Current events: 2025-08-18

Wikipedia Current Events · 2025-08-18T20:21:51-0400

Armed conflicts and attacks

Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Attacks in Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
  - Russian oil flows to Hungary and Slovakia are completely halted after a Ukrainian drone attack on the Druzhba pipeline in Bryansk Oblast. (Reuters)
  - Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó confirms that the Russian supply of oil to the country has stopped due to the attack on a pipeline in Russia, calling it "outrageous and unacceptable" and "against our energy security". (Anadolu Ajansi)
- Russian missile strikes kill at least seven people in Kharkiv and three in Zaporizhzhia. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2025 European and Mediterranean wildfires
- Spain deploys 500 Spanish Army troops to help fight raging wildfires in the country as the death toll rises to four following the death of a firefighter in Castile and León. (BBC News)
The death toll from a fire and explosion at a gunpowder plant last week in Shilovsky District, Ryazan Oblast, Russia, rises to 24 with at least another 157 people injured. The government declares a day of mourning. (CBS News)

International relations

Law and crime

Crime in Norway, Monarchy of Norway
- Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit, is charged with 32 offences including rape and domestic violence. If found guilty, he may be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. (France24)
Australian Federal Court judge Michael Lee fines national airline Qantas AU$90 million (US$59 million) for unlawfully outsourcing 1,820 ground staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the AU$120 million (US$78 million) compensation the airline has already agreed to pay its former employees. (AP)