Closing summary
An overnight Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv killed six people and wounded at least 10 others, national emergency services and the city’s mayor said on Saturday. Igor Terekhov also said in Telegram post that the attack had targeted Shevchenkivskyi, a northern area of the city, Agence France-Presse reports. Terekhov said Iranian-made drones had carried out the attack, hitting at least nine high-rise buildings, three dormitories and a petrol station.
Oleg Synegubov, the region’s governor, said earlier that two men were killed in Shevchenkivskyi. Police confirmed the deaths and said a further eight people were hospitalised “with blast injuries and shrapnel wounds”. Police added that there were no casualties in a separate attack on Mala Danylivka, a village on Kharkiv’s north-west outskirts.
A new Russian strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, killed one civilian and injured several more, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Saturday. “There is information about one death as a result of a strike on a residential area of the city. There are also injuries,” Terekhov said on the Telegram messaging app. Regional officials reported that a Russian strike earlier on on Kharkiv killed six civilians and injured 10.
A kamikaze drone hit a military facility belonging to the defence ministry of pro-Russian separatist authorities in Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestria region, its security ministry said on Friday. A message posted by the ministry said the target was six km (four miles) from the border with Ukraine, which has been battling a Russian invasion for over two years, with the nearest front lines around 200 km (125 miles) to Moldova’s east, Reuters reported. “The target was a radar station, which suffered minor damage, but there were no casualties. An investigative team is working on the spot. A criminal case has been opened,” the ministry said. It did not name a culprit.
Russia on Saturday condemned as a provocation a drone attack on a military facility of pro-Russian separatists in Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestria region and called for an investigation. A kamikaze drone hit a facility belonging to the separatist authority’s defence ministry six km (four miles) from the border with Ukraine, the region’s security ministry said on Friday.
Ukrainian forces are still in control of the town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine despite attempts by Russian troops to break through their defences, commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said. Russia’s RIA news agency on Friday cited an official as saying Russian forces had entered the suburbs of the town, which Moscow sees as an important staging point for Kyiv’s troops. Ukrainian military said the report was untrue, Reuters reported. “Chasiv Yar remains under our control, and all enemy attempts to break through to the settlement have failed,” Syrskyi said on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday.
On the ground in Ukraine, Russian forces were advancing, and pushing back against them was “difficult”, said Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s armed forces. Syrskyi said the situation in the Bakhmut area in the partially occupied eastern Donetsk region was particularly challenging, Reuters reported. He said Russian forces are carrying out offensive operations day and night, using assault groups with the support of armoured vehicles, as well as assaults on foot.
Tajikistan’s foreign ministry on Saturday rejected a claim by a top Russian security official that Ukraine’s embassy in the Tajik capital was recruiting mercenaries to fight against Russia. “We note that this assertion by the Russian official has no basis to it,” Russian news agencies quoted Tajik foreign ministry spokesperson Shokhin Samadi as saying.
Russia fired five missiles on Ukraine’s southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Friday, killing at least four people, injuring 20 and damaging residential buildings and industrial facilities, the regional governor said. Two journalists covering the aftermath of the strikes were among those wounded in the city, near the war’s frontline. Ivan Fedorov, the governor, said: “First there were two missile strikes, and then, about 40 minutes later, there were other strikes at the same place – just as rescuers, police started working.” Reuters TV footage showed reporters rushing to help colleagues lying injured on the ground before emergency crews arrived.
A Ukrainian drone attack targeting the Morozovsk airbase in Russia killed or injured 20 members of airfield personnel and destroyed six Russian warplanes, as well as badly damaging eight others, according to officials in Kyiv on Friday. Russian defence officials, however, claimed they intercepted more than 40 Ukrainian drones and only a power substation was damaged in the barrage. Neither side’s claims could be independently verified. Morozovsk airbase is used by Russian tactical bombers that launch guided bombs at the Ukrainian military and frontline towns and cities, according to a Kyiv source.
Russian forces have taken control of the settlement of Vodyane in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Russia’s defence ministry claimed on Friday. The ministry’s statement – the latest of several claimed advances by Russian forces since they took nearby Avdiivka in February – could not be independently verified. Earlier on Friday, Russia’s state-run RIA news agency cited an official as saying Russian troops had entered the suburbs of Chasiv Yar, farther north near Bakhmut. The Ukrainian military denied Russian advances in the town.
Russian investigators claim to have found pro-Ukraine data on the phone of one of the Moscow terror attack suspects, despite evidence that an Islamic State offshoot was responsible. The data showed that on the war’s second anniversary in February he had trawled for photographs of the Crocus City Hall and sent it to others, Russia’s investigative committee alleged, also saying it found photos of men in camouflage holding the Ukrainian flag. Human rights experts have warned that any statements from the suspects should be met with scepticism as the men appeared to have been tortured.
Pro-Russian separatists in Moldova claimed an explosive drone hit a military base, without causing injuries or major damage, three weeks after an allegedly similar incident. The strike was in Rybnitsa district, 6km (3.7 miles) from the Ukraine border, the region’s ministry for state security said on Friday. “The target was a radar station that suffered minor damage. A group of investigators is on-site,” it added, without directly blaming Ukraine.
That’s all from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the Ukraine live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
You can continue to find all the latest news from Russia’s war in Ukraine here. Good night.
Tajikistan’s foreign ministry on Saturday rejected a claim by a top Russian security official that Ukraine’s embassy in the Tajik capital was recruiting mercenaries to fight against Russia.
“We note that this assertion by the Russian official has no basis to it,” Russian news agencies quoted Tajik foreign ministry spokesperson Shokhin Samadi as saying.
Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev, a top ally of president Vladimir Putin, said on Wednesday, without providing evidence, that “Ukrainian special services” were behind last month’s deadly concert shooting near Moscow and that the Ukrainian embassy in Tajikistan was recruiting fighters, state media reported.
Ukraine has denied having anything to do with the attack that killed at least 144 people, and the United States has said Islamic State militants bore sole responsibility.
A new Russian strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, killed one civilian and injured several more, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Saturday.
“There is information about one death as a result of a strike on a residential area of the city. There are also injuries,” Terekhov said on the Telegram messaging app.
Regional officials reported that a Russian strike earlier on on Kharkiv killed six civilians and injured 10
Russia calls for investigation into 'dangerous' Transdniestria drone attack
Russia on Saturday condemned as a provocation a drone attack on a military facility of pro-Russian separatists in Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestria region and called for an investigation.
A kamikaze drone hit a facility belonging to the separatist authority’s defence ministry six km (four miles) from the border with Ukraine, the region’s security ministry said on Friday.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 sparked fears that Moscow might seek to sweep west through southern Ukraine all the way to Transdniestria, linking up with its garrison there, Reuters reporte. Those fears faded as Kyiv’s troops beat back Russian forces to the eastern side of the Dnipro river.
The nearest front lines lie around 200 km (125 miles) from eastern Moldova.
“We regard this incident as yet another provocation aimed at exacerbating the already tense situation around Transdniestria,” Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.
“We expect a thorough investigation into all the circumstances of what happened. We trust that those behind this reckless action will fully realise its dangerous consequences.”
Transdniestria’s security ministry said a criminal case had been opened.
On the ground in Ukraine, Russian forces were advancing, and pushing back against them was “difficult”, said Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s armed forces.
Syrskyi said the situation in the Bakhmut area in the partially occupied eastern Donetsk region was particularly challenging, Reuters reported.
He said Russian forces are carrying out offensive operations day and night, using assault groups with the support of armoured vehicles, as well as assaults on foot.
Fierce battles are taking place east of the town of Chasiv Yar, which Ukraine still controls and which is located near the occupied city of Bakhmut.
Russian forces are trying to break through defensive lines there, Syrskyi said on the messaging app Telegram, adding that “Chasiv Yar remains under our control, all enemy attempts to break through to the settlement have failed”.
Near Avdiivka, another city in the Donetsk region held by the Russians, the fiercest battles were occurring in Pervomaiskyi and Vodyanyi, according to the official.
He also said the situation is tense on the southern and north-eastern parts of the front line.
Ukrainian forces are still in control of the town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine despite attempts by Russian troops to break through their defences, commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said.
Russia’s RIA news agency on Friday cited an official as saying Russian forces had entered the suburbs of the town, which Moscow sees as an important staging point for Kyiv’s troops. Ukrainian military said the report was untrue, Reuters reported.
“Chasiv Yar remains under our control, and all enemy attempts to break through to the settlement have failed,” Syrskyi said on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday.
A rapid Russian advance on Chasiv Yar, a heavily fortified town with a pre-war population of 12,200 situated west of the ruined Russian-occupied city of Bakhmut, would be a grim setback for Kyiv.
Russian forces are inching forward in eastern Ukraine after capturing the bastion town of Avdiivka in February. Kyiv’s soldiers are trying to dig in, facing long-term shortages of artillery shells with US aid stuck in Congress.
A kamikaze drone hit a military facility belonging to the defence ministry of pro-Russian separatist authorities in Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestria region, its security ministry said on Friday.
A message posted by the ministry said the target was six km (four miles) from the border with Ukraine, which has been battling a Russian invasion for over two years, with the nearest front lines around 200 km (125 miles) to Moldova’s east, Reuters reported.
“The target was a radar station, which suffered minor damage, but there were no casualties. An investigative team is working on the spot. A criminal case has been opened,” the ministry said. It did not name a culprit.
A video shown on television in the separatist region appeared to show an attack by a drone in progress with the sound of an explosion, but no evidence of damage to buildings.
The incident was the second of its kind in less than a month - in March, Transdniestrian authorities said a drone strike had destroyed a helicopter in the region.
Moldova’s Bureau For Reintegration, which handles relations with Transdniestria, said it was studying images from the latest occurrence but it had no access to an area controlled by the separatist authorities.
It warned that the incident could be a deliberate attempt to sow panic and draw attention to the enclave. “Only legitimate law enforcement authorities have the capacity to conduct thorough investigations,” the Bureau said in a statement.
Russian drone strike in Kharkiv kills six people, hits high-rises
An overnight Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv killed six people and wounded at least 10 others, national emergency services and the city’s mayor said on Saturday.
Igor Terekhov also said in Telegram post that the attack had targeted Shevchenkivskyi, a northern area of the city, Agence France-Presse reports.
Terekhov said Iranian-made drones had carried out the attack, hitting at least nine high-rise buildings, three dormitories and a petrol station.
Oleg Synegubov, the region’s governor, said earlier that two men were killed in Shevchenkivskyi.
Police confirmed the deaths and said a further eight people were hospitalised “with blast injuries and shrapnel wounds”.
Among the wounded are two women aged 25 and 52, and six men aged 23 to 76.
Police added that there were no casualties in a separate attack on Mala Danylivka, a village on Kharkiv’s north-west outskirts.
Photos released by police on Telegram showed several fires in civilian areas, including near a high-rise apartment building.
Authorities said several buildings were damaged in the attack, including residential blocks and a petrol station.
The attack came as Ukraine’s air force reported multiple groups of Russian drones across the country.
Opening summary
Welcome to our continuing live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Here’s an overview of the latest news on day 773 to bring you up to speed.
An overnight Russian drone attack on Kharkiv in Ukraine killed six people and wounded 10 others, national emergency services and the city’s mayor said on Saturday.
Igor Terekhov said the attack targeted Shevchenkivskyi, a northern area of Ukraine’s second-largest city.
Iranian-made drones carried out the attack, hitting at least nine high-rise buildings, three dormitories and a petrol station, he said on Telegram.
Police said a further eight people were hospitalised “with blast injuries and shrapnel wounds”.
More on that story shortly. In other key developments:
Russia fired five missiles on Ukraine’s southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Friday, killing at least four people, injuring 20 and damaging residential buildings and industrial facilities, the regional governor said. Two journalists covering the aftermath of the strikes were among those wounded in the city, near the war’s frontline. Ivan Fedorov, the governor, said: “First there were two missile strikes, and then, about 40 minutes later, there were other strikes at the same place – just as rescuers, police started working.” Reuters TV footage showed reporters rushing to help colleagues lying injured on the ground before emergency crews arrived.
A Ukrainian drone attack targeting the Morozovsk airbase in Russia killed or injured 20 members of airfield personnel and destroyed six Russian warplanes, as well as badly damaging eight others, according to officials in Kyiv on Friday. Russian defence officials, however, claimed they intercepted more than 40 Ukrainian drones and only a power substation was damaged in the barrage. Neither side’s claims could be independently verified. Morozovsk airbase is used by Russian tactical bombers that launch guided bombs at the Ukrainian military and frontline towns and cities, according to a Kyiv source.
Russian forces have taken control of the settlement of Vodyane in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Russia’s defence ministry claimed on Friday. The ministry’s statement – the latest of several claimed advances by Russian forces since they took nearby Avdiivka in February – could not be independently verified. Earlier on Friday, Russia’s state-run RIA news agency cited an official as saying Russian troops had entered the suburbs of Chasiv Yar, farther north near Bakhmut. The Ukrainian military denied Russian advances in the town.
Russian investigators claim to have found pro-Ukraine data on the phone of one of the Moscow terror attack suspects, despite evidence that an Islamic State offshoot was responsible. The data showed that on the war’s second anniversary in February he had trawled for photographs of the Crocus City Hall and sent it to others, Russia’s investigative committee alleged, also saying it found photos of men in camouflage holding the Ukrainian flag. Human rights experts have warned that any statements from the suspects should be met with scepticism as the men appeared to have been tortured.
Pro-Russian separatists in Moldova claimed an explosive drone hit a military base, without causing injuries or major damage, three weeks after an allegedly similar incident. The strike was in Rybnitsa district, 6km (3.7 miles) from the Ukraine border, the region’s ministry for state security said on Friday. “The target was a radar station that suffered minor damage. A group of investigators is on-site,” it added, without directly blaming Ukraine.
A Russian governor was hospitalised after being stabbed, a spokesperson has said. Andrey Chibis, governor of far northern Murmansk, was stabbed in the stomach on Thursday evening outside a cultural centre in Apatity town, where he had been holding a meeting. Chibis said in a video posted on Telegram from his hospital bed early on Friday that he had “come around” after surgery and that doctors had saved his life. Chibis was sanctioned by the EU in 2022 over his support for the Kremlin’s Ukraine offensive.
Authorities in Russia’s eastern city of Khabarovsk declared a state of emergency in an area where a “radiation source” was found, according to Russia’s Tass news agency. It said elevated radiation levels were detected near a power pylon about 2.5km from residential buildings. Nobody had been injured or exposed to radiation so far and radiation levels would be monitored for the next two days, it said.
The Kremlin has called the French president’s assertions that Russia plans to disrupt the coming Paris Olympics “absolutely unfounded”. Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday he had “no doubt” that Russia would target the Games this July and August.
The UK foreign secretary will travel to the US next week and urge politicians to approve a $60bn package of aid for Ukraine which Republicans have held up for months. David Cameron said on X (formerly Twitter): “Britain has put forward its money for Ukraine this year, so has the European Union. America needs to do it.”
Doctors Without Borders said a Russian missile strike on Ukrainian-held Pokrovsk had “completely destroyed” its office in the town. The humanitarian organisation said on X that it “condemns this attack on the office, which supports its emergency medical humanitarian assistance”.
Japan has announced new sanctions against Russia, banning exports of 164 goods to Russia including automobile engine oil and optical equipment. The trade ministry is also expected to ban imports of Russian nonindustrial diamonds.
