That’s all for today, thanks for following our live coverage on day 679 of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Here’s a summary of the day’s events:
Ukraine launched 12 missiles and several drones in the early hours of Wednesday on Russia’s southern region of Belgorod, Russia’s defence ministry and local authorities said.
The Polish foreign minister has called on allies to deliver long-range missiles to Ukraine to help Kyiv target “launch sites and command centres” amid a new wave of Russian attacks.
Russian missile and drone strikes on Kyiv and the north-eastern city of Kharkiv killed at least five people on Tuesday and injured dozens of others, Ukrainian officials said. The attacks caused widespread damage and hit power supplies, Ukraine’s authorities said.
The Nato Support and Procurement Agency has said would support a group of countries with a contract for up to 1,000 Patriot Guidance Enhanced Missiles.
The EU has imposed sanctions on Russia’s state-run diamond company Alrosa and its chief executive as part of a ban on imports of the precious stones over the Ukraine war.
Polish farmers will resume their blockade at a border crossing with Ukraine from tomorrow, Reuters reports. “I will try to convince carriers not to use blockades as a method of defending their interests. We will do everything to effectively protect their interests,” prime minister Donald Tusk said during a press conference.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said gas pipelines had been damaged in Kyiv’s Pecherskyi district, while electricity and water had been cut off in several districts of the capital. Heating and water supplies were damaged in Kharkiv, said its mayor, Ihor Terekhov.
Russia said it had accidentally bombed a village in its own southern Voronezh region near Ukraine. In a statement quoted by Russian news agencies, the Russian army said “an abnormal discharge of aircraft ammunition occurred over the village of Petropavlovka in the Voronezh region. There are no casualties.”
Norway will send two F-16 fighter jets to Denmark to contribute to the training of Ukrainian pilots on the use of the US-made airplane, the Norwegian defence minister has said.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, urged faster supplies of air defence systems, combat drones and long-range missiles. His ministry said Kuleba called on Ukraine’s western partners to respond to a new Russian strike on Ukraine by “accelerating the supply of additional air defence systems, combat drones of all types, long-range missiles with a range of 300+ km”.
Lithuania’s president, Gitanas Nausėda, and Latvia’s president, Edgars Rinkēvičs, also called for more air defence systems for Ukraine.
Turkey said it would not allow two British minehunter ships to transit its waters en route to the Black Sea for use by Ukraine. Turkey is enforcing an international pact under which it can block passage of military ships of warring parties through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits. It exempts naval ships if they are returning to their normal home bases in the Black Sea.
One man was killed and seven people were injured on Tuesday in a Ukrainian attack on the city and region of Belgorod, near Russia’s border with Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry and regional officials claimed.
Vladimir Putin has expressed condolences to Iran’s leadership over blasts that killed more than 100 people in the city of Kerman, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing a Kremlin statement.
The Russian president condemned “terrorism in all its forms” on Wednesday and said the attack on peaceful people was “shocking in its cruelty and cynicism”.
Updated
