Russia-Ukraine war – live: Three killed by Putin’s drones in Zaporizhzhia region after nuclear plant takes ‘direct hit’

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that a planned German military presence in Lithuania would escalate tensions.

The NATO military alliance and EU member Lithuania, which borders Russia and its ally Belarus, said earlier it would partly finance permanently hosting of 5,000 German troops from 2027.

Three people have been killed in the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine following Russian strikes, the local governor has reported.

Ivan Federov, posting on the Telegram messenger service, wrote: “Three people were killed and three people were wounded in the Pologivskyi district.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has decried Russia’s ramped up assault on the city of Kharkiv, which has been targeted multiple times over the past few weeks.

The northeastern Ukrainian city, less than 20km from the Russian border, is the country’s second largest behind Kyiv. Moscow has begun dropping deadly guided aerial bombs on the city, nicknamed “building destroyers” and has carried out “double tap” strikes on emergency workers earlier this month.

Kharkiv’s residents have only limited access to electricity after a major bombing campaign on 22 March.

“Kharkiv. Every day and night, the city is subjected to heinous Russian attacks. We are making every effort to provide better protection for it,” Mr Zelensky said.

Among the incorrect allegations being made by pro-Kremlin campaigners is the suggestion circulating on fake news sites that King Charles has sold his royal residence Highgrove House to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky for £20m.

The bizarre report was initially made in a YouTube video that featured someone who claimed to be the estate agent behind the made-up sale. However, security experts told The Times the character, named Sam Murphy, appeared to be AI-generated.

The overwhelming majority of the British people stand with the Ukrainian people in their time of need. The Ukrainians’ brave resistance against Vladimir Putin’s aggression meets all the tests of a just war, and it is in our national interest that Putin should not succeed.

Now, however, we are coming to the hard part. Two years have passed since the Russian attempt to take Kyiv, and the balance of the war has started to shift in Putin’s favour. Ukrainian forces have had to retreat from Avdiivka, close by Donetsk, the capital of one of the eastern provinces claimed by Putin.

Below are some of the latest photos from Ukraine

Russia launched more than two dozen attack drones on Ukraine, hitting critical infrastructure in the central Zhytomyr region and damaging logistics facilities in the south, officials said on Monday.

The Zvyahel city council in Ukraine‘s Zhytomyr region urged people to stay indoors after Russia’s air attack on the critical infrastructure object resulted in air pollution.

“Russia struck an infrastructure object of the community overnight,” the city council said on the Telegram messaging app. “There are no casualties among the civilian population. Currently, there is a direct threat of air pollution, so it is recommended to stay indoors with closed windows.”

Officials provided no further details. Russia has intensified its drone and missile strikes against Ukrainian energy facilities in recent weeks, causing significant damage and threatening Ukrainians with a repeat of the blackouts they experienced in the first year after Russia invaded in February 2022.

The Ukrainian air defence downed 17 out of 24 Iranian-produced Shahed drones Russia used in its attack, over the regions of Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, Khmelnytskyi and Zhytomyr, the air force said on the Telegram messaging app.

A Russia-launched Kh-59 guided air missile was destroyed over the Dnipropetrovsk region, it added.

Four drones were destroyed over the southern region of Odesa, said Oleh Kiper, the regional governor, adding that a logistics and transport facility and a gas station were damaged. There were no casualties in the attack, he added. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Mr Stoltenberg has described growing links between the three countries and North Korea, as he warned the world has become “much more dangerous”.

Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Stoltenberg said: “China is propping up the Russian war economy, delivering key parts to the defence industry, and in return Moscow is mortgaging its future to Beijing.”

He also accused Russia of giving technology to Iran and North Korea in return for ammunition and other military supplies.

Russian officials have blamed Ukraine for the attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Sunday.

Ukraine has denied having anything to do with any strikes on the station and blamed Moscow for the strikes.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called the attack “reckless” after an explosion near the reactor building and a hit on the dome of the plant’s sixth power unit.

At least one casualty is also suspected as blood stains were found by an IAEA team outside a laboratory next to a damaged military logistics vehicle.

Russian forces took control of the plant in 2022 shortly after their full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Both Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of risking a nuclear accident by attacking the plant.

The Zvyahel city council in Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region urged people early today to stay indoors after Russia’s air attack on an infrastructure object resulted in air pollution.

“Russia struck an infrastructure object of the community overnight,” the city council said on Telegram.

“There are no casualties among the civilian population. Currently, there is a direct threat of air pollution, so it is recommended to stay indoors with closed windows.”