President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine would continue to fight for its freedom in an address to the nation on its independence day.

“We need a just peace, a peace where our future will be decided only by us,” he said, adding that Ukraine would fight back against Russia “while its calls for peace are not heard”.

He continued: “Ukraine has not yet won, but it has certainly not lost.”

Zelensky’s remarks came after Moscow said Ukraine had attacked Russian power and energy facilities overnight, blaming drone attacks for a fire at a nuclear power plant in its western Kursk region.

There were no injuries and the fire was quickly extinguished, the plant’s press service said on messaging app Telegram. It said the attack had damaged a transformer, but radiation levels were within the normal range.

The United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was aware of reports regarding the fire, while its director general added that “every nuclear facility must be protected at all times”.

The IAEA has repeatedly called on both Russia and Ukraine to show maximum restraint around nuclear facilities in the war.

Independence Day celebrations were held in Kyiv, as the country marked its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney took part in the celebrations, and stood beside Zelensky as he addressed the crowd:

“I want to say something very simple and important: Canada will always stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine.”

Also present was US envoy Keith Kellogg – whom Ukrainian media reported was awarded the Order of Merit, first degree by Zelensky during the ceremony.

After Zelensky thanked him and US President Donald Trump for their support, Kellogg could be heard telling Zelensky: “We’re going to make this work”.

Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, wrote on Telegram early on Sunday: “On this special day – Ukraine’s Independence Day – it is especially important for us to feel the support of our friends. And Canada has always stood by us.”

Meanwhile, Zelensky shared a letter from King Charles sending the people of Ukraine his “warmest and most sincere wishes”.

“I keep feeling the greatest and deepest admiration for the unbreakable spirit of the Ukrainian people,” the King writes. “I remain hopeful that our countries will be able to further work closely together to achieve a just and lasting peace.”

Zelensky said the King’s “kind words are a true inspiration for our people during the difficult time of war”.

The UK government also said Ukrainian flags would appear above Downing Street in recognition of the anniversary.

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that British military experts will continue to train Ukrainian soldiers until at least the end of 2026, with an extension to Operation Interflex – the codename given to the UK Armed Forces’ training programme for Ukrainian recruits.

Norway announced on Sunday that it would contribute about 7 billion kroner (£514m; $693m) of air defence systems to Ukraine.

“Together with Germany, we are now ensuring that Ukraine receives powerful air defence systems,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said in a statement.

The two nations are funding two Patriot systems, including missiles, with Norway also helping procure air defence radar.

Also on Sunday, Ukraine and Sweden announced they had agreed to joint defence production, with Sweden’s defence minister saying it would “boost Swedish rearmament and meet the needs of Ukraine’s armed forces”.

Pål Jonson wrote on X: “Ukraine will share and provide technology for its factories in Sweden and defence materiel co-produced in Sweden will be exported to Ukraine.”

On Saturday, Russia said its forces in eastern Ukraine had seized two villages in the Donetsk region.

Russian forces have been advancing very slowly, and at great cost, in eastern Ukraine and now control about 20% of Ukraine’s territory.

A full-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched by Russia in February 2022.

There has been intense diplomacy over the war this month, with US President Donald Trump meeting his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on 15 August.

The summit was billed as a vital step towards peace in Ukraine. However, despite both leaders claiming the talks were a success, Trump has since shown growing frustration publicly over the lack of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

The US president has said he is considering either hitting Russia with further economic sanctions or walking away from peace talks.

“I’m going to make a decision as to what we do and it’s going to be, it’s going to be a very important decision, and that’s whether or not it’s massive sanctions or massive tariffs or both, or we do nothing and say it’s your fight,” Trump said on Friday.

Zelensky has repeatedly called for an unconditional ceasefire and his European allies have also insisted on a halt in fighting.

He has accused Russia of “doing everything it can” to prevent a meeting with Putin to try to end the war.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Putin was ready to meet Ukraine’s leader “when the agenda is ready for a summit, and this agenda is not ready at all”, accusing Zelensky of saying “no to everything”.

A string of bands have pulled out of a music festival hours before they were due to perform after Irish folk band The Mary Wallopers claimed they were “cut off” for displaying a Palestinian flag.

The Last Dinner Party, Cliffords and The Academic announced on Saturday that they would no longer be performing at Portsmouth’s Victorious festival.

The organisers, who initially claimed The Mary Wallopers had their set cut on Friday for using a “discriminatory” chant, have since issued an apology to the band.

They also pledged to make “a substantial donation to humanitarian relief efforts for the Palestinian people”.

Rock band The Last Dinner Party said they were boycotting the festival in a statement shared on their Instagram page.

They said they were “outraged by the decision made to silence The Mary Wallopers” and accused the organisers of “political censorship”.

They apologised to their fans and expressed their support for Palestinians.

Following The Mary Wallopers’ set, a spokesperson for Victorious said: “We spoke to the artist before the performance regarding the festival’s long-standing policy of not allowing flags of any kind at the event, but that we respect their right to express their views during the show.

“Although a flag was displayed on stage contrary to our policy, and this was raised with the artist’s crew, the show was not ended at this point, and it was the artist’s decision to stop the song.”

In response, The Mary Wallopers claimed the festival had released a “misleading statement to the press claiming they cut our sound because of a discriminatory chant, and not the band’s call to Free Palestine”.

“Our video clearly shows a Victorious crew member coming on stage, interfering with our show, removing the flag from the stage and then the sound being cut following a chant of ‘Free Palestine’,” they added.

Rock band The Academic have also pulled out of the festival, saying they could not “in good conscience” perform at “a festival that silences free speech”, while Irish band Cliffords said they “refuse to play if we are to be censored for showing our support to the people of Palestine”.

As the bands announced they would no longer perform at the festival, the organisers issued another statement on Instagram.

Describing The Mary Wallopers as “a fantastic band”, they said: “We didn’t handle the explanation of our policies sensitively or far enough in advance to allow a sensible conclusion to be reached.

“This put the band and our own team in a difficult situation which never should have arisen. We would like to sincerely apologise to all concerned.

“We absolutely support the right of artists to freely express their views from the stage, within the law and the inclusive nature of the event. Our policy of not allowing flags of any kind, which has been in place for many years for wider event management and safety reasons, is not meant to compromise that right.

“We accept that, although mics remained live for longer, sound for The Mary Wallopers’ audience was cut as described in the band’s video and that comments after that were not audible to the public.”

They apologised for what had happened and pledged to make a “substantial donation” to humanitarian relief efforts.

The festival’s closing day is set to be headlined by Kings of Leon, with Bloc Party, Gabrielle and The Reytons among the other acts on the line-up.

Shane Gorman was 18 when he lost his dad in the Piper Alpha disaster.

David was a safety officer on the oil platform, which stood about 120 miles (193km) north-east of Aberdeen.

He was one of 167 men who died after a gas explosion tore the facility to pieces in July 1988, in what remains the world’s worst offshore oil and gas accident.

The trauma of that loss has shaped Shane’s life, inspiring him to follow David in trying to make the industry safer for those who work in it.

In a new BBC Scotland series telling the story of the disaster and its aftermath, Shane – who had joined the Army shortly before the explosion – explains why he later decided to pursue a career offshore.

“I just felt that this is what I need to do,” he says. “It was right for me. I went as a safety officer, which is what my dad used to do. He was always talking about keeping people safe. That was his calling.

“I’d always wanted to figure out what this was, this thing that took my dad away from me. What is it? What contributed to it being such an enormous disaster?

“As it turns out, it’s a catalogue of things that have to line up. Just the perfect storm.”

The last photo of David and Shane was taken just five days before the disaster. It shows father and son, arms around one another, enjoying a drink and marking a special occasion.

“It was a kind of farewell party or a good luck party for me going down to the army,” Shane says.

“I was 18-and-a-half and he was 41 then.”

They said goodbye for the final time at a railway station, before Shane set off to begin basic training.

“My dad and my mum took me up to Edinburgh Waverley and my dad shook my hand,” he says. “I remember him shaking my hand and saying ‘go to it’.”

Within days, everything changed.

While he was going through his basic training, Shane did not get access to newspapers or watch TV.

He says: “You’re in the army. It was my lieutenant, my commanding officer, who came in and said: ‘You have to go home. Now.’

“They gave me a train warrant and took me to Darlington train station in a Land Rover and just dropped me off.

“Of course, I’m still none the wiser to what’s going on. And I’m really confused about why I’m being sent home.”

That was when Shane learned what had happened to Piper Alpha, the platform his dad had been working on.

“I went into the newsagent to buy a can of Coke and a Mars bar or something and the papers were just covered,” he says. “Metal sticking out of the sea, headlines. Reporting of the amount of people that had died.

“And honestly, I just knew right then that he was dead and wasn’t coming back. I just knew it straight away.

“I just wept the whole way up on the train. And I’m 18 years old and I was comforted by two old ladies.

“I don’t even think I managed to tell them why I was so upset. Maybe I did, I don’t remember. It was kind of blank from there on in.”

The Piper oilfield lies about halfway between Scotland the west coast of Norway. It was discovered in 1973 and production started in December 1976.

Piper Alpha was installed over the field in 1975. A fixed platform, it was attached by permanent legs to the seabed 472ft (144m) below the surface of the North Sea.

Designed to simultaneously drill and produce oil, it was operated by the UK arm of Occidental Petroleum, a US company with interests across the globe.

It was modified to produce gas as well as oil and, at its peak, the platform is said to have accounted for about 10% of the oil production of the entire North Sea.

That all ended on the night of 6 July 1988.

The events which led to the explosion began with a leak from pipes connected to a pump. A safety valve had been removed from the pipes for maintenance.

A communications failure on the platform meant work was being done at the same time on the pump itself. When the pipe work from which the safety valve had been removed was pressurised at start-up, gas began leaking.

Soon after, the gas ignited, causing an explosion which set off the oil. The heat ruptured a gas pipeline from another installation, producing a fireball that engulfed Piper Alpha.

Fire spread and the effects were devastating. Explosions ripped through firewalls and engulfed much of the platform, including the control room and accommodation blocks – which were meant to be fireproof and safe.

Less than two hours after the initial explosion the platform, its supporting structure weakened by the intense fires, began to buckle and collapse.

First cranes, then the drilling derrick and finally the accommodation modules fell into the sea. They were filled with workers who had sought sanctuary from the inferno.

Of the 226 men on board, 165 died, along with two rescuers.

The 61 who survived had managed to make it off the platform and into the sea, where they were picked up by a small flotilla of vessels.

Of these men, five had jumped 175ft (53m) from the helicopter deck.

Those who had made it off Piper Alpha were taken to hospital in Aberdeen, but it took months to account for the casualties.

David Gorman was among those whose bodies were missing.

Shane says: “The information that we had was my dad was missing, presumed dead. Weirdly, the last time my dad was seen he was holding a door open for people to get through in the accommodation.”

The accommodation blocks were raised from the seabed towards the end of 1988. David’s body was not among the 87 found inside.

“My dad was one of the ones that was never found,” Shane says.

“There was an acceptance that we wouldn’t find his body, which takes its toll as well because it’s… not just to get a death certificate, it’s not really about that… it’s just the fact that there’s no closure.”

David was one of 30 Piper Alpha victims whose remains were never recovered.

What was left of the platform was toppled into the sea in March 1989.

The official inquiry, chaired by the Scottish judge Lord William Cullen, opened in November 1988 in Aberdeen.

The BBC series recreates the often harrowing testimony of survivors, rescuers and experts as they pieced together the events of the night and the aftermath.

The inquiry sat for 180 days over 13 months. Lord Cullen’s final report, published in November 1990, was scathing about Occidental’s management of the platform, its communication systems, attitude towards the safety of workers, and the overall industry and government oversight of conditions in the North Sea.

Nearly four decades on, and with the benefit of 13 years working offshore, Shane remains appalled by what he learned about the circumstances of his father’s death.

“I don’t think on that night they had any plausible or practical way to fight a fire like that. You cannot fight a fire like that. You have to turn off its fuel and that didn’t happen,” he says.

“They didn’t have authority from management to stop pumping even if they could blatantly see that there was a massive disaster happening in front of their eyes. It appears that there was a fear that if they had shut down, they would lose their jobs.”

Shane is especially angered by the lack of public announcements to evacuate the platform, a failure which was catastrophic for the workers that night.

“That just never came. Most people just had to fend for themselves and try and find their own way off the platform,” he says.

“I honestly thought that it was an absolute disgrace. Cullen’s report discovered a systemic failure, cultural failure, a kind of flippancy towards safety led from the top down.

“How it was allowed to happen? I’m not sure. But it was.”

The memorial to the Piper Alpha disaster stands in Aberdeen’s Hazlehead Park. It depicts three offshore workers and carries the names and ages of the 167 dead.

What happened that night in July 1988 changed the UK oil and gas industry forever.

Lord Cullen made 106 recommendations covering the way the industry and government operated the sector. A protracted period of industrial unrest and protest from workers helped press for change.

In the 37 years since, there have been no major safety emergencies in the North Sea.

Occidental is said to have paid survivors and the families of the dead $220m in compensation. The insurance claims for the damage came to about $1.4bn.

In May 1991, Occidental sold its UK oil and gas business to the French company Elf for $1.35bn.

Two months later, Scotland’s most senior law officer, Lord Advocate Peter Fraser, said there was insufficient evidence to establish the cause of the disaster or any criminal liability.

He announced no criminal charges would be pursued against any individual or the platform’s operators.

Shane Gorman continues to work as a safety consultant in the North Sea oil and gas industry, carrying on the work his dad died doing.

He says: “Piper Alpha ought to be a lesson to us all not to be complacent and not allow greed and money to rule over people and safety.

“I think that that’s the message. People are more important.”