Ukraine-Russia war latest: Russian border region 'targeted with attack drones and helicopters'; baby injured in strike on Ukrainian city (2024)

Russian officials have claimed they intercepted 20 Ukrainian drones in the southern Kursk region, which borders Ukraine.

Regional governor Alexei Smirnov said Ukrainian forces reportedly targeted four villages in the region using attack drones and helicopters.

No injuries were reported.

The governor of the neighbouring Belgorod region said air defence units had downed "several airborne targets", resulting in some damage to the roofs of several buildings.

Ukrainian authorities have not commented.

Russia's border regions have repeatedly come under attack since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Belgorod borders Ukraine's Kharkiv region, where Russia has launched a spring offensive.

At least six people have been injured in a Russian missile attack on the city of Dnipro.

A one-month-old baby and a 17-year-old boy were among the wounded, governor Serhii Lysak said.

He added that air defence systems had successfully intercepted and downed two drones over the city.

However the debris from the missiles caused damage to civilian infrastructure, with more than a dozen vehicles affected and windows shattered in several houses.

Emergency crews are at the scene.

The city of Nikopol, just west of Zaporizhzhia, was also attacked with kamikaze drones, Mr Lysak said.

No casualties were reported there.

Air raid alerts were activated in a number of regions overnight, including Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

Before we begin, here is a recap of the key events over the last 24 hours.

• Italy said it will send a second SAMP/T air defence system to Ukraine - the only European-made system that can intercept ballistic missiles;
  
• French police arrested three people after five empty coffins wrapped in French flags with the words "French soldiers from Ukraine" were found near the Eiffel Tower;
• А group of Russian women staged a small but rare protest outside the Russian defence ministry, asking for the return of their relatives from the front line;
• Russia added several British "establishment figures", journalists and experts to the list of people barred from entering the country;
• Ukraine's grid operator imposed daily energy restrictions across the country after infrastructure was damaged in a series of Russian drone and missile attacks.

Here is how the situation looks on the ground...

Images taken by Reuters photographers on the ground in Russian-occupied Donetsk show houses destroyed by shelling.

Chickens can be seen walking among the ruins of a wooden structure in the village of Rozivka.

Resident Valentina Chernaya, 90, was pictured with her head in her hands near her damaged house and destroyed outbuildings.

Italy will send a second SAMP/Tair defence system to Ukraine - the only European-made system that can intercept ballistic missiles.

Also known as MAMBA, it is a Franco-Italian batterythat can track dozens of targets and intercept 10 at once.

Rome and Paris jointly delivered the first system in 2023, but Ukraine has repeatedly called on partners toprovide more help with air defence as it faces an increasingbarrage of Russian attacks on cities and energy infrastructure.

Italy hasapproved eight support packages to Ukraine since the invasion began.

Its foreign minister said the SAMP/T will be part of aninth package under preparation, but did not give a time framefor delivery.

All shipments have so far been covered by official secrecyand the government has never made public the exact list ofweapons it has sent to Ukraine.

French police have arrested threepeople after five empty coffins wrapped in Frenchflags with the words "French soldiers from Ukraine" were found near the Eiffel Tower.

The public prosecutors have requested that the threeindividuals, who are from Bulgaria, Germany and Ukraine, be charged with premeditatedviolence.

Prosecutors said leaving coffins at the foot of the EiffelTower was an act of psychological violence.

France could soon send military trainers to Ukraine despitethe concerns of some allies and criticism by Russia, diplomaticsources told Reuters last week.

French daily Le Monde, quoting security documents, reportedthat the three men had been in contact with a man suspected ofhaving sprayed red hands on the Paris Shoah Memorial, aHolocaust museum, in mid-May.

А group of Russian women have staged a small but rare protest outside the Russian defence ministry.

They demand the return of some mobilised soldiers fromthe front in Ukraine.

For months, different groups of Russian women have organisedsporadic demonstrations to exert pressure on authorities toreturn their husbands, sons and brothers.

One of the woman at the protest, Paulina, said the women wanted strict limits on how long soldiers can serve before they mustrotate out of active duty.

Pictures and videos Paulina published on the Telegram appshowed women holding signs with slogans including "please bringPapa home".

Several had brought along their school-aged childrenand toddlers in pushchairs.

No ministry officials came out of the building to speak withthe women, Paulina said.

Poland has arrested 18 people accused of pursuing hostile activities or sabotage on behalf of Russia and Belarus.

One of the schemes allegedly included plans to assassinate Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the interior minister said.

Ten of those arrested since December were directly involved in planning various forms of sabotage across Poland, Tomasz Siemoniak told a news conference.

Authorities in Poland have linked some recent arsons or attempted arsons to Russian-sponsored agents.

Mr Siemoniak said that acts of sabotage were apparently part of a wider plan that also includes cyberattacks, pushing migrants in Belarus to cross into Poland and threatening the security of the country.

"We have no doubt that on the bidding of a foreign country, Russia, there are some people active who are ready to threaten the life, health and property of the Polish citizens," Mr Siemoniak said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy will participate in the G7 summit in Italy late this month, either online or in person, his spokesman said.

The summit, set to take place in southern Italy from 13 to 15 June, will have as a key agenda item ways to use profits from frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.

“Unfortunately, I cannot confirm or deny that the President will physically participate in the G7 summit, but in any case, whether online or physically, there is no doubt that he will be there,” the president’s spokesman, Sergey Nikiforov told Ukrainian television.