Updates: Russia warns NATO against joining Ukraine after deadly strikes

For more on Russia’s “massive” overnight attack on Ukraine’s Kyiv and elsewhere, read this.

Russian forces pressed into Ukraine’s eastern towns of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad during the past week as Kyiv’s military mounted a stout defence. For more, see this story.

And all of our latest coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine can be found here.

This live page will soon be closing. Here are the day’s main developments:

• Russia fired a barrage of drones and missiles on Ukraine’s capital, killing at least six people and wounding dozens of others.
• Russian air defences, meanwhile, intercepted or destroyed 216 Ukrainian drones in attacks launched overnight, the Defence Ministry said.
• Russian troops have intensified combat near Ukraine’s southeastern city of Orikhiv, where they’re trying to advance.
• Azerbaijan summoned Russian ambassador Mikhail Yevdokimov to issue a “strong protest” after the attacks in Kyiv damaged the Azerbaijani embassy.
• Italy signed off on a 12th package of military support for Kyiv and pledged to help Ukraine overcome its energy crisis this winter by sending generators.
• Germany said it will raise military aid to Ukraine to 11.5 billion euros ($13.4bn) in 2026.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv is developing energy agreements with a number of European states to ensure “guarantees of gas supply” ahead of the upcoming winter.

Washington’s diplomatic drive to end the Ukraine war is faltering.

US officials continue to press for a ceasefire, but so far to no avail. So what are the obstacles to ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict?

The Russian Defence Ministry has accused Ukraine of hitting civilian facilities and claimed its deadly overnight strike on Kyiv and elsewhere came in response to that.

More than 60 Ukrainian drones were intercepted over the southern Krasnodar region that borders Crimea, according to the ministry. A total of 45 drones were destroyed over the Saratov region, deeper inside Russia, while another 19 were shot down over Crimea.

In Novorossiysk, a port city in the Krasnodar region, the attack damaged an oil depot at the Sheskharis transhipment complex, as well as unidentified “coastal structures,” local authorities said.

According to the Meduza independent news outlet, Sheskharis is one of the largest oil loading complexes for transhipment of oil and oil products in the south of Russia.

Falling drone debris also damaged a civilian vessel in the port, and three crew members were hospitalised with injuries. Several residential buildings were also damaged, and a man from one of those buildings was hospitalised with injuries, officials said.

North Korean troops who helped Russia repel a major Ukrainian incursion into its western Kursk region are now playing an important role in clearing the area of mines.

Russian military news outlet Krasnaya Zvezda reported Russian and North Korean soldiers are dealing with a “previously unseen density” of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines left behind by Ukrainian forces in Kursk. It said many of the devices were manufactured by NATO countries.

Video published by the Russian Defence Ministry showed North Korean troops being shown different types of mines and detection equipment, taking part in training exercises, and singing patriotic songs.

“They’re great lads, they learn quickly, listen attentively and take notes,” said a Russian commander with the call sign “Veles”.

Russia’s Defence Ministry say under a mutual defence pact between the two countries, North Korea last year sent some 14,000 soldiers to fight alongside Russia in Kursk, and more than 6,000 were killed.

Ukrainian forces smashed across the border in August 2024 and held on to substantial pockets of territory for months. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in April that Russia finally pushed them out with help from the North Koreans.

We can now bring you more from Zelenskyy’s address on Telegram.

The Ukrainian president said the country is developing energy agreements with numerous European states, including Norway and Greece, to ensure it has “guarantees of gas supply” ahead of the upcoming winter.

During the war, Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, causing power cuts that are especially challenging during the harsh winter months.

Major-General Vadym Skibitskyi, deputy head of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence, says he’s expecting Russian attacks on gas and energy infrastructure to continue into the winter.

“They definitely want to break us. This is destabilising the internal situation,” he said. Skibitskyi described it as one of the tools to pressure Ukraine into a more compliant position in any possible peace negotiations.

He also said should Russian troops capture the besieged city of Pokrovsk – where street battles are currently raging – they would likely press towards the boundaries of the Donetsk region, their long-held goal.

“It’s their next direction of movement, it’s obvious,” said Skibitskyi, denouncing the massive drone attacks launched by Moscow.

“It is possible to shoot them down, but the quantity of these aerial bombs produced in the Russian Federation … is enormous,” Skibitskyi said. “This is a threat – a threat that will require us to respond appropriately.”

Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose just 0.6 percent year-on-year in this year’s third quarter, according to Russia’s statistics agency Rosstat, down from 1.1 percent the previous quarter.

High military spending initially bolstered the Russian economy after it sent troops into Ukraine. But it also spurred inflation, which now weighs on growth as the civilian sector struggles with high borrowing costs.

Adding to Russia’s economic burden are new US sanctions on Russia’s energy sector targeting its two biggest oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil.

Defence ministers from five major European NATO countries promised greater cooperation to counter drone incursions and other “hybrid threats” such as cyberattacks after a meeting in Berlin.

Germany, France, Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom also underscored their “unwavering support” for Ukraine in its war with Russia, and their commitment to rebuilding their own militaries.

“We will intensify our cooperation in countering hybrid threats against allies, including addressing the challenges posed by drones, cyberattacks, and disinformation,” the allies said in a joint statement.

This will include exploring defence measures “such as drone defence systems”, as well as “enhancing information sharing among European allies”.

European countries have repeatedly accused Russia of conducting “hybrid” warfare – a largely unconventional warfare that can involve sabotage, disinformation campaigns, and other disruptive attacks.

Ukraine’s president has issued a statement updating the public on air defence strategies following last night’s aerial blitz on Kyiv.

In a post on Telegram, Zelenskyy said he held a meeting with senior officials from the military, intelligence services, and regional administration chiefs focusing on “air-defence systems and our drone capabilities”.

The government is “preparing special decisions that can strengthen our defence” in front-line regions, he said, including by increasing deployment of and resources for dedicated drone units such as the elite 414th Unmanned Strike Aviation Brigade.

“We need more protection and more active operations of our own,” said Zelenskyy, accusing Russia of “training” its drone operators “at the expense of killing Ukrainians”.

After nearly four years of war between Kyiv and Moscow, fighting is heating up on the front lines of eastern Ukraine.

But with drones spotted at sensitive sites across the European Union, its leaders have declared Russia is fighting a hybrid war beyond Ukraine’s borders.

Although only Ukraine and Russia are officially at war, the continent has now entered an arms race that’s reshaping its economies, rattling governments, and reframing relationships within the union itself.

Is war really edging closer to Europe’s borders, and is the continent prepared?

Ukraine’s president will take a trip to Spain next week and meet deputies of both chambers of parliament.

The planned visit will follow a trip to Paris the day before, where Zelenskyy is set to meet France’s President Emmanuel Macron.

Last year, Spain pledged 1 billion euros ($1.1bn) in military aid to Ukraine as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Zelenskyy signed a security deal in Madrid.

Sanchez reaffirmed last month that Spain will continue to support Ukraine during Russia’s invasion “until a just and lasting peace is achieved”.

He said Spain would “continue delivering aid in coordination with Ukraine to ensure it receives what it needs at each moment”.

Kyiv residents have described terrifying scenes after heavy Russian attacks struck the capital overnight.

Mariia Kalchenko, a 46-year-old volunteer rescue dog handler, said it was a miracle she survived after her building was hit.

“I didn’t hear anything, I just realised that my hair was on fire,” she said. When she turned on her flashlight, saw her wall was blown away and heard her neighbour screaming as flames poured through the apartment.

Another resident, Oleh Hudyma, 59, said he was preparing to head to a bomb shelter but wasn’t fast enough. “I got up, got dressed, went out, and there was an explosion. I couldn’t hear the [drone] engine running just an explosion, flames, everything flew.”

Iryna Synyavska, 62, said three people were killed in the two apartments next to her. “My neighbour and his father were killed by the ceiling that collapsed. In the next apartment, an elderly woman lived there … Her body was only just recovered.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned Russia’s latest wave of attacks across Ukraine that killed at least eight people and caused widespread damage.

“The secretary-general strongly condemns today’s large-scale missile and drone strikes by the Russian Federation on several Ukrainian regions, reportedly killing at least six people in the capital Kyiv and two people in the city of Chornomorsk,” spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

The attacks caused “many injuries among civilians and damage to residential and energy infrastructure, as well as damage to the embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Kyiv”, he noted.

Guterres repeated “his call for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire as a first step towards a just, comprehensive, and sustainable peace in Ukraine – one that fully upholds Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders in line with the UN Charter, international law, and relevant UN resolutions”, said Dujarric.

The Dneprovskaya power line supplying electricity to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been switched off as a result of the automatic protection system being triggered.

Power needs are now being supplied from the Ferosplava-1 line, the power company said.

“No violations of safety limits or conditions have been recorded. Personnel are monitoring the situation,” the plant said on the Telegram messaging app.

Repair work started last month on war-damaged off-site power lines to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant following a four-week outage because of attacks that Russia and Ukraine blamed on each other.

Let’s bring you up to speed:

• The death toll from Russia’s overnight drone blitz on Ukraine’s capital has risen to six after another body was found underneath the rubble in Kyiv.
• Russia’s latest attack on the Ukrainian capital also caused damage to the Azerbaijani embassy there, prompting Azerbaijan to summon the Russian ambassador to Baku.
• Russian troops are intensifying combat near Ukraine’s southeastern city of Orikhiv, where they’re trying to advance.
• Ukraine says it started mass production of its new domestically developed interceptor drones, which it claims are effective “at night, under jamming, and at low altitudes”.
• Germany says it will raise military aid to Ukraine to 11.5 billion euros ($13.4bn) in 2026.

The United States is preparing to deport dozens of Ukrainians, with fears raised they could be conscripted and sent to battle Russian forces on the front lines, a news report says.

The Washington Post quoted Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, as saying the embassy is aware of about “80 Ukrainian nationals” who have final removal orders because of “violations of US law”.

Lawyers for one of the Ukrainians affected noted Ukraine is a war zone that is “currently under martial law, and it is likely that any deportees will be forcibly drafted into the army and sent to the front where they face a high likelihood of death”.

The news report noted that under international treaties, people should not be sent back to countries where domestic dangers threaten their lives, even convicted criminals.

“The US can deport as many as they want,” said an unnamed adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking to the Post on condition of anonymity. “We’ll find good use for them.”

“My first thought was if only no one had died,” said Kyiv resident Olena Shkoropatska. “Houses can be rebuilt”.

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