The Latest Breaking News from Valentyn Ogirenko

Despite the missile strikes and power cuts that have become a regular occurrence in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv's 190,000 remaining school children are still expected to attend classes, whether online or in person.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned Ukrainians to expect another brutal week of cold and darkness ahead, predicting more Russian attacks on infrastructure which would not stop until Moscow runs out of missiles.

For the first time since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February, the guns fell silent around Nadiia Nizarenko's devastated hamlet on the frontlines northeast of the Ukrainian city of Kherson.

The United States warned on Monday there would be severe consequences if Russia used a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, while Russia took its claim that Kyiv was planning to deploy a "dirty bomb" to the United Nations.

Russian missiles smashed into a suburb of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine early on Sunday, devastating two apartment blocks, but nobody was killed because most residents had already moved away after a similar attack in the vicinity six months ago.

Sveta has no doubt about why the Ukrainian-held southern city of Mykolaiv, a ship-building centre that is home to a half a million people, has gone without fresh water for the past six months.

Iran regrets Ukraine's decision to downgrade ties over the reported supply of Iranian drones to Russia, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday said she was impressed with the speed at which Ukraine is proceeding in its bid to become a member of the European Union.

Ukrainians revelled in a surreal display of burnt-out Russian tanks and armour laid out this week as war trophies in central Kyiv to mark the 31st anniversary of independence, but fears of fresh Russian attacks lurked behind their show of defiance.