Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s forces hit apartments in Kyiv with overnight drone attack, officials say
A five-year-old among three killed in Russian drone strikes on Kyiv
Russia launched an overnight drone attack on Kyiv, killing at least three people, including a five-year-old, said the Ukrainian interior ministry.
The drone hit apartment buildings and sparked several fires throughout Ukraine’s capital despite agreeing to a limited ceasefire, officials said.
Emergency services were dispatched to Kyiv’s historic Podil district after drones hit two high-rise apartment buildings, said Timur Tkachenko, the head of the capital’s military administration.
A woman died after drone debris sparked a fire in a high-rise residential building in Dniprovskyi district, the emergency service said on Telegram. Another person died in the Holosiivskyi district.
Kyiv, its surrounding region and the eastern half of Ukraine were under air raid alerts on Saturday night.
It came a day after Vladimir Putin’s forces launched a drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing three members of the same family and wounding 14 others, according to officials, who said residential buildings, cars and communal buildings were set on fire.
Kyiv and Moscow agreed in principle on Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after US president Donald Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders.
Sir Keir’s ‘coalition of the willing’ is proving to be principled – and a rallying cry for Ukraine 
Zelensky claims Putin is ‘amassing troops to strike us’ following Russian leader’s phone call with Trump
Mapped: Which Ukrainian nuclear power plants could Trump take as part of ceasefire deal?
Trump story about ‘surrounded’ Ukraine troops contradicted by his own intelligence, report reveals
The Independent View | Keir’s ‘coalition of the willing’ is proving to be principled – and a rallying cry for Ukraine
The separate tracks of European and US approaches to ending the Ukraine war have barely been clearer. Exemplifying the high ground that the prime minister has taken since Mr Trump re-established ties with Moscow, Sir Keir set the tone – before visiting Barrow-in-Furness and laying the keel for the next generation of UK nuclear-armed submarines. There, he made clear that nuclear deterrence was both necessary and effective.
Vladimir Putin, he said, feared Britain’s nuclear weapons as a “credible capability”. In other words, there was no reason for either the UK – or, by extension, the European members of Nato – to be intimidated by Russia. Or, he might also have said, by the United States threatening to leave Europe to rely on its own resources.
The British prime minister’s moral clarity on support for Kyiv, and the need for it to continue, has been quietly appreciated by his fellow European leaders, and more loudly by Ukraine. It has also contributed to a sense of European solidarity as the United States has increasingly seen to be on a different track.
Report: Russian official thanks North Korea’s Kim Jong Un for Ukraine war support
Russia’s Security Council secretary Sergei Shoigu thanked Kim Jong Un for North Korea’s ongoing support in its war against Ukraine during a visit today, Russian state-owned news agency Tass reported.
North Korea has supplied vast amounts of weapons to Russia including artillery and ballistic missiles, and has sent up to 12,000 troops to support Russia’s army in its war with Ukraine, according to intelligence officials from the US, South Korea and Ukraine.
In late February, South Korea's spy agency said North Korea appeared to have sent additional troops to Russia. South Korean media put the number of newly sent North Korean soldiers at about 1,000 to 3,000.
Rachel Clun reports:
Russian official thanks North Korea’s Kim Jong Un for Ukraine war support
Starmer: Putin is trying to delay and add conditions to ceasefire
Sir Keir Starmer has accused Vladimir Putin of attempting to “delay and add conditions” to any ceasefire in Ukraine, a Downing Street spokesperson has said.
The prime minister spoke to EU chiefs along with the leaders of Turkey, Norway and Iceland, the spokesperson said.
“The Prime Minister began by updating on his recent call with President Zelenskyy, and said it was clear President Putin was trying to delay and add conditions to any meaningful ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
“The Prime Minister also outlined the new military sub-planning groups, across land, sea, air, regeneration and reconstruction, which would continue discussions across three intensive planning days next week,” they added.
The leaders discussed the importance of keeping up investment in military equipment to outpace any European threats.
Watch: Sam Kiley visits Kherson where Ukrainian civilians are being targeted by Russian drones in near-daily attacks
Kyiv denies Russian accusations of 'war crimes' in Kursk
Ukraine has dismissed Moscow’s accusations that Kyiv’s troops committed war crimes in Russia’s Kursk region, describing them as “completely unfounded”.
"The Russian accusations of atrocities and crimes committed by Ukraine in Kursk Oblast are completely unfounded,” foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said.
“Ukraine has always adhered to international humanitarian law, particularly in ensuring the humane treatment of civilians in conflict zones, and has not violated these principles."
Moscow fabricates this “evidence base” to make false accusations against Kyiv, Mr Tykhyi added according to Ukrainska Pravda.
"All of this is false. The majority of local population and property in Kursk Oblast have been impacted by Russian bombardments, including targeted strikes,” he added.
'Coalition of the willing' to meet in Paris next week - Zelensky
Volodymyr Zelensky has said a summit will be held next week for the ‘coalition of the willing’, the group of countries prepared to invest in peacekeeping efforts in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.
The summit will be held in Paris, Mr Zelensky told a media briefing with the Czech president Petr Pavel, adding that it will address future security guarantees for Ukraine.
"Next week we have a bilateral meeting with President Macron. We have many issues to discuss. I hope the outcome of this meeting will be a good one,” he said.
The meeting will be followed by the summit, where countries among the coalition will discuss “what the infrastructure of the contingent will look like”, and “who is ready” to be part of peacekeeping efforts in Ukraine.
"I would like us to have some concrete outcomes. We have discussed this with President Macron," the Ukrainian president added.
Mapped: Russia's advance is slowing down in the Donetsk region
Zelensky defies Trump: Hands off my nuclear plants
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted that “all nuclear power plants belong to the people of Ukraine” after reports that his US counterpart Donald Trump said an American takeover of the country’s nuclear power would offer the “best protection” for it.
In their first conversation since Mr Trump verbally attacked Mr Zelensky in the White House and had him thrown out, the US president reportedly suggested Washington take ownership of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
But Kyiv says the discussions referred only to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under Russian occupation.
Read the full story here:
Zelensky defies Trump, warning: Hands off my nuclear power stations
Why is the Sudzha gas pumping station important?
A fire has erupted at a gas pumping station in the Russian region of Kursk bordering Ukraine, after a huge explosion rocked the site.
The station has been a critical hub for Russian gas transit to Europe via Ukraine, before Kyiv refused to extend the agreement in January this year.
Once it passed through the station, it entered Ukraine’s pipeline system into Slovakia, before going onto the Czech Republic and Austria.
In 2023, almost half of all Russian gas exports to Europe were pumped through the station.
Recap of events today
• Three were injured and fires broke out after Russia launched a mass drone attack on Ukraine’s Black Sea port in Odesa on Thursday night.
• Ukraine accused Russia of bombing its own gas infrastructure in an effort to undermine ceasefire talks.
• Putin’s top security adviser met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and discussed Ukraine.
• The US is said to be seeking new terms for US access to minerals in Ukraine to include control over Kyiv’s nuclear power plants, the Financial Times reported.
• Britain is set to accelerate plans next week for a potential peacekeeping force in Ukraine, including a discussion about how it can operate and the structure.
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