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Poland activates aircraft after Russian missile incursion during wave of attacks on Ukraine

A Russian long-range cruise missile heading for western Ukraine briefly entered Polish territory overnight, prompting the country’s armed forces to launch “all necessary procedures” to protect its airspace, including activating Polish and allied aviation.

The incident came as Russia launched a punishing wave of missile and drone strikes on Ukraine. On Friday, Russia attacked power facilities throughout Ukraine, triggering outages and killing at least three people.

The missile, moving at a speed of almost 500 mph, was in Polish airspace for 39 seconds at 4:23 a.m. (11:23 p.m. ET Saturday), going about a mile into the country, the country’s military said.

Even a mistaken Russian missile incursion into the airspace of NATO-member Poland runs the risk of escalating and widening the war next door.

On Sunday, Poland’s Foreign Affairs Ministry promised it would “demand explanations from Russia in connection with another violation of the country’s airspace.”

“Above all, we call on the Russian Federation to stop terrorist air attacks on the inhabitants and territory of Ukraine,” the ministry said in a statement on X .

The last time something like this happened, in December 2023, Poland summoned the Russian charge d’affaires , demanding an explanation.

Earlier, Ukrainian news outlets reported on Telegram that during a major attack on Lviv, Russian missiles were flying close to the border with Poland.

“Polish and allied aircraft have been activated, which may result in increased noise levels, especially in the south-eastern part of the country,” Poland’s armed forces said on X.

Russia has been pounding Ukraine for days in attacks  portrayed by Moscow  as revenge for Ukrainian attacks during its recent presidential election .

“For the third pre-dawn morning this week, all of Ukraine is under an air alert and has been advised to seek shelter,” U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink posted on X early Sunday. “Russia continues to indiscriminately launch drones and missiles with no regard for millions of civilians, violating international law.”

The Ukrainian armed forces said 29 cruise missiles and 28 Iranian “Shahed” drones were involved in the attacks overnight. Of those, Ukraine downed 18 cruise missiles and 25 drones, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

Russian officials did not immediately comment on the events overnight.

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said on Telegram there were no attacks on the city, but some 20 missiles and seven attack drones had been launched against the broader Lviv region, targeting “critical infrastructure.”

Several blasts were heard in Kyiv after its defense systems repelled strikes, according to Vitali Klitschko, the city’s mayor.

Ukraine air defense forces destroyed about a dozen Russia-launched missiles over Kyiv and in the vicinity of the capital, Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on the Telegram.

Preliminary information showed no casualties or major damage as a result of the attacks, he said.

Separately, the Ukrainian military said it had hit two Russian landing ships during strikes on the annexed Crimean Peninsula.

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Poland says Russian missile entered its airspace during latest major attack on Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Poland demanded an explanation from Russia on Sunday after one of its missiles strayed briefly into Polish airspace during a major missile attack on Ukraine, prompting the NATO member to activate F-16 fighter jets.

READ MORE: New legislation in Poland boosts self-defense capacity, eyeing Russia’s nearby war in Ukraine

It was Russia’s third big missile attack on Ukraine in the past four days, and the second to target the capital, Kyiv.

The governor of the Lviv region, Maksym Kozytskyi, said on the Telegram platform that critical infrastructure was hit, but he didn’t specify what precisely was struck. No deaths or injuries were reported.

Later, authorities said that rescuers had just put out a fire at a critical infrastructure facility in the Lviv region, which had been attacked with missiles and drones at night and in the morning.

The head of Kyiv’s military administration, Serhiy Popko, said Russia used cruise missiles launched from Tu-95MS strategic bombers. An air alert in the capital lasted for more than two hours as rockets entered Kyiv in groups from the north.

He said the attacks were launched from the Engels district in the Saratov region of Russia.

According to preliminary data, there were no casualties or damage in the capital, he said.

Armed Forces Operational Command of Poland, a member of NATO, said in a statement that there was a violation of Polish airspace at 4:23 a.m. (0323 GMT) by one of the cruise missiles launched by Russia against towns in western Ukraine.

The object entered near Oserdow, a village in an agricultural region near the border with Ukraine, and stayed in Polish airspace for 39 seconds, the statement said. It wasn’t immediately clear if Russia intended for the missile to enter Poland’s airspace. Cruise missiles are able to change their trajectory to evade air defense systems.

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz later told reporters in a televised news conference that the Russian missile would have been shot down had there been any indication that it was heading towards a target in Poland.

He said that Polish authorities monitored the attack on Ukraine and were in contact with Ukrainian counterparts. Polish and NATO F-16s were activated as part of the strategic response.

He said the missile penetrated Polish airspace about a kilometer or two (a half-mile to around a mile) as Russia was targeting the region around Lviv in western Ukraine.

“As last night’s rocket attack on Ukraine was one of the most intense since the beginning of the Russian aggression, all the strategic procedures were launched on time and the object was monitored until it left the Polish airspace,” he said.

On the diplomatic front, the Polish foreign ministry said that it would “demand explanations from the Russian Federation in connection with another violation of the country’s airspace.”

“Above all, we call on the Russian Federation to stop the terrorist air attacks on the inhabitants and territory of Ukraine, end the war, and address the country’s internal problems,” the statement read.

WATCH: Poland’s foreign minister on concerns the U.S. will abandon Ukraine, Europe

Andrzej Szejna, a deputy foreign minister, told the TVN24 broadcaster that the foreign ministry intended to summon the Russian ambassador to Poland and hand him a protest note.

Henryk Zdyb, the head of the village of Oserdow, said in an interview with the daily Gazeta Wyborcza that he saw the missile, saying it produced a whistling sound.

“I saw a rapidly moving object in the sky. It was illuminated and flying quite low over the border with Ukraine,” he told the paper.

Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago, there have been a number of intrusions into Polish airspace, triggering worry in the European Union and NATO member state and reminding people of how close the war is.

“We have to come to terms with the fact that the war is taking place right next to us, and we are part of the confrontation between the West and Russia,” commentator Artur Bartkiewicz wrote in the Rzeczpospolita newspaper Sunday.

In 2022, two Poles were killed in a missile blast. Western officials blamed those deaths on a Ukrainian air defense missile that went astray, but also accused Russia of culpability because it started the war, with the Ukrainian missiles launched in self-defense.

On Saturday night, one person was killed and four others were wounded in a Ukrainian missile attack on Sevastopol on the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula, city Gov. Mikhail Razvozhaev said on his Telegram channel.

Vanessa Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland.

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NATO: A missile that left 2 dead in Poland likely came from Ukrainian defense system

This blog is no longer being updated. For the latest news on the Russia-Ukraine war, tune into your local NPR member station or download the NPR One app.

Polish President Andrezej Duda said the missile that hit Przewodow, a village near the Ukrainian border, was "probably an accident" from Ukrainian air defenses. President Joe Biden, who called an emergency meeting with G7 and NATO allies yesterday, also said it was "unlikely" the missile was fired from Russia, but he'd support a complete investigation.

Here's what we're following today:

• Standing down on Article 4: The Polish government said it may not be necessary to invoke Article 4 of the NATO treaty, which allows allies to "consult together" if any of the countries are under threat.
• World leaders' reactions: Russia's Defense Ministry said that any suggestion its weapons had struck Poland was an "intentional provocation."
• Damage in Ukraine: The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired about 100 missiles at Ukraine over the course of several hours on Tuesday afternoon and evening, leaving half of Kyiv without power.

Joint Chiefs chairman downplays previous comments about Ukraine-Russia negotiations

By Andrew Sussman

Seeking to clarify prior comments that there is a window for negotiation for ending the war, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley underscored that “Ukraine is going to continue to take the fight to the Russians.”

Milley told the Economic Club of New York last week, "When there's an opportunity to negotiate , when peace can be achieved, seize it."

Milley added, however, that while the probability of Russia achieving its objectives is "close to zero,” they do maintain "significant combat power inside Ukraine.”

Milley said that recent military gains by Ukraine were "relatively small compared to the whole” and that the probability of a Ukrainian full victory is "not high militarily.”

“You want to negotiate from a position of strength,” Milley said, and right now the Russian military is "really hurting bad.”

Pentagon says Russia ultimately bears responsibility for Poland blast

Echoing statements by other U.S. officials today, senior defense officials said at a press conference today that they have seen nothing to contradict Polish assessments that an explosion near the border with Ukraine was likely the result of a Ukrainian air defense missile.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said of the explosion that “Russia bears ultimate responsibility for this incident,” and called it another reminder of “Russia’s war of choice."

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley added that yesterday's barrage of missiles was likely the largest wave seen since the start of the war, causing "unnecessary suffering with the civilian population” and called the attack on civilian infrastructure a "war crime.”

The National Security Council has 'full confidence' in the Polish president's account

By Emily Olson

The National Security Council issued a statement saying the White House believes "nothing contradicts" the Polish president's statements that the missile strike was likely the result of a Ukrainian air defense missile.

"We have full confidence in the Polish government’s investigation of the explosion near their border with Ukraine, and we commend them for the professional and deliberate manner in which they are conducting it," wrote spokesperson Adrienne Watson.

"We will continue to assess and share any new information transparently as it becomes available. We will also continue to stay in close touch with the Ukrainians regarding any information they have to fill out the picture.

"That said, whatever the final conclusions may be, it is clear that the party ultimately responsible for this tragic incident is Russia, which launched a barrage of missiles on Ukraine specifically intended to target civilian infrastructure. Ukraine had — and has — every right to defend itself."

The U.S. Department of Defense is also scheduled to hold a press conference shortly. Stay tuned for updates.

It's now early evening in Ukraine, and much of Kyiv is still without power

By Greg Myre

Emily Olson

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke in a brief video on Wednesday morning, wishing citizens a "normal day" after Tuesday's missile barrage.

Russia fired roughly 100 missiles into Ukraine in just a couple of hours on Tuesday afternoon. Ukraine says it shot down about 70 of the incoming missiles, in line with other recent attacks.

But in the capital, Kyiv, a city with around 3 million residents, half the homes and businesses were still without power midday on Wednesday, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Other large cities were in similar condition, if not worse.

One woman was killed in Kyiv when a missile slammed into her apartment in a residential area near the center of the city. There were no obvious military, government or energy facilities in the area, in apparent contrast to comments from Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov, who described the attack as "precision" strikes on Ukrainian military and energy infrastructure.

It was not clear why the building would have been targeted, or if perhaps a Ukrainian air defense system hit a Russian missile, with the remnants of that Russian missile hitting the building.

Ukrainians have been rapidly repairing the power outages inflicted by the Russians, but the sheer number of attacks has strained the country's capacity to keep up.

Russia has damaged around 40% of the country's electricity system, according to Ukrainian officials.

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Russia's Foreign Ministry summoned Poland's ambassador in Moscow, according to state media

By Charles Maynes

Russia’s Foreign Ministry echoed earlier Kremlin comments in expressing outrage over what it called a western response that, “in unison," rushed to “spread absolutely false accusatory assurances that Russia could be guilty” of the attack.

“We consider the bacchanalia of coordinated actions to be taken within the framework of a systemic Western campaign around Ukraine,” said the ministry in a statement released online.

“It appears that the authorities in Kyiv will use any opportunity to accuse Russia in an effort to consolidate Western support against the backdrop of western patrons tiring of the Zelenskyy regime,” continued the statement.

The Foreign Ministry later summoned Poland’s ambassador in Moscow, according to state media reports. 

Ukraine officials say they will help with the investigation

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, tweeted that the country advocated for further investigation into the missile incident and requested immediate access to the explosion site.

He did not say whether the missile that landed in Poland and killed two came from Ukraine.

"We are ready to hand over evidence of the Russian trace that we have," Danilov said, "We are expecting information from our partners."

We advocate for a joint examination of the incident with the missile’s landing in Poland. We are ready to hand over evidence of the russian trace that we have. We are expecting information from our partners, based on which a conclusion was made that it’s a 🇺🇦 air defense missile. — Oleksiy Danilov (@OleksiyDanilov) November 16, 2022

A Ukrainian Air Force spokesman, Yuri Ihnat, also said on Wednesday that “a proper analysis is underway. The Air Force will support [the investigation] as much as possible, specialists will be involved if necessary, and we will provide certain materials," local media report.

G-20 countries are split on support for Ukraine

By Nishant Dahiya

The G-20 issued an official communique as meetings came to a close today with countries split on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, highlighting the tensions and splits the war has caused this year.

The communique states that "most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy,” but also noted that "there were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions" and recognized that the G-20 is not the forum to resolve security issues.

The G-20 is comprised of many Western nations — all of whom have condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine and slapped sanctions on Russia — and others like China, India Saudi Arabia and South Africa, who have neither condemned nor sanctioned Russia.

Russia is also a member of the G-20, and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attended the summit, in Bali, Indonesia

News of the missile strike in Poland — and Russia’s barrage in Ukraine on Tuesday, when it fired nearly 100 missiles in one day — arrived as leaders were meeting on the last day of the summit. President Biden and countries in the G-7 group of like-minded nations held an emergency roundtable, and they reiterated their support for Ukraine and Poland.

"And the moment when the world had come together at the G-20 to urge de-escalation, Russia continues to show an escalation in Ukraine, while we're in meeting,” Biden said to reporters after the meeting.

Polish residents say 'something has to be done'

By Rob Schmitz

NPR's international correspondent Rob Schmitz is in Warsaw, Poland, roughly 200 miles away from the site of the missile incident in Przewodow.

Those on the street today expressed fear that this wouldn't be the only deadly blast in their country, which borders Ukraine.

“To be honest, I don’t know what to think. On one hand, we don’t want to be too paranoid about this, but we also need to be vigilant and not forget this," said Zuzanna Kaluga, a student studying pharmacology.

"I had a test for biology today and I thought to myself: Should I be studying now? or should I be preparing for war?”

Sebastian Szelag told Schmitz that regardless of where the missile came from, "Poland’s government needs to do something. ... It feels like the government is washing their hands of it.”

“NATO is a deterrent and it adds to our security, but Poland has historically been left alone. I don’t know if NATO troops would run away, but we need to stand up to this ourselves.”

Here is the spot in Poland where the missile landed

By L. Carol Ritchie

The village of Przewodów, where a missile landed and killed two residents, lies just inside Poland near the border with Ukraine.

The Associated Press reports from Przewodów that the missile fell on farmland in an area where grain was drying.

Ewa Byra, the primary school director in the eastern village of Przewodów, where the missile struck, said she knew both men who were killed, AP reports — one was the husband of a school employee, the other the father of a former pupil.

The U.N. says both Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war have been subjected to torture

By Lisa Schlein

The U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported this week that both Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment by their captors.

Chief investigator Matilda Bogner says the U.N. interviewed Ukrainian and Russian POWs over the past several months. Bogner said the vast of majority of Ukrainian POWs said they were tortured and subjected to horrific abuse in Russian internment centers.

"Torture and ill-treatment were not only used to coerce prisoners of war to give military information or statements about alleged crimes," she said. "They were, interviewees told us, used on a daily basis to intimidate and humiliate them.”

Bogner said investigators also have documented many cases of Russian POWs who were subjected to torture and ill-treatment by Ukrainian armed forces. She said U.N. monitors plan to investigate alleged war crimes by Russian forces in the city of Kherson.

Germany will offer to help Poland patrol its airspace

By Esme Nicholson

A German defense spokesman said this morning that Berlin will offer surveillance support to Poland’s air defense.

Spokesman Christian Thiels said that Berlin could send German Eurofighters as early as Thursday, according to local media. Thiels also said the Eurofighters could remain based at German air bases.

Another spokesperson also said this morning that establishing a no-fly zone would pose a threat of direct confrontation between Russia and NATO, adding that “together with our allies, we want to avoid a further escalation of this war in Ukraine.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says a full investigation into the blasts near Poland’s border with Ukraine must be allowed to take place before any conclusions are drawn.

Speaking to German broadcaster NTV this morning, Scholz said, “there’s no sense in spreading rumors and making assumptions that don’t prove to be true.”

He added that de-escalation is key and that Russia can take a decisive step by withdrawing troops and entering into talks and peace negotiations, although he warned that any peace deal must not be a diktat (an imposed decree without popular consent)   against Ukraine.

NATO secretary-general says Russia still bears responsibility for the strike in Poland

NATO ambassadors convened in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss Tuesday's missile strike in Poland.

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said there is currently “no indication that the blasts were the result of a deliberate attack” and that there is “no indication that Russia is preparing offensive military actions against NATO.”

Stoltenberg said that while an investigation is still ongoing, “preliminary analysis suggests the incident was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile fired to defend Ukrainian territory against Russian cruise missile attacks,” adding, “but let me be clear: this is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine.”

Stoltenberg also expressed strong support for Poland, adding that NATO has significantly increased its presence in the eastern part of the alliance. He said he spoke with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday night and that they agreed on the importance of waiting for the outcome of the investigation.

Stoltenberg added that there has been no call for an Article 4 meeting based on current findings.

Asked whether the fact this missile hit Polish territory represented a failure of NATO’s defense capabilities, Stoltenberg said the fact that NATO’s defense systems did not recognize the missile as an offensive weapon speaks to the likelihood that it was a Ukrainian air defense missile, adding that the incident “doesn’t say anything about NATO’s ability to defend against attacks.”

Stoltenberg also reiterated NATO’s support for Ukraine in its right to self-defense, pointing out that “if Russia stops fighting, we will have peace. If President Zelenskyy and the Ukraine stops, it will cease to exist as an independent, sovereign nation.”

Kremlin spokesman calls the incident 'hysterical, rabid and Russophobic'

The Kremlin took something of a victory lap on Wednesday as NATO officials acknowledged that Ukraine, rather than Russia, had likely lobbed the missile that struck inside the territory of alliance member Poland, killing two people.

In his daily call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed to the incident as the latest “hysterical, rabid, and Russophobic” reaction by the West.

“Representatives from different countries essentially made pronouncements without having any exact understanding of the facts,” said Peskov.

Peskov, in particular, accused Polish officials of having “every means to immediately say that we’re talking about fragments from an S-300. And therefore every specialist would have understood that this could not be a rocket that belongs to the Russia military.”

On Wednesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its specialists had studied images of the explosion in Poland and concluded rocket fragments were from an S-300 surface-to-air missile system used by Ukraine.

The ministry’s spokesman, Igor Konsehnkov, also accused Western powers of “an intentional provocation with the goal of escalating the situation.”

“We want to emphasize, precision strikes were launched against targets only on the territory of Ukraine and at a distance no closer than 35 km (21 miles) from the Ukrainian-Polish border,” said Konashenkov.

The Kremlin’s Peskov also complimented the “fairly reserved reaction of the Americans” to the explosion inside Poland — an apparent reference to President Biden’s initial warning the rocket was “unlikely” to have been fired from Russia.

The U.S. also believes the missile was fired by Ukraine and likely an accident

The Associated Press is reporting that three anonymous American officials said that, based on just an initial assessment, this was a Ukrainian-fired missile that was supposed to intercept and destroy an incoming Russian missile.

Speaking yesterday, President Biden said it was "unlikely" that the missile was fired from Russia, but he said the information was "preliminary" and that the U.S. and Poland's allies would support a full investigation.

Russia filed a barrage of around 100 missiles into Ukraine on Tuesday, largely targeting Ukraine's electricity grid.

Ukraine says it shot down about 70 of the incoming missiles, which is in line with other recent attacks. But every so often, Ukraine's air-missile defenses can cause debris to land somewhere unexpected, as it did in Moldova last month.

Poland's president says the missile strike was not intentionally aimed at his country

By Joanna Kakissis

Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, told reporters on Wednesday that a deadly missile explosion on the border with Ukraine was not an intentional attack on Poland.

Duda said there’s no evidence that Russia fired the missile that landed in Poland. Instead, he said the rocket appeared to be a surface-to-air missile that was likely launched by Ukraine to protect itself from a barrage of Russian attacks on Tuesday.

“There’s absolutely no indication that this was an attack on Poland or that this rocket was intentionally directed to hit Poland’s territory,” he said. “Most likely, it was an unfortunate mishap.”

Speaking at the same press conference, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Marawiecki said that it may not be necessary to trigger NATO’s article 4, which launches a consultation of NATO allies when a member-state feels threatened.

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Poland to demand explanation from Moscow after missile breaches its airspace during Ukraine attack

Russian missile was targeting Ukraine’s Lviv region while Kyiv suffers third pre-dawn attack in four days

Poland said it would demand an explanation from Moscow after a Russian missile briefly breached Polish airspace during a massive missile attack on Ukraine , prompting the Nato member to put its forces on heightened readiness.

Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with Sunday’s early morning strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut.

A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people has also become a new flashpoint between the two countries, with President Vladimir Putin seeking to tie Kyiv to the attack; Ukraine has denied involvement and Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Saturday accused Putin of seeking to “shift the blame” on to Kyiv for the concert hall attack.

“What happened yesterday in Moscow is obvious: Putin and the other thugs are just trying to blame it on someone else,” said Zelenskiy in response to Putin’s assertion that the suspects had been fleeing towards Ukraine.

“They have brought hundreds of thousands of their own terrorists here, on Ukrainian land, to fight against us, and they don’t care about what is happening inside their own country,” Zelenskiy added.

“That low-life Putin, instead of dealing with his Russian citizens, addressing them, was silent for a full 24 hours, thinking about how to tie this to Ukraine,” he said. “It’s all absolutely predictable.”

The Polish Armed Forces Operational Command (RSZ) said on Sunday that its forces were on a heightened state of readiness due to the “intensive long-range aviation activity of the Russian Federation tonight” and the missile attacks in Ukraine.

“Polish and allied aircraft have been activated, which may result in increased noise levels, especially in the south-eastern part of the country,” it said.

It later said Russia had violated Poland’s airspace with a cruise missile which “entered Polish space near the town of Oserdow (Lublin Voivodeship) and stayed there for 39 seconds”.

“During the entire flight, it was observed by military radar systems,” it added.

Poland’s defence minister, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, said Poland had activated “all air defence systems, all air force systems”and that the Russian missile would have been shot down had there been any indication it was heading towards a target in Poland.

He said the missile had penetrated Polish airspace about 1,000-2,000 metres (0.6 to 1.2 miles).

Polish authorities were monitoring the attack on Ukraine and were in contact with Ukrainian counterparts, he added. Polish and Nato F-16s had been activated as part of the strategic response.

Poland’s foreign ministry said it would demand an explanation from Moscow over the missile. “Above all, we call on the Russian Federation to stop the terrorist air attacks on the inhabitants and territory of Ukraine, end the war, and address the country’s internal problems,” it said in a statement.

Speaking to the Polish broadcaster TVN24, Andrzej Szejna, a deputy foreign minister said the foreign ministry intended to summon the Russian ambassador to “provide information and explanations”.

A similar incident occurred in December, when a Russian missile breached Polish airspace for several minutes before returning to Ukraine.

In November 2022, two people were killed when a Ukrainian air-defence missile fell in the Polish village of Przewodow, near the Ukrainian border.

Officials in Ukraine said Russia had launched its third pre-dawn attack on Ukraine in the past four days, and the second to target the capital of Kyiv.

“Explosions in the capital,” Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, posted on Telegram on Sunday. “Air defence is working. Do not leave shelters.”

The Lviv region’s governor, Maksym Kozytskyi, said Stryi district, south of the city of Lviv, near the Polish border, had also been attacked.

Ukraine was earlier placed under a nationwide air alert that warned of cruise missiles being launched from Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers. The alert was lifted about two hours later.

Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv city military administration, said the missiles were fired at the capital “in groups”.

Preliminary reports suggested there were no casualties or damage, he said, and the city’s air defences had hit “about a dozen” missiles.

“The enemy continues massive missile terror against Ukraine,” Popko said on Telegram. “It does not give up its goal of destroying Kyiv at any cost.”

In Lviv, the mayor, Andriy Sadovy, said about 20 missiles and seven Iranian-made Shahed drones were fired at the region. “They targeted critical infrastructure facilities.”

The Ukrainian energy ministry said that Russia had also attempted on Sunday to hit a critical energy infrastructure facility in the Lviv region. “Equipment caught fire and the facility was de-energised. There were no casualties. The consequences are being assessed,” it said in a statement.

The Ukrainian state-run energy firm Naftogaz said Sunday that a Russian missile strike had hit an underground gas storage site, but that it would not affect the supply of natural gas to Ukrainian consumers.

Russia and Ukraine have increased their air attacks in recent weeks.

The Ukrainian military claimed on Sunday it had hit two large Russian landing ships as well as other infrastructure used by the Russian navy in the Black Sea during overnight strikes on the annexed Crimean peninsula.

“The defence forces of Ukraine successfully hit the Azov and Yamal large landing ships, a communications centre and also several infrastructure facilities of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in temporarily occupied Crimea,” Ukraine’s military said in a statement.

Moscow-installed officials on the peninsula said their forces had repelled a major Ukrainian aerial attack late on Saturday night. “It was the most massive attack in recent times,” the governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said in a Telegram post.

He said a 65-year-old man was killed and four people had been injured. He did not mention any damage to Russian warships, but said transport infrastructure including passenger boats was partly damaged.

“Of the six boats, five had their windows broken … During the day, the windows of the damaged boats will be replaced and as they are restored they will be brought back online,” he said.

Razvozhayev also said that three passenger buses, 13 school buses and one trolley bus were among vehicles damaged during the overnight attacks.

Kyiv, which has struggled to find weapons and soldiers after more than two years of war, has promised to retaliate by taking the fighting to Russian soil.

Multiple air attacks on Saturday on the Russian border region of Belgorod adjoining Ukraine killed two people and injured at least seven, the regional governor said.

Farther east, a drone attack on the Samara region caused a fire at a major oil refinery, the latest in a series of strikes against Russia’s energy industry.

Belgorod’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, wrote on Telegram that two districts in his region, as well as the regional capital, Belgorod city, had been hit in drone and air attacks.

A man was killed when three balconies on an apartment building collapsed, Gladkov said.

Moscow has escalated its own strikes, firing dozens of missiles on Friday and launching dozens of explosive drones to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Russian forces have also taken control of a string of frontline settlements in recent weeks.

The capture last month of Adviivka , near the Russian-held stronghold of Donetsk, was the first major territorial gain made by Russia since the devastated city of Bakhmut was seized 10 months ago.

Putin hailed that success as a sign that Russian forces were back on the offensive.

Agence France-Presse, Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report

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Russian airstrike hits base in western Ukraine near Polish border, killing 35

March 13, 2022 / 7:49 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Lviv, Ukraine — Waves of Russian missiles pounded a military training base close to Ukraine's western border with NATO member Poland, killing 35 people. The strike followed Russian threats to target foreign weapon shipments that are helping Ukrainian fighters defend their country against Russia's grinding invasion .

More than 30 Russian cruise missiles targeted the sprawling training facility that is less than 15 miles from the closest border point with Poland, according to the governor of Ukraine's western Lviv region. Poland is a key location for routing Western military aid to Ukraine.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Lviv had largely been spared the scale of destruction unfolding further east and become a destination for residents escaping bombarded cities and for many of the nearly 2.6 million refugees who have fled the country.

The training center in Yavoriv appears to be the most westward target struck so far in the 18-day invasion. The facility, also known as the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, has long been used to train Ukrainian military personnel, often with instructors from the United States and other NATO countries.

It has also hosted international NATO drills. As such, the site symbolizes what has long been a Russian complaint: That the NATO alliance of 30 member countries is moving ever closer to Russia's borders. Russian has demanded that Ukraine drop its ambitions to join NATO.

Lviv governor Maksym Kozytskyi said most of the missiles fired Sunday "were shot down because the air defense system worked." The ones that got through through killed at least 35 people and wounded 134, he said.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov wrote on Twitter that the strike was a "new terrorist attack on peace&security near the EU-NATO border," and urged Western leaders to "close the sky!" U.S. and NATO allies have said they will not impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, since doing so would require shooting down Russian planes and risk sparking a wider war in Europe.

Russian fighters also fired at the airport in the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk, 155 miles from Ukraine's border with Slovakia and Hungary, an attack the city's mayor said was intended "to sow panic and fear." The airport, which includes a military airfield as well as a runway for civilian flights, also was targeted Friday.

Fighting also raged in multiple areas of the country overnight. Ukrainian authorities said Russian airstrikes on a monastery and a children's resort in the eastern Donetsk region hit spots where monks and refugees were sheltering, wounding 32 people.

Another airstrike hit a westward-bound train evacuating people from the east, killing one person and injuring another, Donetsk's chief regional administrator said.

To the north, in the city of Chernihiv, one person was killed and another injured in a Russian airstrike that destroyed a residential block, emergency services said.

Around the capital, Kyiv, a major political and strategic target for the invasion, fighting also intensified, with overnight shelling in the northwestern suburbs and a missile strike Sunday that destroyed a warehouse to the east. Chief regional administrator Oleksiy Kuleba said Russian forces appeared to be trying to blockade and paralyze the capital with day and night shelling of the suburbs.

Kuleba said Russian agents were operating in the capital and its suburbs, marking out possible future targets. He vowed that any all-out assault would meet stiff resistance, saying: "We're getting ready to defend Kyiv, and we're prepared to fight for ourselves."

Talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire again failed Saturday, and the U.S. announced plans to provide another $200 million to Ukraine for weapons. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned other nations that sending equipment to bolster Ukraine's military was "an action that makes those convoys legitimate targets."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of trying to break his country apart, as well as starting "a new stage of terror" with the alleged detention of a mayor from a city west of Mariupol.

"Ukraine will stand this test. We need time and strength to break the war machine that has come to our land," Zelensky said during his nightly address to the nation Saturday.

Russian soldiers pillaged a humanitarian convoy that was trying to reach the battered and encircled port city of Mariupol, where more than 1,500 people have died, a Ukrainian official said. Ukraine's military said Russian forces captured Mariupol's eastern outskirts, tightening their siege of the strategic port. Taking Mariupol and other ports on the Azov Sea could allow Russia to establish a land corridor to Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.

An Associated Press journalist in Mariupol witnessed tanks firing on a nine-story apartment building and was with a group of hospital workers who came under sniper fire on Friday. A worker shot in the hip survived, but conditions in the hospital were deteriorating: Electricity was reserved for operating tables, and people with nowhere else to go lined the hallways.

Among them was Anastasiya Erashova, who wept and trembled as she held a sleeping child. Shelling had just killed her other child as well as her brother's child, Erashova said, her scalp crusted with blood.

"No one was able to save them," she said.

In Irpin, a suburb about 12 miles northwest of central Kyiv, bodies lay out in the open Saturday on streets and in a park.

"When I woke up in the morning, everything was covered in smoke, everything was dark. We don't know who is shooting and where," resident Serhy Protsenko said as he walked through his neighborhood. Explosions sounded in the distance. "We don't have any radio or information."

Zelensky encouraged his people to keep up their resistance.

"We do not have the right to let up our defense, no matter how difficult it may be," he said. Later Saturday, Zelensky reported that 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers had died since the Russian invasion began Feb. 24.

Zelensky again deplored NATO's refusal to declare a no-fly zone over Ukraine and said Ukraine has sought ways to procure air defense assets, though he didn't elaborate. President Biden announced another $200 million in aid to Ukraine, with an additional $13 billion included in a bill that has passed the House and should pass the Senate within days. NATO has said that imposing a no-fly zone could lead to a wider war with Russia.

The Ukrainian president also accused Russia of detaining the mayor of Melitopol, a city 119 miles west of Mariupol. The Ukrainian leader called on Russian forces to heed calls from demonstrators in the occupied city for the mayor's release.

Moscow has said it would establish humanitarian corridors out of conflict zones, but Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of disrupting those paths and firing on civilians. Russian forces have hit at least two dozen hospitals and medical facilities, according to the World Health Organization.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said just nine of 14 agreed-upon corridors were open on Saturday, and that about 13,000 people had used them to evacuate around the country.

French and German leaders spoke Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a failed attempt to reach a cease-fire. According to the Kremlin, Putin laid out terms for ending the war. For ending hostilities, Moscow has demanded that Ukraine drop its bid to join NATO and adopt a neutral status; acknowledge the Russian sovereignty over Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014; recognize the independence of separatist regions in the country's east; and agree to demilitarize.

The Russian invaders appear to have struggled far more than expected against determined Ukrainian fighters. Still, Russia's stronger military threatens to grind down Ukrainian forces.

Thousands of soldiers on both sides are believed to have been killed along with many civilians, including at least 79 Ukrainian children, its government says. At least 2.5 million people have fled the country, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

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Will long-awaited F-16 fighter jets boost Ukraine’s push against Russia?

Kyiv’s forces are due to receive the aircraft within weeks, but analysts say they are unlikely to be a game-changer.

Kyiv, Ukraine – The first US-made F-16 fighter jets have yet to appear in the sky over Ukraine, but there’s already a bounty on them.

Fores, a Russian company that produces equipment for oil drilling, said that it would pay 15 million rubles, or about $170,000, to the first Russian pilot who shoots down an F-16.

Keep reading

‘theft’: putin pledges retaliation after g7 deal on frozen russian assets, ukraine can now use western arms to strike inside russia — is it too late, ukraine’s more liberal use of allied weapons complicates russian logistics, ukraine to seek secure parking for f-16s abroad.

Russia will also rain supersonic ballistic missiles to destroy the F-16s on Ukrainian soil. Kyiv already plans to station some of them in other Eastern European nations such as Poland.

“Understandably, they will be hunted down,” Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, ex-deputy head of Ukraine’s general staff of armed forces, told Al Jazeera. “But we will serve them, hide them, equip and use them.”

The first dozen of F-16s are expected to arrive in Ukraine within weeks as their pilots complete their training.

The single-engine aircraft, also known as the Fighting Falcon or the Viper, has been featured in countless Hollywood action movies and video games.

It took to the sky in 1974 and was developed after the war in Vietnam, where Soviet MiGs overwhelmed heavier and slower US fighter jets.

Produced by Lockheed Martin, the F-16 is one of the world’s most widely-used fighter jets procured by two dozen nations worldwide.

But 50 years after its inception and with the emergence of new generations of fighter jets, it is unlikely to become a game-changer in the Russia-Ukraine war, observers said.

“They say F-16s are manna from heaven. Far from it,” Romanenko quipped.

The engine’s air intake is located too low and can swallow pebbles from potholed Ukrainian airstrips – that can also be dangerous to the plane’s small wheels.

A much bigger problem is the range of missiles the West would supply for them.

Like a Lego toy, an F-16 can carry various missiles or bombs, but the planes Ukraine is getting come with very small add-ons.

“We’re on the hook with the weaponry they will give us,” Romanenko said.

The missiles will most likely have a range of 120km (75 miles) – while Russian missiles can fly up to 300km (186miles).

“You wriggle any way you can,” Romanenko said. “And we will indeed have to wriggle.”

The training for Ukrainian pilots lasted for six months – a short period to master the basics of flying, dodging enemy fire and engaging enemy planes.

Ukrainian pilots also needed English training – and had to re-adapt their habits of flying Soviet-produced fighter jets that were designed to counter F-16s and their F-15 siblings – but were not modelled on them.

Dozens more Ukrainian pilots will undergo similar training.

“The training will be extremely basic, which is also not a plus,” Mykhailo Zhirokhov, a military expert based in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, told Al Jazeera.

Therefore, the F-16s will be used “exclusively” as carriers of high-precision weapons, he said.

These days, the Ukrainian Air Force has US-made GBU precision-guided bombs that can glide for about 100km (62 miles) to their targets.

They also use Joint Direct Attack Munition kits that turn average “dumb” bombs into precision-guided munitions, and also received French-made AASM guided bombs, he said.

The F-16s will intercept Russian cruise missiles and Herans, modified Shaheed kamikaze drones developed in Iran, he said.

And as Russian missiles can potentially reach any Ukrainian airfield modified for F-16s, Kyiv may use them only as “jump airfields” for refuelling, Zhrokhov said.

Ukraine’s top brass hopes to get AIM-120 air-to-air missiles that could put an end to Russia’s biggest battlefield advantage.

In the past year, Russian planes didn’t have to fly over the actual Ukrainian positions as their heavy KAB bombs can glide for dozens of kilometres to precisely destroy the most fortified buildings.

The KABs have become a “miracle weapon that brings results and practically has no countermeasures,” Deep State, a Telegram channel with links to the Ukrainian military, wrote in March.

The KABs secured the widely-publicised takeover of Avdiivka and several more eastern Ukrainian towns.

Only one or two F-16s will be stationed on Ukrainian soil to “shoo away” Russian aircraft carrying the KABs, a German military analyst said.

“F-16s are too precious a gift, and too few are provided [to Ukraine] to risk them,” Nikolay Mitrokhin of Germany’s Bremen University told Al Jazeera.

They are not likely to be involved in direct fights with Russian fighter jets, and their duels will be limited to “not very effective” missile strikes, he said.

The F-16s will also strike surface targets – but only from distances that rule out Russia’s use of S-300 and S-400 air defence complexes, he said.

The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Norway pledged to supply a total of 85 F-16s by 2028 as they receive far more advanced F-35 fighter jets from Washington.

It’s enough for four squadrons – but is far from the 120 aircraft Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked the West for to counter the 300 Russian planes.

‘Twice as old as their pilots’

The Ukrainian air force has been neglected and underfunded for decades.

After the 1991 Soviet collapse, Kyiv gave away its fleet of Soviet-era bombers to Moscow.

A half of Russia’s 16 Tu-160 bombers that can carry 45 tonnes of bombs or a dozen missiles used to belong to Kyiv – and were “transferred” along with hundreds of missiles in the late 1990s as payment for Moscow’s natural gas.

The “youngest” Ukrainian fighter jet is a Su-27 made in 1991 – and other aircraft are often “twice as old as their pilots,” Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuri Ihnat said in televised remarks in 2023.

Kyiv has about 50 MiGs-29 and two dozen Sukhoi 27 fighter jets whose notoriously flawed radars have short detection range and can be easily jammed by Russians.

Moscow uses newer and better equipped MiGs and Sukhois, and Ukraine destroyed at least a dozen on airfields in occupied regions or mainland Russia.

Kyiv has lost at least 22 of its MiGs, but Germany, Poland and Slovakia donated 27 similar planes that mostly became a source of spare parts.

And while Western nations such as France and Sweden offered their advanced fighter jets, Washington pushed Kyiv to accept F-16s to secure their use in Ukraine for decades to come, experts say.

“This is defence of American military industrial complex and a matter of geopolitical influence,” Kyiv-based analyst Aleksey Kushch told Al Jazeera.

Russia-Ukraine war – live: North Korea helping Putin carry out ‘mass murder of Ukrainians’, says Zelensky’s aide

LIVE – Updated at 06:51

North Korea is helping Vladimir Putin with resources to carry out “mass murder of Ukrainians”, Volodymyr Zelensky ’s presidential aide said as the Russian president left Pyongyang for Vietnam .

“There is no doubt that North Korea is actively cooperating with Russia in the military sphere today and deliberately provides resources for the mass murder of Ukrainians,” Mykhailo Podolyak told AFP.

Shells provided by the Kim Jong-un regime have an “impact on the course of events in the war as a whole and significantly increases the number of civilian casualties,” he said.

Hours before, Mr Putin insisted in a bizarre claim that his new partnership struck with North Korea – including a mutual defence clause – is “peaceful”, according to state news.

Mr Kim hailed the new agreement struck during Mr Putin’s first visit to Pyongyang in 24 years as heralding a “new, high level of alliance” between their countries.

The visit looks to cast a shadow over the mammoth peace talks held by Ukrainian president in Switzerland over the weekend. Nearly 80 nations agreed that peace talks will begin only after Russia restores Ukraine ’s territorial integrity.

• New Russian-North Korean pact includes mutual defence clause, says Vladimir Putin
• Putin insists new military pact with North Korea is peaceful
• Red carpet, warm hugs, Aurus Limousine: Putin’s welcome in North Korea
• Ukraine says Russia ‘beheaded’ its soldier and starts probe

Russian attack damages energy infrastructure in four parts of Ukraine

A Russian attack overnight damaged energy infrastructure in four Ukrainian regions this morning, the Ukrainian energy ministry said on Telegram.

The energy ministry said the attack injured three workers at one of the impacted energy facilities and cut power for some consumers.

Wider impact of the attacks on the power supply in Ukraine are not immediately clear.

Treasury sanctions network connected to separatist Bosnian leader

A network of people and firms that support the sanctioned president of Bosnia’s Serb-run portion, Milorad Dodik, has been hit with a new round of sanctions.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Tuesday designated two people and seven companies that provide revenue for Dodik and his family, including his son Igor Dodik.

Treasury says Dodik used his presidency to direct government contracts to a network of private companies that he and his son oversee.

Photos: Putin and Kim Jong-un's friendship peaks during latest North Korea visit

Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s latest meeting in Pyongyang saw their mutual interest in expanding their economic and military cooperation and display a united front against Washington.

As the two leaders sat down, Kim Jong-un echoed Putin’s statement explicitly linking their deepening ties to fighting the “hegemonic and imperialist” policies of the West and the United State in particular, including its support for Ukraine.

This visit could result in deadly implications for Ukraine which finds itself under relentless shelling from Russian forces, using ammunition provided by North Korea. Their liason can be dangerous for the West and especially Ukraine .

EU Commission to impose tariffs on Ukrainian egg imports

The European Commission will introduce tariffs on Ukrainian egg imports within the next two weeks after a previously agreed annual threshold level for those imports has been reached, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The Commission took the same decision on Tuesday regarding oat imports from Ukraine.

Following Russia‘s invasion in 2022, the country has benefited from a special mechanism put in place to boost trade flows with the EU, it’s most important export market. The EU, however, set maximum import volumes after farmer protest across the bloc smashed cheap Ukrainian imports as unfair competition. (

Putin now reaches Vietnam for talks, to meet top leaders

Russian president Vladimir Putin arrived in Vietnam early today for talks with the country’s Communist leaders on the final stop of his two-nation tour of Asia after concluding a defence pact with North Korea.

This is the third foreign visit by Mr Putin, after China and North Korea, since he took the presidential office in March.

Putin’s aircraft touched down at Hanoi’s airport, where he was met on a red carpet by Vietnamese deputy prime minister Tran Hong Ha and top party diplomat Le Hoai Trung.

Putin is due to meet Communist Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong, state president To Lam and prime minster Pham Minh Chinh. Although both North Korea and Russia face international isolation, Vietnam has built careful alliances with the United States and the European Union.

“President Putin’s visit to North Korea and Vietnam is to demonstrate that Western attempts to isolate Russia are not working and that Russia has partners in Asia,” said Carl Thayer, an expert on Vietnam security at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra.

However, ahead of his visit, Putin thanked the Southeast Asian Communist-ruled country for supporting “a pragmatic way to solve the crisis” in Ukraine.

Nato chief warns on Putin, Kim Jong-un’s ‘authoritarian’ deal

Russia’s new defensive pact with North Korea shows increasing alignment among authoritarian powers and underscores the importance of democracies presenting a united front, the head of Nato said.

Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a deal with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un that included a mutual defence pledge, a move that overhauls Moscow’s policy towards Pyongyang.

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said North Korea had provided “an enormous amount of ammunition” to Russia while both China and Iran were supporting Moscow militarily in its war against Ukraine.

“We need to be aware that authoritarian powers are aligning more and more. They are supporting each other in a way we haven’t seen before,” he told a panel discussion during an official visit to Ottawa.

“When they are more and more aligned - authoritarian regimes like North Korea and China, Iran, Russia - then it’s even more important that we are aligned as countries believing in freedom and democracy,” he said.

The growing closeness between Russia and other Asian nations means it is all the more important that Nato works with allies in the Asia-Pacific, he said, adding this was why leaders from Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea had been invited to a Nato summit in Washington next month.

North Korea and Russia sign a deal on immediate military assistance in event of war

Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin upgraded their bilateral ties to a new high as they signed a fresh agreement of “immediate military assistance” in the event of war during the Russian president’s visit to North Korea.

The new agreement between Russia and North Korea reached by their leaders at a Pyongyang summit requires both countries to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance in the event of war, North Korean state media today.

In the new agreement, Russia and North Korea have inked assistance on security, trade, investment, cultural and humanitarian ties. Outside observers said it could mark the strongest connection between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency today reported the language of the comprehensive strategic partnership agreement. The agency said Article 4 of the agreement states that if one of the countries gets invaded and is pushed into a state of war, the other must deploy “all means at its disposal without delay” to provide “military and other assistance.”

Putin and Kim Jong-un sign defence pact in case of attack on Russia or North Korea

Fire at drone-hit Russian oil depot rages for second day

A blaze caused by a Ukrainian drone strike on an oil terminal in southern Russia has been raging for more than a day and a half despite the efforts of firefighters, the regional governor said on Wednesday.

Several oil storage tanks in the town of Azov caught fire after a drone attack early on Tuesday that a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters was conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

Vasily Golubev, governor of the Rostov region, wrote on Telegram that emergency services had been unable to extinguish the flames as of Tuesday afternoon as the second storage tank had been depressurised.

Azov has two oil product terminals, DonTerminal and Azovproduct, which handled a total of about 220,000 tons of fuel for export during the period from January to May 2024.

Ukraine has often said that targeting Russia‘s energy, military and transport infrastructure undermines Moscow’s war effort.

Russian court sentences US soldier to nearly 4 years on theft charges

A court in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok on Wednesday sentenced an American soldier arrested earlier this year to three years and nine months in prison on charges of stealing and threats of murder, Russian news reports said.

Staff Sgt. Gordon Black , 34, flew to Vladivostok, a Pacific port city, to see his girlfriend and was arrested after she accused him of stealing from her, according to U.S. officials and Russian authorities.

Russian state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti reported from the courtroom in the Pervomaisky District Court in Vladivostok that the judge also ordered Black to pay 10,000 rubles ($115) in damages. Prosecutors had asked for Black to be sentenced to four years and eight months in prison.

Ukraine launches a national sexual assault registry for victims of Russian forces

Authorities in Ukraine have created a national registry to document cases of sexual violence allegedly committed by Russian forces, a senior prosecutor told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Viktoriia Litvinova, the country’s deputy prosecutor general, said that the registry was created out of a pilot project that had already resulted in the convictions of five people in absentia. She declined to comment on details of the cases.

“We used to have to visit territories where hostilities are taking place ourselves,” she said. “But now people – individuals who have experienced sexual abuse – are seeking us out for information.”

White House ‘comfortable’ with its nuclear position after Nato chief suggests increase in deployed weapons

The White House has said it is “comfortable” how its nuclear weapons are placed in the wake of comments from Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg suggesting members of Nato are considering increasing the number of nuclear weapons deployed to counter an increased threat from Russia and China .

Addressing reports at a White House Briefing, spokesperson John Kirby declared that the US are “comfortable” with their “strategic deterrent posture”.

Asked about Mr Stoltenberg’s comments, Mr Kirby said: “We don’t talk about nuclear posture with any specificity - and I’m certainly not going to start doing that here from the podium.

Washington reacts to Nato chief on possibility of readying more nuclear weapons

Estonia convicts a university professor from Russia of spying for Moscow

A university professor was jailed Tuesday in Estonia after being found guilty of spying for Russian military intelligence, part of a campaign of sabotage, electronic warfare and information gathering that Estonian officials blame on Moscow .

Viacheslav Morozov, a Russian citizen who taught at Estonia’s country’s most prestigious university, was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for undermining the security of the Baltic state during the 14 years he operated in the country until his arrest in January.

Estonian officials are extremely hawkish about the threat from Russia and have convicted a number of people of spying for Russia in recent years. Harju County Court in the Estonian capital said Morozov collected information about Estonia’s defense and security policy and the people and infrastructure related to it.

Russia sentences US soldier Gordon Black to nearly four years in penal colony

A Russian court sent an American soldier to three years and nine months in a penal colony for stealing and threatening murder, state news media reported.

Gordon Black, 34, was detained in Vladivostok in Russia ’s far east on 2 May. He was there to see Alexandra Vashchuk, a woman he believed to be his girlfriend, and was arrested after being accused of assaulting her and stealing 10,000 rubles (£90) from her, according to state news agency TASS .

He “forcefully grabbed the girl by the neck, which she perceived as a real threat to her life”, and then stole money from her wallet, the prosecutor said.

Russian interference in UK general election will likely ramp up dramatically, warns senior US senator

Russian interference in the UK general election will likely “ramp up dramatically” over the next fortnight, the chair of the United States senate intelligence committee has warned.

Washington has witnessed “egregious efforts” by Moscow to interfere in the democratic process across the globe, similar to those alleged in the 2016 US presidential election, said Mark Warner .

The senior senator, who is regularly briefed on secret US intelligence, said he had been closely monitoring the situation in the UK, adding: “I think the next big test of the state of play will be the British elections in a few weeks.”

Russian interference in UK election may ramp up dramatically, warns senior US senator

Putin’s best friend routine with Kim Jong-un is a clear and present danger to the WestThe Russian president is desperate for ammunition for his invasion of Ukraine, forcing him to turn to another international pariah for help, writes Kim Sengupta

The Russian president is desperate for ammunition for his invasion of Ukraine, forcing him to turn to another international pariah for help, writes Kim Sengupta:

Putin’s friendship with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is a clear danger to the West

Thales to create joint venture with Ukraine to boost military supplies

French multinational Thales has signed three deals with Ukraine including one announcing an intention to create a joint venture in the country that will boost delivery of military gear, the defence company has announced.

“Domains of cooperation include Electronic Warfare, Tactical Communications, Air Defence Systems and radars, as well as Unmanned Aircraft Systems,” it added.

Besides the planned joint venture and another deal to help Ukraine cut repair times of electronic warfare gear, Thales also inked a deal with Ukraine’s FRDM aiming to co-develop and manufacture a drone system capable of releasing munitions.

A blaze caused by a Ukrainian drone strike on an oil terminal in southern Russia has been raging for more than a day and a half despite the efforts of firefighters, the regional governor has said.

Ukraine has often said that targeting Russia’s energy, military and transport infrastructure undermines Moscow’s war effort.

Putin praises Vietnam for ‘balanced’ stance on Ukraine war

Vladimir Putin praised Vietnam for its “balanced” stance on the Ukraine war and listed progress on payments, energy and trade in an opinion piece published on Wednesday in the newspaper of Vietnam’s Communist Party.

In the piece timed for Mr Putin’s state visit to Vietnam, he applauded the Communist-ruled country for supporting “a pragmatic way to solve the crisis” in Ukraine, in comments published in the Nhan Dan newspaper.

France’s far-right Bardella backtracks on past pledge to pull out of Nato command

The far-right leader angling to become prime minister after France’s upcoming parliamentary election has backtracked on his party’s previous promise to pull out of Nato’s strategic military command.

National Rally president Jordan Bardella said he “doesn’t plan to question the commitments France has made on the international stage” if voters give his far-right party a majority that enables him to lead a new government, in what would be an awkward power-sharing arrangement with President Emmanuel Macron.

Referring to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Mr Bardella said at the Eurosatory arms trade show outside Paris: “France mustn’t leave Nato’s military command while we are at war, because it would considerably weaken France’s responsibility on the European scene and, obviously, its credibility with regard to its allies.”

The comments pulled back from a campaign promise made by his party in its manifesto for the 2022 French presidential election, which stated: “The priority will be to leave the integrated Nato command.”

Pyongyang decked out with Putin portraits and Russian flags

Editorial | the putin-kim bromance is a dangerous liaison.

There was a time, many decades ago, when an audience between the leaders of Russia and North Korea was a genuine meeting of ideological minds. Stalinism bound Kim il-Sung, grandfather of Kim Jong-un, to his sponsors and counterparts in the Kremlin and, it is fair to say, without the substantial military assistance given to the elder Kim and his comrades during the Korean war, the so-called Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) would not exist today.

Much has changed geopolitically since then, and relations between Moscow and Pyongyang have waxed and waned accordingly. Today, with Vladimir Putin’s first visit to the unpredictable hermit kingdom in a quarter of a century (when the then freshly minted President Putin met Mr Kim’s father), their renewed friendship is based less on sentiment and Marxist-Leninism than on cold calculations of common advantage.

They are both heavily sanctioned international pariahs, both enemies of the West. They share an uneasy relationship with China, which, because of its huge economic power, military prowess and status as a superpower, is more dominant neighbour than dependable friend.

The Putin-Kim bromance is a dangerous liaison, not just for South Korea, Japan and other regional powers, but for the rest of the world, and, indeed, the protagonists themselves.

Read The Independent ‘s full editorial below:

The Putin-Kim bromance is a dangerous liaison

Full report: Ukraine launches a national sexual assault registry for victims of Russian forces

Authorities in Ukraine have created a national registry to document cases of sexual violence allegedly committed by Russian forces, a senior prosecutor has said.

Viktoriia Litvinova, the country’s deputy prosecutor general, said that the registry was created out of a pilot project that had already resulted in the convictions of five people in absentia.

Litvinova said 303 cases of conflict-related sexual violence had been registered since the start of the full-scale invasion in early 2022, with 112 involving male and 191 involving female victims. Some of the victims have suffered from multiple assaults, she said.

Derek Gatopoulos has the full report:

ICYMI: Putin and Kim Jong-un urge each other to get in car first during North Korea visit

Russian chess grandmaster cites ‘bitter regret’ over us delays on ukraine.

Russian chess grandmaster and political activist Garry Kasparov has expressed “bitter regret” at the impact of delays in US weapons shipments to Ukraine, and in allowing them to be used to strike selective targets on Russian soil.

Sharing satellite images relating to Ukraine’s improved results in its defence of Kharkiv against a renewed Russian offensive in the region, he wrote: “As usual with US policy toward Ukraine, good news comes with bitter regret. The months of delays on aid by the GOP House & limits on weapons by the Biden WH [White House] put Ukrainian blood on their hands.”

Vast majority of Russian forces stationed near Finland border relocated to Ukraine, intelligence source says

Around 80 per cent of Russian forces and equipment in garrisons and military bases near Finland’s border have been relocated to Ukraine, Finland’s public broadcaster Yle reports, citing a senior Finnish military intelligence source.

Bases in other parts of Russia are equally empty, except for in the Moscow region where more forces remain stationed, the broadcaster cites an intelligence source as saying.

Prominent analyst Phillips P. O’Brien, of the University of St Andrews, suggested the claims – which appeared to be backed up with satellite imagery – undermined one of Russia’s main justifications for its war in Ukraine.

Analysis | Trump will find a new reality in east Asia if he enters White House

Our world affairs editor Kim Sengputa writes:

Putin has a lot to thank North Korea for in the Ukraine conflict.

As Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary stressed last month, North Korean munition and missiles (along with Iranian drones) have enabled Russian forces “to get back on their feet”. South Korean authorities have charted the sending of more than three million rounds of 152mm artillery shells and more than 500,000 rounds of 122mm multiple rocket launchers in six months.

Russia has secured a military ally and a source of weapons supply at a time when relations with the West have plummeted to the coldest point since the Cold War itself. North Korea is taking a big step in aligning itself so closely with Putin.

Donald Trump, whose own attempted rapprochement with Kim Jong-un failed, will find a new reality in east Asia and beyond, if and when he gets back to the White House.

Read the full piece here

EU to introduce tariffs on Ukrainian egg imports after farmer protests

Following Russia’s invasion in 2022, the country has benefited from a special mechanism put in place to boost trade flows with the EU, it’s most important export market.

But the EU was forced to set maximum import volumes after farmer protests across the bloc criticised cheap Ukrainian imports as unfair competition.

Watch: US secretary of state labels Vladimir Putin 'desperate' over North Korea trip

Two killed in ukrainian shelling of donetsk, russian-backed officials claim.

A man and a woman were killed by Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk on Wednesday morning, the city’s Russian-appointed mayor, Alexei Kulemzin, has claimed.

Two other people, including a child, were wounded and in a serious condition, Denis Pushilin, the Russian-appointed governor claimed.

Ukraine launches drive to document cases of sexual violence by Russian forces

Ukrainian authorities have created a national registry to document cases of sexual violence allegedly committed by Russian forces, a senior prosecutor said.

Viktoriia Litvinova, the country’s deputy prosecutor general, said that the registry was created out of a pilot project that had already resulted in the convictions of five people in absentia, relating to sexual assault allegations in areas attacked or occupied by Russian forces, in Kyiv, Kherson and Chernihiv.

She said: “We used to have to visit territories where hostilities are taking place ourselves. But now people – individuals who have experienced sexual abuse – are seeking us out for information.”

Ms Litvinova said 303 cases of conflict-related sexual violence had been registered since the start of the full-scale invasion in early 2022, with 112 involving male and 191 involving female victims. Some of the victims have suffered from multiple assaults, she said.

The initiative was announced on the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence, and has received assistance from UN agencies and several Western governments.

Putin visit is foreign leader’s first to North Korea since Covid pandemic

The meeting in Pyongyang this week is the first time that Kim Jong Un has hosted a foreign leader since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Putin’s visit, his first to the country for 24 years, is one of the rare occasions he has ventured outside Russia since the invasion of Ukraine two years ago.

Analysis | Putin’s best friend routine with Kim Jong-un is a clear and present danger to the West

Our world affairs editor Kim Sengupta writes:

Kim Jong-un is not new to striking up sudden friendships with the world’s powerful leaders. There were the memorable times with Donald Trump after the exchange of letters described as “beautiful” by the US president, followed by tender moments in meetings which were supposed to reshape geopolitics.

Nothing much came from the sessions of mutual admiration, apart from a temporary suspension by North Korea of ballistic missile building and deep apprehension from America’s allies in the region that Trump may do a deal with Kim jeopardising their security. That did not materialise in the end, to much relief.

Now Kim has a new bestie, Vladimir Putin, and this presents a clear and present danger to the West and its allies.

Full report: Russian interference in UK election could ramp up dramatically, warns senior US senator

Read more in this report:

Russia says it has wide scope to retaliate over plan to seize income from its assets

Russia has “significant amounts” of Western assets and property that it could target in retaliation if the West seizes income from Russian assets, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has threatened.

At last week’s Italy summit, G7 leaders agreed to use interest from Russian assets frozen in the West to provide a $50 billion loan to Ukraine.

Russia says the action is illegal and will rebound against the West by undermining confidence in the global financial system.

“Our country has significant amounts of Western funds and property that are under Russian jurisdiction; all of this may be subject to Russian retaliatory policies and retaliatory actions,” Ms Zakharova told reporters.

“Of course, no one will disclose the nature of these retaliatory actions to you. But the arsenal of political and economic countermeasures is wide.”

France’s far-right leader Bardella says he backs Ukraine’s right to defend itself

French far-right leader Jordan Bardella has insisted that he backs Ukraine’s right to defend itself but that – if elected prime minister in France’s upcoming elections– he would not provide Kyiv with missiles to strike Russia’s territory.

Mr Bardella, whose National Rally party is leading in opinion polls ahead of the looming election, also said he would standby France’s commitments to the Nato military alliance.

“I wish for Ukraine to have at disposal the ammunition and equipment it needs to hold the front, but my red line will not change, which is sending equipment that could have consequences of escalation in eastern Europe,” Mr Bardella told reporters at the Eurosatory arms fair near Paris.

“And so I don’t plan to send, especially, long-range missiles or other weapons that will allow Ukraine to strike the Russian territory. My position has not changed and will not change – it’s about support for Ukraine and avoiding all risks of escalation in the region. And I think the risk of escalation is of course real.”

Even if the RN was to run France’s government, Emmanuel Macron would remain as president, and the head of France’s army. But the constitution also gives the prime minister a role in terms of defence, with parliamentary backing also needed to secure future aid for Ukraine.

Putin drives Kim in Russian-built limousine

Vladimir Putin has driven North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a luxury Russian-built Aurus limousine during his visit to Pyongyang, Russian state TV reported.

Mr Putin presented Kim with an Aurus limousine, a tea set and an admiral’s dirk, Russia’s state news agency Tass quoted a Kremlin aide as saying.

North Korean-Russian relations reach ‘new, high level of alliance’, says Kim Jong Un

Relations between North Korea and Russia had risen to “a new, high level of alliance”, dictatorial leader Kim Jong Un has said.

At the summit with Vladimir Putin in Pyongyang, Mr Kim said a new strategic partnership pact signed by the two leaders marked a significant and historic moment in the countries’ relations.

Russia-North Korea pact includes mutual defence clause, says Putin

The strategic partnership pact signed today by Russia and North Korea includes a mutual defence clause under which each country agrees to help the other repel external aggression, Russian president Vladimir Putin said.

“The comprehensive partnership agreement signed today provides, among other things, for mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties to this agreement,” Mr Putin was quoted as saying by state news agency Tass.

Russia has suffered missile attacks within its own territory following its full-scale invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian-North Korean partnership is defensive in nature, Putin says

Vladimir Putin said a parnership agreement he signed with Kim Jong Un on Wednesday was defensive in nature, Russian state news agency TASS said.

Following talks which Mr Putin said had covered security and international issues, the Russian president was quoted as telling reporters that North Korea had a right to defend itself.

Putin trip to Vietnam completes visits by ‘Big Three’ for Hanoi, says analyst

Vietnam has its reasons to risk the ire of diplomatic partners such as the US and EU with Vladimir Putin, an analyst has said.

“Hanoi wants Putin to come for several reasons,” Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute told Reuters. “First, to demonstrate that Vietnam pursues a balanced foreign policy that does not favour any of the major powers.”

Vietnam pursues what it calls “bamboo diplomacy”, maintaining good relations with world powers, despite those powers’ animosity toward one another.

Noting that US president Joe Biden visited Vietnam followed by Chinese president Xi Jinping a few months later, Mr Storey said: “Putin’s visit will complete leadership visits by the ‘Big Three’.”

A court in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok has sentenced an American soldier arrested earlier this year to three years and nine months in prison on charges of stealing and threats of murder, Russian news reports said.

Staff Sgt Gordon Black, 34, flew to Vladivostok to see his girlfriend and was arrested after she accused him of stealing from her, according to US officials and Russian authorities.

Russian state news agencies Tass and RIA Novosti reported from the courtroom that the judge also ordered Black to pay 10,000 rubles (£95) in damages. Prosecutors had asked for Black to be sentenced to four years and eight months in prison.

Black’s sentencing further complicates US relations with Russia, which have grown increasingly tense as the fighting in Ukraine continues.

Watch: Kim Jong-un greets Putin on red carpet as he makes first trip to North Korea in 24 years

Russia nuclear-powered submarines launch missiles in Barents Sea drills

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Ukraine Says It Shot Down Most of a Russian Missile and Drone Barrage

Drawing on replenished supplies, Ukraine used mostly Western-provided air defense systems to deter the overnight assault.

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By Andrew E. Kramer

Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine

Ukraine said on Wednesday that it had drawn on stocks of antiaircraft missiles recently replenished by the United States and other allies to shoot down 29 of 30 missiles and exploding drones that Russia had fired at the country in an overnight barrage.

It was one of the better rates of interception by Ukraine so far during the war and underscored the impact of having fresh supplies of Western weaponry to bolster a war effort that had struggled mightily in recent months.

In Kyiv, the authorities said they had shot down an entire volley of missiles and exploding drones aimed at the capital as the devices approached or soared above the city. The aerial duel, between mostly Western-provided air defense systems and incoming Russian missiles, played out over the city shortly before 3 a.m.

Earlier in the year, Ukraine’s air defense ammunition had run perilously low. Commanders at some batteries said their missiles were being rationed, allowing Russian missiles to streak in unimpeded. President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly appealed for additional U.S.-made Patriot air-defense systems.

Mr. Zelensky reiterated the request on Wednesday when missiles or falling debris struck an apartment block in Kryvyi Rih, in central Ukraine, killing eight people and wounding 21 others. Those missiles were fired after the initial wave early on Wednesday.

The Biden administration has decided to give Ukraine one additional Patriot system, consisting of launchers, stocks of missiles and powerful radar antennas for finding targets. Other countries are also considering transferring Patriot launchers to Ukraine. Germany has organized the donation of 100 missiles from its stocks and those of Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway, of which 32 have been delivered so far, Germany’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, said this week.

As the assault played out on Wednesday, flashes lit up the skyline and explosions rang out. One civilian was wounded by falling debris, the authorities said.

“The enemy launched another missile attack on the capital,” Kyiv’s military administrator said in a post on Telegram, the social networking site. Typical of recent Russian strikes, the attack combined several types of weapons, including drones and cruise missiles. The tactic is intended to overload Ukraine’s air defenses.

The cruise missiles, launched from bombers flying in Russian air space, were timed to arrive in Kyiv simultaneously with a volley of Iranian-designed Shahed exploding drones.

In the overall attack, according to the Ukraine Air Force, Russia also fired three ballistic missiles, an Iskander medium-range, ground-launched ballistic missile and two air-launched Kinzhal, or Dagger missiles, which are dispatched from airplanes and fly at hypersonic speeds. Ukrainian and Western officials have said that Patriot interceptors are the only defense against the Dagger missiles.

Ukraine shot down five of six missiles and all 24 Shahed drones, the air force said in a statement that could not be independently confirmed.

Ukraine’s interception rate for drones and missiles had fallen in the first months of this year compared with a year earlier, as its air defense ammunition ran low and Russia adapted tactics to evade what defenses there were.

The average shoot-down rate for drones for the 12 months through April was about 80 percent, data from the Ukraine Air Force shows . The interception rate for missiles had fallen in some months this year to less than 50 percent, the data indicated.

Beyond boosting air defenses, the arrival of American weaponry has helped steady teetering positions along the front line and, soldiers said, slowed a Russian assault in the northeastern Kharkiv region. Troops who had bemoaned a shortage of ammunition again opened fire.

Congress approved additional aid in April , after months of delays, and the U.S. military rushed to Ukraine ammunition for artillery and weapons such as Stinger short-range antiaircraft missiles and Javelin antitank missiles, replenishing Ukraine’s arsenal.

One effect, soldiers serving at artillery positions said, was a lifting of rationing rules that had prohibited taking shots at small groups of Russian soldiers, because it was not deemed worthwhile to expend limited ammunition on them. Now, Ukrainian forces could provide fire support for frontline soldiers facing such assaults by small units.

European countries have also ramped up supplies of air-defense missiles to Ukraine. With more missiles available for short, medium and long-range systems, Ukraine could be expected to increase its ratio of interceptions during Russian missile attacks, said Valeriy Romanenko, a senior researcher at Ukraine’s National Aviation University.

In addition to the long-range American Patriot systems and a French and Italian long-range system called the SAMP/T, Ukraine operates an array of Western short- and medium-range air-defense systems. These include NASAMS launchers, a U.S.-Norwegian design; American Hawk missiles; and a recently developed German system, IRIS-T.

The attack on Wednesday showed good results in downing cruise missiles, Mr. Romanenko said, but too few were fired to ascertain whether Ukraine’s air defenses have been fully restored after the shortages. The volley was possibly a probing attack by Russia to flush out the location of Ukrainian air-defense positions, he said. The real test would come with a larger barrage.

In neighboring Poland, the military said it had scrambled jets to defend its airspace while the Russian missiles were in flight in Ukraine.

In Kyiv on Wednesday, falling debris wounded the leg of one civilian, the city’s military administrator, Ruslan Kravchenko, said in another post on Telegram. Falling missile debris also started two fires.

Debris from intercepts — sometimes small, silvery shards of metal and at other times heavy rocket motors — rains down on Kyiv after such engagements, often causing injuries. The debris is from both the interceptors and the incoming Russian missiles.

In recent assaults, Russia has been targeting electrical power plants, and by this month, about half of Ukraine’s electrical generating capacity had been destroyed. The government has introduced nationwide rolling blackouts as a result.

Nataliia Novosolova contributed reporting.

Andrew E. Kramer is the Kyiv bureau chief for The Times, who has been covering the war in Ukraine since 2014. More about Andrew E. Kramer

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

News and Analysis

President Biden and the NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, announced that a record number of allies were meeting their military spending commitments  as they sought to present a united front against Russia.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia will visit North Korea  for a meeting with its leader, Kim Jong-un, as the two countries deepen military ties to support Putin’s war in Ukraine with North Korean weapons .

Scores of countries at a two-day summit in Switzerland joined Ukraine in calling for “dialogue between all parties” to end the war , but world leaders were divided on how to engage Russia.

Narrowing Press Freedoms: Journalists in Ukraine say they are subject to increasing restrictions and pressure from the government , adding that the measures go beyond wartime security needs.

Images From the Border: Photographs from two trips along Ukraine’s northeastern border regions, in the months before Russia renewed an offensive there, reveal loss and transformation .

A Russian City Adapts:  While in Moscow the fighting feels far away, residents of Belgorod, 25 miles from the border with Ukraine, have learned to duck for cover when the sirens wail .

How We Verify Our Reporting

Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs , videos and radio transmissions  to independently confirm troop movements and other details.

We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts .

Watch: Russia flaunts intercontinental ballistic missile in new video

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