Explosion in Russian city as Ukraine strikes ‘with kamikaze drones’

Ukraine‘s air force has said that its air defence systems destroyed all 10 drones that Russia launched overnight targeting the country.

The drones were destroyed over Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine, the air force said on the Telegram messaging app.

Below we have some of the latest photos coming out of Ukraine and Russia.

Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas is tipped to become the European Union’s next foreign policy boss, but her tough stance on Russia may raise doubts as to whether she can represent views from across the bloc.

EU leaders held informal talks yesterday, their first since the European Parliament election, to discuss appointments for the bloc’s top jobs, with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen expected to secure a second term and EU diplomats saying Ms Kallas was in line for the foreign affairs role.

Ms Kallas, who turns 47 today, has been a staunch critic of neighbouring Russia since she became prime minister in early 2021.

An uncompromising voice in the EU and Nato for unconditional support to Kyiv and for containing Moscow, she led her country of 1.4 million people to become one of the highest per-capita military donors to Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine are set to remain locked in battle for the foreseeable future after an international gathering billed as a first step toward peace delivered no eye-catching diplomatic breakthrough that might suggest a coming end to Europe’s biggest conflict since the second World War.

A Russian official yesterday said that fighting was gripping parts of Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region which Moscow has been trying to seize and added that Ukraine’s military was pouring men and equipment into the contested area.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv’s forces were gradually pushing Russian troops out of the contested area. His top commander predicted that Moscow would try to press forward pending the arrival in Ukraine of sophisticated Western equipment, including US-made F-16 fighter jets.

Russian forces crossed into parts of Kharkiv region last month and officials say they have seized about a dozen villages.

Vitaly Ganchev, Russia-appointed governor of the areas of Kharkiv region controlled by Moscow, said Russian forces were beating back Ukraine’s latest counter-attacks in areas near Vovchansk, 5km inside the border.

“There is fighting still going on in the Kharkiv sector. The fiercest clashes are in Vovchansk and near Lyptsy,” Mr Ganchev told Russian news agencies.

“The enemy is sending reserves and trying to counter-attack but is meeting a fierce response from our armed forces.”

A fleet of Russian warships, including a nuclear submarine, left Havana’s port yesterday after a five-day visit to Cuba following planned military drills in the Atlantic Ocean.

The exercise was seen as a show of strength by Moscow amid growing tensions with the US and other Western countries supporting Ukraine against Russia.

The submarine, a frigate, an oil tanker and a rescue tug slowly departed from the port on Monday morning.

It’s unclear what the fleet’s destination is or where it will dock next in the Caribbean, although US officials have said the vessels could possibly stop in Venezuela.

The first American journalist to be detained on spy charges in Russia since the end of the Cold War more than three decades ago, Mr Gershkovich has repeatedly denied the charges while the US and the UK have hit out at what they see as politically motivated charges.

US president Joe Biden has called his detention “totally illegal”.

My colleague Tom Watling reports:

A court in Delhi has denied bail to a man accused of trafficking Indian citizens to be deployed in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“The allegations against the accused are grave and serious in nature. Enlarging the applicant on bail at this stage will hamper further investigation of the case,” said the court as it denied relief to Micheal Elangovan.

The accused has denied the allegations.

“There is also a possibility that he may try to destroy the evidence which are yet to be obtained by the IO (investigating officer). The applicant may also assist the other accused persons in continuing to evade the process of law,” said the court.

A consortium of Nato allies has confirmed the first tranche of companies awarded funding as part of the group’s $1.1bn innovation fund.

The alliance unveiled the fund in the summer of 2022, months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, promising to invest in technologies that would enhance its defences. The fund is backed by 24 of NATO’s 32 member states, including Finland and Sweden, which joined the alliance earlier this year.

On Tuesday, the Nato Innovation Fund (NIF) confirmed it had directly invested in four European tech companies, which it said would help address challenges in defence, security, and resilience.

The body has allocated funding to Fractile AI, a London-based computer chipmaker aiming to make large language models (LLMs) like those that power ChatGPT run faster, as well as Germany’s ARX Robotics, which designs unmanned robots with functions ranging from heavy-lifting to surveillance.