Ukraine-Russia war latest: At least 23 injured in Kharkiv missile strike as Putin launches mass drone attack
Russian drone attack appears to be among largest of the war so far, as Ukraine targets oil depot
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Your support makes all the difference.At least 33 people have been injured in missile strikes on Kharkiv and Odesa, as Vladimir Putin’s forces launched one of their largest drone attacks since invading Ukraine.
Kyiv’s military said its air defences shot down 71 of 145 drones launched by Russia at targets across Ukraine, and lost track of a further 71 drones likely due to active electronic warfare.
The latest drone attack would be on par with an overnight assault earlier this month described by Kyiv as Russia’s largest of the war, which also saw Russia use 145 drones to attack Ukraine, a significant number of which were decoys and others Iranian-made Shahed attack drones.
Separately, authorities in Kharkiv said at least 23 people had been injured and 40 buildings damaged in a missile attack, while at least 10 people were wounded in a missile strike on Odesa.
Ukraine, meanwhile, said it attacked an oil depot in Russia’s western Kaluga region, along with targets in Bryansk and Kursk.
It came as Russian state media reported that a British man fighting with the Ukrainian army had been captured in Kursk.
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Russia says it downed Ukrainian missiles over Kursk
Russia says its air defence systems destroyed seven Ukrainian missiles and drones overnight over the border Kursk region.
A pro-Russian military analyst Roman Alyokhin, who serves as an adviser to the governor of the region, said on Telegram that “Kursk was subjected to a massive attack by foreign-made missiles” overnight.
War with Russia won’t end quickly, says ex-Ukrainian minister
Former Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba believes that Mocow’s war with Kyiv will not end quickly even after US president-elect Donald Trump takes office next year.
“I do not expect any quick ending of the war,” Mr Kuleba told CNN.
“What I know for certain is that first: [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy will not leave under pressure,” he said. “Second, Ukraine will not agree to any quick solution. And third, most importantly, I would like to remind everyone that the key to peace lies in Moscow not in Kyiv.”
The Ukrainian president earlier this month said the war will end “faster” when Mr Trump takes over as US president.
Mr Trump had claimed repeatedly that the Ukraine-Russia war would not have started if he had been president and would settle the war in one day.
Father of ‘ex-British soldier’ captured in Russia fears son will be tortured
The father of an alleged former British soldier has expressed his “complete shock” to hear his son had been captured by Russian troops.
“A mercenary from Great Britain, who called himself James Scott Rhys Anderson, was captured. He is now giving evidence,” a Russian source told RIA news agency.
Scott Anderson, father of the captured man, told the Daily Mail: “I’m hoping he’ll be used as a bargaining chip but my son told me they torture their prisoners and I’m so frightened he’ll be tortured.
“We spoke on WhatsApp almost every day until he went on his most recent operation. He was acting as a signalman. James last came home only a month and a half ago.
“He said his Ukrainian commander had made a promise that he’d contact me if he was ever killed or captured.”
Watch: Putin says Russia tested new intermediate range missile in strike on Ukraine
Trump’s pick for security advisor calls for end to war
Donald Trump’s top security advisor has called for an end to the escalation of the war between Ukraine and Russia, urging both nations to come to the negotiating table.
“We need to bring this to a responsible end. We need to restore deterrence, restore peace, and get ahead of this escalation ladder, rather than responding to it,” said Mike Waltz, the president-elect’s pick for national security adviser.
“President Trump has been very clear about the need to end this conflict,” he told Fox News yesterday.
“We need to be discussing who’s at that table, whether it’s an agreement, an armistice, how to get both sides to the table and then what’s the framework of a deal?”
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Russian forces capture British man fighting with Ukraine – reports
Russian forces captured a British mercenary fighting with the Ukrainian army in Russia’s Kursk region, which is still partially controlled by Kyiv forces, a security source told Russia’s RIA state news agency.
“A mercenary from Great Britain, who called himself James Scott Rhys Anderson, was captured. He is now giving evidence,” the Russian source told RIA in remarks published on Sunday.
In a video posted on unofficial pro-war Russian Telegram channels on Sunday, a young bearded man wearing military clothing with what appears to be his hands tied in the back, says in English that his name is James Scott Rhys Anderson and that he formerly served in the British Army.
Report:
Former British soldier ‘fighting for Ukraine is captured by Russian forces’
Man identifies himself as James Scott Rhys Anderson, 22, in widely circulated video
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