Closing summary
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in Washington on the first of the three-day Nato summit, which is expected to focus heavily on helping Kyiv fight Russian aggression in the war in Ukraine.
India’s prime minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the death of innocent children was painful and terrifying, a day after a lethal strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv. “Whether it is war, conflict or a terrorist attack, any person who believes in humanity, is pained when there is loss of lives,” Modi said. “But even in that, when innocent children are killed, the heart bleeds and that pain is very terrifying.” The deadly hospital strike was likely caused by a direct hit from a Russian missile, Danielle Bell, head of mission for the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, said.
Modi arrived in Russia on Monday, shortly after Russian missiles struck across Ukraine, killing at least 41 people nationwide, including some children, officials said. The Czech foreign minister, Jan Lipavský, on Tuesday said he summoned the Russian ambassador in response to the strikes. The attack prompted the UN security council to hold an emergency meeting after Ukraine requested it to do so.
Ukrainian drones attacked a Russian oil refinery, military airfield, and electricity substation in an overnight joint operation by Kyiv’s security and military intelligence agencies, a security source told Reuters. The source said the attacks hit the Akhtubinsk airfield in Russia’s southern Astrakhan region, an oil refinery in the Volgograd region and an electricity substation in the Rostov region.
The Kremlin claimed to have captured the village of Yasnobrodivka in eastern Ukraine near the Russian-held city of Donetsk, according to its defence ministry.
Thank you for following today’s latest news. This blog is closing now but you can read all our Ukraine coverage here.
Updated
Zelenskiy arrives in Washington for Nato summit
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has arrived in Washington for participation in the three-day Nato summit, Ukraine’s state news agency Ukrinform reported.
The Ukrainian president is expected to give a speech at the Ronald Reagan Institute later in the day. He has been urging allies to bolster Ukrainian air defence systems and is expected to renew those pleas during the summit.
Observers expect Nato members to pledge at least four additional Patriot missile batteries. Zelenskiy had previously asked Nato for seven batteries, saying that Vladimir Putin “must be brought down to earth, and our sky must become safe again … And it depends fully on your choice … [the] choice whether we are indeed allies.”
Зеленський та українська делегація прибули до Вашингтона на саміт НАТОhttps://t.co/OE6RsI85qS pic.twitter.com/9foQTYsZta
— Ukrinform (@UKRINFORM) July 9, 2024
Updated
Hannah Ellis-Petersen is the Guardian’s south Asia correspondent
As India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, landed in Moscow on Monday, it was straight into the warm embrace of Vladimir Putin. Modi said the visit – his first since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – was to cement the “bonds of friendship” between the two countries, and later effusively described Russia as India’s “all-weather friend and trusted ally”.
The India-Russia relationship runs deep, dating back to the cold war, and Russia has long been the largest supplier of arms to India. Since he was elected in 2014, Modi has built up a much-publicised rapport with Putin, the two leaders having had more than 20 meetings.
However, Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine in February 2022 put an unprecedented strain on their ties and forced India to tread a tricky path in balancing its relationships with both Putin and the west.
India refused to join western countries in condemning Putin’s invasion and abstained from all UN votes denouncing Russia. It also eagerly became the largest buyer of cheap Russian oil, still sending billions to the country’s coffers, which was seen by some to undermine western sanction efforts. Nonetheless, India’s displeasure with Putin’s actions was not entirely concealed, with Modi stating that “now is not the era for war”.
The Indian prime minister’s decision to strengthen his relationship with the western leaders who are Putin’s biggest critics, including the US president, Joe Biden, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has been met frostily in the corridors of the Kremlin. Similarly, Putin’s increasingly close ties with Beijing are viewed with great suspicion in New Delhi, where China is viewed as the greatest threat.
But while the geopolitical landscape was markedly different from 2019 when Modi was last in Moscow, the leaders went to great pains to display their continued bonhomie over the two-day visit which ended on Tuesday night.
You can read the full story here:
Czech foreign minister summons Russian ambassador after deadly Russian missile strikes on Ukraine
The Czech foreign minister, Jan Lipavský, said he has summoned the Russian ambassador after a daylight Russian missile barrage hit Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital and killed dozens of people around the country on Monday.
Lipavský said:
I have decided to summon the Russian ambassador. Murderers who attack children in hospitals are the dregs of humanity. He has been instructed to deliver the message in Moscow.
I have decided to summon the Russian ambassador. Murderers who attack children in hospitals are the dregs of humanity. He has been instructed to deliver the message in Moscow.
— Jan Lipavský (@JanLipavsky) July 9, 2024
The UN security council is to hold an emergency meeting after the deadly Russian missile attacks over Ukraine yesterday. You can watch the meeting on the stream at the top of this blog.
Norway’s government will give defence firm Nammo 1 billion crowns ($94m; £73.7m) to boost production of artillery ammunition, it said on Tuesday, as heads of Nato member states met for their annual summit in Washington.
“Nammo will be investing in a new production line that can increase production of the defence sector’s most modern artillery shells tenfold,” the Norwegian government said, adding that Nammo had committed to maintaining the new production capacity for at least 15 years.
Norway and its Nato allies have been racing to increase their production of weapons, ammunition and missiles, partly to supply Ukraine but also to replenish stocks and be able to counter new threats.
Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, said (you can read the press release here):
Ukraine has an enormous and urgent need for ammunition and weapons. The Government has implemented a number of measures to enhance production in the Norwegian defence industry.
This agreement will make it possible for Nammo to expand production of highly sought-after military equipment. This is of great importance for Ukraine, for Allied security and for our own national preparedness.
Updated
Pope Francis voiced “grave sorrow” over the Russian missile strikes on Ukraine yesterday that hit the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in central Kyiv, and expressed “deep distress” at the escalation of violence in Ukraine and Gaza, the Vatican has said.
It said in a statement:
The Holy Father has learned with grave sorrow the news about attacks on two medical centres in Kyiv, including Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, as well as against a school in Gaza.
Updated
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, spoke to journalists at an airport in Ankara before flying to Washington to join Nato leaders at a summit meeting. He cautioned Nato allies about taking any step that could escalate the war in Ukraine and potentially drag member states into it directly.
“While designing the steps to be taken to support Ukraine, we also maintain our principled stance not to make Nato a party to the war,” he said.
His comments come a day after Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, said that Poland was open to the idea of shooting down Russian missiles that were heading for Nato territory while they were still over Ukrainian soil.
Updated
A delegation of North Korean military trainers led by the head of a prestigious military academy in Pyongyang has begun a trip to Russia, according to North Korean state media.
The delegation of North Korean military trainers is led by the president of the Kim Il Sung Military University, Kim Geum Chol, North Korean state media said, without providing any further information about the visit.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol said on 8 June that growing military cooperation between Russia and North Korea poses a “distinct threat and a grave challenge to the peace and security on the Korean peninsula and in Europe”.
News emerged at the end of May that France could soon send its military trainers to Ukraine, after commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that he had already signed documents “that will allow the first French instructors to visit training centers soon”.
Ukrainian drones attacked a Russian oil refinery, military airfield, and electricity substation in an overnight joint operation by Kyiv’s security and military intelligence agencies, a security source told Reuters on Tuesday.
The source said the attacks hit the Akhtubinsk airfield in Russia’s southern Astrakhan region, an oil refinery in the Volgograd region and an electricity substation in the Rostov region.
As was mentioned in the opening summary, the Russian aviation authority confirmed that Russia’s Astrakhan and Volgograd airports resumed flights after closing earlier due to a drone attack.
Russia says its forces have taken control of village in eastern Ukraine - report
Russia’s defence ministry has said that its forces have taken control of Yasnobrodivka settlement in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, the Tass news agency reported. This claim has not yet been independently verified by the Guardian.
Ukrainian troops have been trying to fend off an intense Russian offensive focused on the Ukrainian border regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk. Kyiv has reported shortages of ammunition and troops along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) frontline, and is in desperate need of more western military aid, particularly air defence systems.
Updated
Austria’s energy minister has appointed a commission of experts to examine whether Austria can scrap a gas-supply contract between Austrian fuel giant OMV and Gazprom to reduce its dependence on Russia, Reuters reported.
Leonore Gewessler of the Greens, which is the junior partner in a conservative-led coalition, said in February she wanted to end the contract that runs until 2040.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservatives have said they agree Austria needs to move away from Russian gas. Ahead of a parliamentary election due on Sept. 29, however, the two sides of the coalition increasingly have been at odds.
In May, the latest month for which data is available, 90% of net gas imports came from Russia.
Gewessler said OMV had agreed to grant members of the commission access to the contract, the terms of which are a closely-guarded secret.
Her commission, made up of economists and legal specialists, is headed by retired judge and former lawmaker for the liberal Neos Irmgard Griss and law professor Andreas Kletecka.
“It is a very significant and important question: isn’t there a way to get out of this contract?” Griss told a news conference. “Is there anything you can use legally to get out of this contract?”
The commission’s initial findings are due to be presented “by autumn” before a final report by the end of this year, Gewessler’s ministry said in a statement without specifying whether that could be before the September elections.
The far-right Freedom Party (FPO), which rival parties accuse of being dangerously pro-Russian, has led opinion polls. It says it is merely defending Austria’s neutrality.
Modi tells Putin that the 'heart bleeds' when children are killed
An update from Reuters on Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow:
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that the death of innocent children was painful and terrifying, a day after a lethal strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
The pointed remark by the visiting Indian leader was an implicit rebuke to Putin, who moments earlier had welcomed him to the Kremlin with a warm statement on the importance of the strategic ties between the two countries.
Ukraine says it has recovered fragments of a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile at the children’s hospital, which was hit on Monday during a wave of Russian attacks that killed at least 41 Ukrainians across the country.
Russia said, without providing evidence, that it was a Ukrainian anti-missile system that struck the hospital.
“Whether it is war, conflict or a terrorist attack, any person who believes in humanity, is pained when there is loss of lives,” Modi said.
“But even in that, when innocent children are killed, the heart bleeds and that pain is very terrifying.”
It was not the first time that Modi has appeared to criticise Russia over its actions in Ukraine. In September 2022, he told Putin that “today’s era is not an era of war”, and Putin said at that time he understood Modi’s concerns.
India, however, has not condemned Russia’s invasion and has taken the opportunity to buy record amounts of discounted Russian oil as sanctions have decimated Moscow’s trade with the west.
Updated
Donations have poured in to help rebuild the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital, one of the largest in Europe and provided treatment for various diseases including cancer. Rescue operations at the hospital ended early on Tuesday, with two people confirmed dead and dozens injured after part of the medical facility was reduced to rubble by Russian strikes.
Reuters calculations based on statements and Ukrainian media reports put the total amount donated to the hospital so far from Ukraine’s corporate sector at about 300 million hryvnia ($7.3m; £5.7m).
Oleh Horokhovskyi, founder of Ukrainian lender Monobank, said they had gathered 100 million hryvnias ($2.4m; £1.9m) from various businesses within just three hours.
A woman’s body has been recovered from the ruins of a residential building in Kyiv where 12 people were killed in the Russian missile attack yesterday, mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram.
As European leaders and top defence officials from 31 Nato countries descend on Washington this week, all eyes will be focused firmly on Joe Biden, whose faltering performance at last month’s debate has added to concerns about the country that some Europeans already described as their “unpredictable ally”.
The US president has hoped that his leadership at the summit will rescue his campaign against Donald Trump amid concerns about his age and mental acuity. In a primetime interview on US television this week, he said: “And who’s gonna be able to hold Nato together like me?… We’re gonna have, I guess a good way to judge me, is you’re gonna have now the Nato conference here in the United States next week. Come listen. See what they say.”
But in private conversations, some European officials and diplomats have expressed concerns about his “shaky” public appearances and worries about the high likelihood of a second Trump term. Several foreign officials questioned whether Biden would remain in the race through next week.
“You can’t just put the genie back in the bottle,” said one European diplomat of the questions concerning Biden’s age. “It is one of the big issues [around the summit].”
The #NATOSummit starts today!
— NATO (@NATO) July 9, 2024
Watch the video to find out what’s on the agenda ↓
You can read the full story by the Guardian’s global affairs correspondent, Andrew Roth, here:
Updated
Switzerland has expanded its sanctions against Russia to include additional measures recently taken up by the EU against Moscow over its war in Ukraine, the Swiss government has said. You can read the full press release here.
Pointing to a package of measures adopted by the EU against Russia on 24 June, the Swiss economy ministry said it would impose sanctions within its jurisdiction on a further 69 individuals and 86 entities.
These sanctions mainly target “businesspersons, propagandists, members of the armed forces and judiciary, persons responsible for the deportation of Ukrainian children” and members of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), it said.
The newly sanctioned entities include companies operating in Russia’s defence industry and firms in the financial and trade sectors involved in circumventing sanctions, it added. This meant that more than 2,200 individuals and entities are now subject to the sanctions listings, the ministry said. “This is in line with the EU,” the statement added.
The Swiss government said that it had placed an advertising ban on media outlets Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta “owing to Russia’s continuous propaganda and disinformation campaigns”. In contrast to the EU, these media are not subject to a broadcasting ban in Switzerland, the ministry said.
The Ohmatdyt children’s hospital treats children with serious conditions, such as cancer and kidney disease, and had about 670 child patients and 1,000 staff at the time of the missile attack on Kyiv yesterday, Danielle Bell, the head of the UN’s human monitoring mission, said.
“Staff had moved the children to a bunker yesterday morning when the air raid sirens first went off otherwise the casualties would have been much higher,” she told a press briefing in Geneva via video link from Kyiv.
The Ukrainian State Security Service (SBU) presented new evidence on Tuesday it said proved that the hospital had been directly hit by a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.
“The experts’ conclusions are unequivocal – it was a direct strike,” the SBU said on Telegram, sharing images of a missile engine fragment it said was found at the site.
Updated
UN assessment suggests Ukraine's largest children's hospital was hit by Russian missile
A deadly strike on Kyiv’s Ohmatdyt children’s hospital – Ukraine’s biggest paediatrics facility – was likely caused by a direct hit from a Russian missile, the head of the UN’s human rights monitoring mission said.
Danielle Bell, head of mission for the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, said:
Analysis of the video footage and an assessment made at the incident site indicates a high likelihood that the children’s hospital suffered a direct hit rather than receiving damage due to an intercepted weapon system.
She said her team, who visited the site on Monday, could not make a final determination but that the missile appeared to have been launched by the Russian Federation.
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said earlier today that it was a Nasams surface-to-air missile launched by Ukraine that hit the children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday. Ukrainian authorities said that Russia struck the hospital with a Kh-101 Kalibr missile.
Officials and emergency staff said it was not immediately clear how many doctors and patients – dead or alive – remained trapped under the rubble. At least two people reportedly died when a missile flattened part of the hospital on Monday.
In a post on X this morning, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that all the patients from Okhmatdyt have been transferred to other medical institutions.
The rescue operation after yesterday's Russian missile attack continues.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 9, 2024
As of now, 38 people have been reported dead, including four children. My condolences to all the families and friends affected by this tragedy.
190 people were injured and are receiving assistance. There… pic.twitter.com/T7kfLkggKx
Updated
Rescue workers have now reached the basement of the destroyed building of the Okhmatdyt national children’s specialised hospital in Kyiv, but five or six tonnes of building materials still need to be sifted and removed, the ministry of internal affairs told Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda this morning.
The strike largely destroyed the children’s hospital toxicology ward, where patients with severe kidney issues were being treated. Hundreds of rescue workers and volunteers joined the effort to clear the debris and search for survivors.
Updated
We have some more quotes from Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, who is in Moscow. He is visiting the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and has made an address to the Indian diaspora on his first visit to Russia in five years.
“Every Indian considers Russia to be India’s friend in good and bad times,” Modi said.
“The commitment of our relationship has been tested multiple times, and it has emerged very strong each time,” the Indian prime minister said, adding that he appreciated his “dear friend” Putin for it.
The two leaders are scheduled to hold official talks in the Kremlin later on Tuesday, focusing on cheaper energy supplies and deeper economic and strategic ties.
Putin showed Modi around his suburban residence of Novo-Ogaryovo on Monday. In footage broadcast by the Kremlin, the Russian leader is seen driving Modi in a golf cart around the residence.
The timing of Modi’s visit (i.e. when the Nato summit is on) has no significance, a senior Indian foreign ministry official told Reuters last week. The source said the visit was part of a longstanding calendar of summits between the two countries (see post at 08.45 for more details).
Updated
Nato leaders will sit down in Washington this week to reveal the details of an aid package that is reported to include crucial air defence systems meant to protect Ukrainian cities from continuing Russian attacks. The summit starts off today (with preliminary sessions) and ends on Thursday.
Pjotr Sauer, a Russian affairs reporter for the Guardian, writes in this story that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has requested at least seven more Patriot batteries in addition to those already donated by the US, Germany and the Netherlands.
Observers expect Nato members to pledge of at least four additional Patriot missile batteries to Ukraine at the conclusion of this week’s summit.
The package put forward by Nato countries has been presented as “historic” and is seen by many as an attempt to “futureproof” continued aid to Ukraine – but it may not fully satisfy Kyiv.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the Kremlin would closely follow this week’s summit because the alliance had declared Moscow its enemy and sought to defeat Russia. Peskov told reporters Russia considered Nato to be fully involved in the war in Ukraine.
Updated
The US will provide Poland with a second $2bn foreign military financing loan to buy defence equipment – such as F-35 aircraft and Patriot systems – from the US, the state department has announced. The state department highlighted that Warsaw spends 4% of its GDP on defence, the highest of all the 32 Nato member states, and said the loan agreement will “further strengthen” Nato’s eastern flank.
In a press statement, the US state department said:
The US government is providing up to $60m in foreign military financing to subsidise the interest rate cost of this loan, which will help accelerate Poland’s defence modernisation by supporting urgent procurements of defence articles and services from the United States.
Foreign military financing direct loans are a security cooperation tool reserved for some of our most important security cooperation partners. Loan proceeds will further advance Poland’s military modernisation effort across a wide range of capabilities, substantially contributing to strengthening the defence and deterrence of Nato’s eastern flank.
Updated
Zelenskiy attacks Modi meeting Putin on day of deadly Russian strikes across Ukraine
On the same day as Russia launched its deadly missile attack across Ukraine, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, toured his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, around his residence outside Moscow. The two leaders will hold official talks in the Kremlin today.
Putin embraced the Indian leader at his home at Novo-Ogaryovo, greeted him as his “dear friend” and said he was “very happy” to see him, according to an account by Russia’s Tass state news agency.
“Our official talks are tomorrow, while today in this comfortable, cozy setting we can probably discuss the same issues, but unofficially,” Tass quoted Putin as saying.
Referencing the visit, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a post on X that it undermined peace efforts to see Modi hug “the world’s most bloody criminal” on the same day so many civilians were killed across Ukraine by Russian strikes.
Gratitude to President Putin for hosting me at Novo-Ogaryovo this evening. Looking forward to our talks tomorrow as well, which will surely go a long way in further cementing the bonds of friendship between India and Russia. pic.twitter.com/eDdgDr0USZ
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 8, 2024
Zelenskiy said:
It is a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day.
In Ukraine today, 37 people were killed, three of whom were children, and 170 were injured, including 13 children, as a result of Russia’s brutal missile strike.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 8, 2024
A Russian missile struck the largest children's hospital in Ukraine, targeting young cancer patients. Many were… pic.twitter.com/V1k7PEz2rJ
Modi, who was re-elected for a third term in June, last visited Moscow in 2015. He has met Putin several times since at international summits and the leaders have spoken often by phone. Russia remains one of India’s most important trading partners, particularly on weapons and defence. Russia is a vital supplier of cut-price oil and weapons to India, but Moscow’s isolation from the West and growing ties with Beijing have affected its partnership with New Delhi. You can read more about the countries’ relationship and what we can expect from the meeting between the two leaders here.
Updated
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. It has just gone past 10:30am in Kyiv.
The coming days will see a host of diplomatic activity, with a Nato summit in Washington and a UN security council meeting in New York – two gatherings that will be dominated by Monday’s Russian missile attacks on Ukraine.
The strikes were among the heaviest that the capital, Kyiv, has seen, reducing parts of the country’s main children’s hospital to rubble and forcing the evacuation of seriously ill patients.
During the deadly Russian missile strikes on Monday, 32,000 people, including almost 2,200 children, sought refuge in Kyiv’s metro stations, according to the Kyiv city state administration.
After the attack, the US national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, said that Washington has not changed its policy to allow Ukraine to strike deeper inside Russian territory with US-supplied weapons.
You can read more on Monday’s attack and the latest developments in the summary below:
A day of mourning has been declared in Kyiv by mayor Vitali Klitschko after a daylight Russian missile barrage hit Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital and killed dozens around the country. All flags will be flown at half mast on municipal buildings throughout the city, he said in a Telegram post, and entertainment events will be cancelled. The strike was among the heaviest attacks on the capital since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. At least 41 people were killed across Ukraine, according to officials. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted on the Telegram messaging app: “Russia cannot help but know where its missiles are flying, and must fully answer for all its crimes: against people, against children, against humanity in general.”
After the strikes, US president Joe Biden promised “new measures” to boost Ukraine’s air defences. “Russia’s missile strikes that today killed dozens of Ukrainian civilians and caused damage and casualties at Kyiv’s largest children’s hospital are a horrific reminder of Russia’s brutality,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House. He was speaking on the eve of a Nato summit in Washington where leaders are expected to present a “historic” aid package for Ukraine, including air defences. Observers expect Nato members to pledge at least four additional Patriot missile batteries. The Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, will meet with Zelenskiy on Wednesday during the Nato summit in Washington, according to Johnson’s schedule.
Western and UN leaders condemned Monday’s strikes, which saw Ukraine’s main treatment centre for children with cancer, take a direct missile hit. British prime minister Keir Starmer condemned “attacking innocent children” as the “most depraved of actions”, while the Italian foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, called the missile strike a “war crime”. A spokesperson for António Guterres, the UN secretary general, said he strongly condemned the “particularly shocking” strikes against the children’s hospital and another medical facility. UN rights chief Volker Türk condemned the Russian strikes as “abominable”. France’s foreign ministry called the bombardment of a children’s hospital “barbaric” and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau described the attack as “abhorrent”. Russia has claimed the extensive missile damage in Kyiv was caused by Ukrainian air defence systems and that it was striking only military targets. The UN security council is to meet on Tuesday at the request of Britain, France, Ecuador, Slovenia and the US.
One person was killed, while two power substations and an oil depot caught fire, after Ukraine launched tens of drones in attacks on several regions, Russian officials said on Tuesday. Russian air defence systems destroyed 38 drones, including 21 over the southern region of Rostov and seven over Kursk, both of which border Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry said.
Russia’s Astrakhan and Volgograd airports resumed flights after closing due to a Ukrainian drone attack, the Russian aviation authority said.
China and Belarus started joint military exercises on Monday, the Belarusian and Chinese defence ministries said, holding the drills just few miles (km) from the border of Nato-member Poland. “Events taking place in the world are alarming, the situation is uneasy, therefore we are going to practice new forms and methods of performing tactical tasks,” Maj Gen Vadim Denisenko, chief of Belarusian special operations command, said. The manoeuvres, codenamed Falcon Assault, will go until 19 July and are taking place at a training ground near the city of Brest, in southwest Belarus, the ministry said.
