency services. A fuel reservoir was on fire, it said, but gave no further details. A day earlier, a fuel depot further to the west caught fire near a bridge linking Russia's mainland with the occupied Crimean Peninsula. "A second turbulent night for our emergency services," Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev wrote on Telegram, confirming tanks with oil products were set ablaze.

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. The tech world's most attention-grabbing man had a very busy week. Elon Musk launched a rocket, dealt with bad news at Tesla, stoked fear that AI could end humankind, and rolled out another controversial change on Twitter. Through it all, Musk exemplifies the danger of what happens when technology and ego collide. Earlier today, a SpaceX rocket exploded in the skies over the Gulf of Mexico, detonating itself after the booster failed to separate from the upper portion of the vehicle after launch.

Former U.S. Amb. to NATO Kurt Volker says the Russian fighter jet collision was'intentional' and requires a'firm response' from the U.S. The Biden administration blasted Russia for honoring two pilots for downing a U.S. drone in international airspace while saying the aviator who crashed into the drone was "at best, just an idiot." Last week, the Kremlin issued state awards to the fighter jet pilots responsible for downing the U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea earlier the week prior. In an official statement, the Ministry of Defense commended the pilots for preventing the drone from "violating the boundaries of the temporary airspace regime established for the special military operation." U.S. European Command said a Russian Su-27 fighter jet colliding with a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea. A screenshot shows a jet dumping fuel.

Former U.S. Amb. to NATO Kurt Volker says the Russian fighter jet collision was'intentional' and requires a'firm response' from the U.S. The United States has resumed its normal flights through international waters over the Black Sea following the crash of a drone due to Russian interference. U.S. officials said Friday that a RQ-4 Global Hawk flew through the region -- the first U.S. aircraft to do so since the skirmish, according to Reuters. An RQ-4 Global Hawk takes off from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Nichelle Anderson) Military officials assured the public that the Russian harassment of the US drone on Tuesday would not affect regular operations in the region. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin summarized the incident Wednesday in a press conference, saying, "Two Russian jets dumped fuel on an unmanned U.S. MQ-9 aircraft conducting routine operations in international airspace. And one Russian jet intercepted and hit our MQ-9 aircraft, resulting in a crash."

Russia has conferred state awards on the two fighter pilots involved in the downing of a US surveillance drone that crashed into the Black Sea, the Russian Defence Ministry said, while United States officials announced that its spy flights in the region have resumed. Presenting the awards on Friday to the Su-27 jet fighter pilots, Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu lauded their achievement in preventing the drone from flying into an area near Crimea to which Moscow has banned access. "The drone flew with its transponders off, violating the boundaries of the area of the temporary airspace usage regime established for the special military operation [and] communicated to all users of international airspace," Russia's defence ministry said in a statement, according to The Moscow Times. Pro-Kremlin political analyst Sergei Markov said the awards for the pilots were "a clear sign that Russia will keep downing" US drones. "This decision will receive a strong support from the Russian society that wants the government to toughen its policy," Markov wrote in a commentary. Russia's presentation of the awards comes a day after the US military released a declassified 42-second video clip showing the Russian Su-27 fighter jets intercepting the drone and making close passes while dumping fuel in an apparent bid to damage the drone's optical and other hi-tech instruments.

Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., weighs in on challenges Border Patrol faces as more migrants flood the southern border on'Special Report.' The crash between a Russian fighter jet and a U.S. drone likely resulted from the pilot's aggression and "incompetence," according to former astronaut and Navy captain, Sen. Mark Kelly. "Look at the level of incompetence – I mean when we saw the flanker yesterday, which basically had a midair with the MQ-9 [drone], with a reaper … I spent 15 years in the astronaut office, I used to fly with Russian fighter pilots in the backseat of my plane," Kelly, D-AZ., told Fox News chief political anchor and host of "Special Report with Brett Baier" during an interview Thursday. "The level of incompetence in the Russian pilots that I flew with was shocking to me." Russia has denied that its plane crashed into the U.S. drone despite video evidence showing the plane make at least two fly-bys, including one in which it appeared to dump fuel on the drone before the feed abruptly cut off, and the drone crashed into the Black Sea. On Friday, Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu reportedly presented the pilots responsible for crashing the drone with state awards, saying the pilots prevented the drone from "violating the boundaries of the temporary airspace regime established for the special military operation," referring to the invasion of Ukraine.

Kyiv, Ukraine – It looked like a deliberate manoeuvre by a skilled pilot that led to the first direct military clash between the United States and Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine. Two Russian fighter jets approached a US drone flying in the cloudless, azure sky over international waters in the Black Sea on Tuesday morning. One of the Russian Su-27s released a stream of jet fuel on the MQ-9 Reaper drone, causing its cameras to shut off. Then the Su-27 hit the Reaper's propeller, causing it to tumble into the sea, the Pentagon said. It said the Reaper was a "reconnaissance drone" and carried no arms, although the unmanned aircraft with a wingspan of 26 metres (85 feet) was designed as a "hunter-killer" armed with laser-guided bombs and missiles.

Former U.S. Amb. to NATO Kurt Volker says the Russian fighter jet collision was'intentional' and requires a'firm response' from the U.S. The Russian government has awarded the pilots involved in the harassment and crash of a U.S. drone in international airspace. Russian minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu presented state awards to the fighter jet pilots responsible for downing a U.S. drone over the Black Sea earlier this week. Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Eternal Flame and the Unknown Soldier's Grave in Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow. In an official statement, the Ministry of Defense commended the pilots for preventing the drone from "violating the boundaries of the temporary airspace regime established for the special military operation." The statement accuses the U.S. drone of flying with its transponders off.

Fox News correspondent Mike Tobin has the latest on tensions amid the Russia-Ukraine war on'Special Report.' The Russians planned the Black Sea drone attack carefully, probably for weeks. And watch out, China could try it next. As the admiral played by the late Sen. Fred D. Thompson said to Alec Baldwin's character in the classic movie "The Hunt for Red October," "The Russians don't do anything without a plan." Somebody on the Russian side thought this through.

In October last year, a Russian news site published a short video of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, the Russian mercenary army, sitting with four men on a rooftop terrace in the resort town of Gelendzhik, on Russia's Black Sea coast. Two are missing parts of a leg. A third lost an arm. They are identified as pardoned former convicts, returned from the front in Ukraine after joining Wagner from prison. "You were an offender, now you're a war hero," Prigozhin tells one man in the clip. It was the first video to depict the return of some of the thousands of convicts who joined Wagner in return for the promise of a pardon if they survived six months of the war. Reuters news agency used facial recognition software to examine this video and more than a dozen others and photographs of homecoming convict fighters, published between October 2022 and February 2023.