Ukraine-Russia battle newest: Kyiv ‘damages more fighter jets in nighttime raid’ after success of Operation Spiderweb | EUROtoday

Russia launched a large drone assault on Ukraine in a single day, killing one individual and damaging swathes of Kyiv and hanging a maternity ward within the southern port of Odesa, regional officers mentioned early this morning.

The strikes adopted Russia’s greatest drone assault on Ukraine yesterday – a part of stepped-up operations that Moscow mentioned have been retaliatory measures for Kyiv’s current brazen assaults in Russia.

At least 4 individuals have been hospitalised on account of the hours-long assaults that hit seven of town’s 10 districts, metropolis officers mentioned.

Air raid alerts in Kyiv and most Ukrainian areas lasted 5 hours till round 5am, in keeping with navy knowledge.

“A difficult night for all of us,” Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s navy district, mentioned on Telegram. “Throughout the night, the enemy relentlessly terrorised Kyiv with attack drones. They targeted civilian infrastructure and peaceful residents of the city.”

The assault sparked fires in residential and non-residential neighbourhoods and open house areas, metropolis officers mentioned. Reuters’ witnesses heard and noticed numerous loud explosions shaking town and lighting the night time sky.

Photos and movies posted on Telegram channels confirmed heavy smoke rising within the darkness in several elements of Kyiv. The scale of the assault was not instantly recognized.

“You can’t break Ukrainians with terror,” Andriy Yermak, president Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of workers, mentioned in a Telegram put up after the assaults.

People within the UK had “better learn to speak Russian” if the UK doesn’t ramp up defence spending, Nato chief Mark Rutte has steered.

Speaking at Chatham House in London, Mr Rutte was requested if he believed chancellor Rachel Reeves needs to be elevating taxes to fulfill Nato’s defence spending commitments.

He replied: “It’s not up to me to decide, of course, how countries pay the bill. I mean, what I know is that if we want to keep our societies safe.

But he added: “Look, if you do not do this, if you would not go to the 5 per cent, including the 3.5 per cent core defence spending, you could still have the National Health Service, or in other countries their health systems, the pension system, et cetera, but you had better learn to speak Russian.”

Mr Rutte wouldn’t reveal the deadline for when he hopes Nato allies will spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence.

Asked a few deadline, he advised reporters: “I have a clear view on when we should achieve that. I keep that to myself, because we are having these consultations now with allies, and these discussions are ongoing, and we will in the end agree on a date when we have to be there.”

Nato chief Mark Rutte has warned that we’re “all on the eastern flank now” as he outlined plans to “transform” the Western navy alliance within the face of threats from Russia and China.

“I know we can count on the United Kingdom as we start the next chapter for Nato,” Mark Rutte mentioned in feedback at Chatham House in London.

The Nato secretary-general mentioned: “Russia is reconstituting its forces with Chinese technology and producing more weapons faster than we thought. In terms of ammunition, Russia produces in three months what the whole of Nato produces in a year.”

Warning that Russia might be prepared to make use of pressure in opposition to Nato inside 5 years, Mr Rutte mentioned: “We are all on the eastern flank now. “The new generation of Russian missiles travel at many times the speed of sound. The distance between European capitals is only a matter of minutes. There is no longer east or west. There is just Nato.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky shared a celebratory put up on X as he welcomed residence prisoners of battle which might be wounded, severely wounded, and people below the age of 25 from Russian captivity.

He mentioned: “Our people are home.Ukrainians are returning home from Russian captivity.

“Today, an exchange began, which will continue in several stages over the coming days.

“Among those we are bringing back now are the wounded, the severely wounded, and those under the age of 25. The process is quite complex, with many sensitive details, and negotiations continue virtually every day,” he mentioned.

Russia is stepping up its summer time offensive each on the bottom and within the air however assist from Europe and complex drone warfare might assist Ukraine maintain Moscow again.

“Not so, Dmitry Peskov pouted; the conflict is an “existential question” for Russia. “This is a question of our security and the future of ourselves and our children, the future of our country,” continued Putin’s spokesman, who has grown extra accustomed to preening with pleasure on the relentless assaults on Ukraine from the White House this yr.

“He is right. Victory for Russia was once defined as regime change in Kyiv. But it really need only be a messed up Ukraine, unstable, violent and impoverished.”

World affairs editor Sam Kiley takes a better look.

According to Ukraine’s each day air pressure updates, these are a few of the greatest assaults of the battle thus far:

1. 499 drones and missiles reported 9 June
2. 479 drones and missiles reported 1 June
3. 452 drones and missiles reported 6 June
4. 367 drones and missiles reported 25 May
5. 364 drones and missiles reported 26 May

A Ukrainian drone strike, among the many deepest into Russia in additional than three years of the battle, pressured a short lived suspension of manufacturing at an electronics firm within the Volga river area of Chuvashia, the top of the area mentioned on Monday.

The strike, some 1,300 km (800 miles) from the border with Ukraine, triggered no casualties, Chuvashia Governor Oleg Nikolayev mentioned in an announcement on the Telegram messaging app.

But “the responsible decision was made to temporarily suspend production to ensure the safety of employees” of the VNIIR enterprise the place the drones fell, Nikolayev mentioned.

It was not instantly clear whether or not the drones triggered any injury. Nikolayev mentioned that one other drone fell onto some fields within the space of the capital of the area, Cheboksary.

Ukraine’s navy mentioned in a Telegram assertion on Monday that “at least two drones” hit the VNIIR facility that specialises in manufacturing navigation tools utilized in assault drones, guided aerial bombs and high-precision weapons.

The Ukrainian navy mentioned the drone assault sparked a big -scale fireplace on the VNIIR plant.

Reports in regards to the assault couldn’t be independently verified.

Britain is already at battle with Russia, one of many authors of the federal government’s strategic defence evaluation has warned, whereas arguing that the UK can now not depend on the US as a reliable ally.

Political Correspondent Millie Cooke reviews:

Russian president Vladimir Putin has authorized a brand new naval technique which goals to completely restore Russia’s place as one of many world’s main maritime powers, Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev mentioned in an interview revealed yesterday.

Russia has the world’s third strongest navy after China and the United States, in keeping with most public rankings, although the navy has suffered a collection of high-profile losses within the Ukraine battle.

Patrushev mentioned the brand new naval technique – entitled “The Strategy for the Development of the Russian Navy up to 2050” – had been authorized by Putin in late May.

“Russia’s position as one of the world’s greatest maritime powers is gradually recovering,” Patrushev advised the Argumenti i Fakti newspaper in an interview.

“It is impossible to carry out such work without a long-term vision of the scenarios for the development of the situation in the oceans, the evolution of challenges and threats, and, of course, without defining the goals and objectives facing the Russian Navy,” Patrushev mentioned.

Patrushev gave no additional particulars in regards to the technique, although Russia is believed to have ramped up spending on defence and safety to Cold War ranges as a proportion of gross home product.

Ukraine’s navy claims to have struck two fighter jets stationed at an airfield 400 miles into Russian territory, simply days after launching its audacious Operation Spiderweb.

“According to preliminary information, two enemy aircraft (presumably MiG-31 and Su-30/34 aircraft) were struck,” the navy mentioned in an announcement on the Telegram messaging app.

Kyiv didn’t say how the planes have been hit within the recent assault by Ukrainian particular operations forces on the Savasleyka airfield, and there was no rapid remark from Russia. However, Russian battle bloggers claimed there had been no injury to the warplanes.

It will trigger additional concern for Vladimir Putin after Ukraine destroyed swathes of his bomber fleet final month in a long-planned drone assault on Russian airbases.

The newest strike got here as Ukraine welcomed residence one other group of prisoners from Russian captivity, in an alternate agreed final week in Istanbul and set to proceed over the approaching days.