Ukraine-Russia warfare newest: Kyiv hit in contemporary wave of Russian assaults after Putin vows ‘powerful’ response

The Russia-installed head of parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk Region under Moscow’s control said Ukrainian drone attacks had killed eight people, including a family of four.

Denis ​Pushilin, ⁠writing on the Telegram messaging app, ⁠said the four people died ​in ⁠a strike ‌on a village southwest of the region’s main city, ‌also called Donetsk.

Russian forces control well over 70 per cent of Donetsk Region and Moscow has called on ‌Kyiv to abandon ​the rest of ‌that region ⁠and the three others ⁠it has annexed as part ‌of ​any peace ‌deal.

Ukraine has received ​all such demands.

Four others died in vehicles struck by drones, he said.

Ukraine and nine other countries announced have said they were forming a coalition to protect Europe from ballistic missiles, utilising Kyiv’s experience in fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion for over four years.

“Our goal is to build a shared ballistic missile defense capability for Europe,” the 10 nations said in a statement in Paris at talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky and the leaders of Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom said they recognised “the growing threat posed by ballistic missiles,” which are harder to stop than cruise missiles or drones.

“We believe that protecting Europe requires a comprehensive solution, in the form of an integrated missile defense architecture, to deter and neutralise future missile threats,” the statement said.

“We recognise Ukraine’s unique experience, gained through its defence against the war of aggression waged by Russia.”

The statement gave no time frame for setting up the defense system and said the plan remained open to other countries.

Prime minister Keir Starmer signed Britain up to an EU defence loan for Ukraine on Monday, one of his last acts as the nation’s prime minister to try to improve London’s ties with the bloc after years of wrangling over Brexit.

Sir Keir announced the agreement, which ​will give British defence firms access to contracts funded ​by the €90bn ($102.59bn) Ukraine Support Loan, as he ⁠arrived in Paris for a meeting of the Coalition of the ​Willing group of Ukrainian allied countries.

“This agreement will help ensure Ukraine ​gets the support it needs to defend itself against Russian aggression, while backing British defence companies, supporting skilled jobs and strengthening our national security,” Sir Keir ​said in a statement.

Russian president Vladimir Putin was unyielding, as he vowed emphatic retaliation yesterday to Kyiv’s recent long-range attacks on refineries, tankers and terminals that have caused widespread fuel shortages.

“Wherever they attempt to strike Russian territory, we will respond in kind, but our strikes will be several times more powerful,” Putin told a meeting with pro-Kremlin activists.

European foreign ministers were meeting separately in Brussels where they discussed Ukraine’s needs and Russia’s threats to the continent.

Volodymyr Zelensky is keen to accelerate efforts with European countries to develop its air defences ahead of winter, when Russia usually intensifies its attacks to deny Ukrainians electricity, heat and water.

Ukrainian officials were in Paris to present a proposed Anti-Ballistic Program and meet with government leaders, national security advisers and defence companies who might take part, Zelensky said.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said war-hit Ukraine will need at least 300 Patriot missile interceptors to get through the next winter.

His request came as Ukraine and nine other countries announced they were forming a coalition to protect Europe from ballistic missiles, utilising Kyiv’s experience in fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion for over four years.

“We need to start preparing for next winter now. Of course, we are doing everything we can to push Russia toward diplomacy. And this is already the most difficult summer for Russia,” Zelensky said at the summit yesterday in Paris.

Ukraine can strengthen its overall position by securing a sufficient “winter package of air defence missiles,” he said.

“If we have enough protection for the winter, Russia will have far less reason to drag the war into the winter. We have calculated that this package should include 100 Patriot missiles per month – 300 missiles for the winter. Please consider this,” Zelensky said.

Russian forces ⁠attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with missiles in the early hours today, triggering fires in widely separated districts of the city, senior ⁠officials said.

The air alert in the city was lifted after about 50 minutes. No casualties were reported.

Tymur Tkachenko, head ​of ⁠the capital’s military administration, ‌said two storage areas were hit and set on fire in the ‌Holosiivskyi district just outside ‌the city centre.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said drone debris had hit the ground in an open area in an eastern suburb and cars had been set ablaze. Reuters witnesses reported several explosions in the city.

In the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, Russian drones struck residential and other areas, injuring 11 people, emergency services said.

A drone attack ‌in a town ⁠outside Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city in ⁠the northeast, injured six people, Kharkiv regional governor ‌Oleh Syniehubov ​said on Telegram.

There is a widespread view that Andy Burnham cannot negotiate a significantly better relationship with the European Union without breaking Labour’s manifesto commitments. If that were true, it would be a serious problem, since forging a closer partnership with the EU is one of the most important things that the UK’s next prime minister could do.

Fortunately, there is a way to cut a deal that is good for Britain while also respecting Labour’s promises not to rejoin the bloc, its single market or its customs union, at least until the next general election. The solution is to create a bold security pact covering far more than defence.

But first, Burnham will have to take the British people on a journey. Although a big majority think Brexit was a mistake, they do not yet regard it as one of the country’s most pressing problems.

Russia’s banned spies, which faced the international wrath in their deployed countries, have started turning up in Japan and using their technology, according to a report by The New York Times.

The spies kicked out of the western nations following the full-scale invasion launched by Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Japan’s weak espionage laws and sought-after technology industry has made it lucrative for Russia to operate a part of its war effort through the country.

At least 90 per cent of Russian missiles and drones include Japanese components, said the Ukrainian government in its new estimates.

Russia is also operating its 20th Directorate, a military intelligence unit, which has unit officers pretending to be diplomats or business people holding important positions as they purchase or steal combat technology to introduce it to Russia, said former and serving members of five Western intelligence agencies, the report added.

This matters because too much Western thinking about Russia still rests on one of two assumptions: that sustained pressure will eventually force Moscow to moderate its behaviour, or that the system is heading towards collapse. Both assumptions misunderstand the nature of the pressures building inside Russia.

These pressures are not new and did not begin with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.