Russia-Ukraine war: air raid sirens sound across Ukraine; Zaporizhzhia hit by ‘largest’ missile strike – live | Russia

Air raid alerts have been declared in all of Ukraine this morning as officials warned of potential Russian missile strikes, urging residents to take shelter.

“There is a big threat of the missile attack. I want to stress again – do not ignore the air alert sirens,” said Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv city military administration.

Ukraine’s presidential adviser Anton Gerashchenko also waned of “threats of a massive Russian rocket attack” and urged people to stay in shelters.

Luke Harding

Is Russia planning a major new assault on Ukraine?

The Guardian’s Luke Harding writes this analysis below.

Western governments believe Russia is planning a major assault on Ukraine, possibly as early as next week before the 24 February anniversary of its full-scale invasion. Its main goal is believed to be to capture the Donbas region, including Luhansk, which Ukraine partly controls.

The timing of any attack in unknown. Ukrainian government sources say one scenario would include ballistic missile strikes on large cities including Kyiv, and an attempt to cut off the east of the country by bombing bridges and advancing in a sweeping arc from the north and south.

Military analysts are sceptical that Russia has enough infantry units to advance rapidly into Ukrainian territory. They acknowledge, however, that some sections of the Ukrainian-Russian border are lightly defended, with the bulk of Ukrainian forces located in the eastern Donetsk province where fighting rages around the city of Bakhmut.

There are growing signs that even with Russia’s wider battle strategy unknown, a substantial offensive in the east has already started.

The Institute for the Study of War confirmed a “marked increase” in operations in the area over the past week in its latest report. It said Russia had made marginal gains along the border between Kharkiv and Luhansk provinces, including in the village of Dvorichne. The offensive had probably not yet “reached its full tempo”, it said.

“The commitment of significant elements of at least three major Russian divisions to offensive operations in this sector indicates the Russian offensive has begun, even if Ukrainian forces are so far preventing Russian forces from securing significant gains,” the ISW report said.

Anton Gerashchenko, who advises the interior ministry in Kyiv and runs a popular Telegram social media channel, also suggested Russia’s offensive had started. “Russia throws colossal amounts of weapons and people to attack Ukraine and has been for some time,” he posted.

Russia has launched a major offensive in eastern Ukraine and is trying to break through defences near the town of Kreminna, the governor for the Luhansk region said on Thursday.

Serhiy Haidai told Ukrainian TV that Russian troops had gone on the attack and were trying to advance westwards across a winter landscape of snow and forests. There had been “maximum escalation” and a big increase in shooting and shelling, he said.

These attacks are practically a daily occurrence. We see small groups [of Russian soldiers] trying to advance, sometimes with the support of heavy armour – infantry fighting vehicles and tanks – and sometimes not. There is continuous firing.”

He claimed the offensive had not worked. “So far they haven’t had any success. Our defenders have been able to hold them back completely,” he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said he will not rule out sending fighter jets to Ukraine at some point, but that Kyiv is in need of more immediate military firepower.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has long urged his allies to send jet fighters and claimed that several European leaders were ready to supply aircraft.

Zelenskiy told a news conference on Thursday:

Europe will be with us until our victory. I’ve heard it from a number of European leaders … about the readiness to give us the necessary weapons and support, including the aircraft.”

Macron, when asked about the possibility of sending jets at the end of a summit of EU leaders in Brussels in the early hours of Friday, replied:

I exclude absolutely nothing.”

But Macron said any delivery of fighter jets – and the time to train Ukrainian pilots to fly them – would be lengthy and Ukraine primarily needs immediate help in the weeks and months ahead.

Macron said the priority should be on items such as artillery and possibly intensifying the delivery of such items.

Agence France-Presse reports the president as saying:

I’m not ruling anything out … but that doesn’t correspond to today’s requirements.”

“It is essential the allies favour the most useful equipment” and “the fastest”, Macron argued, citing the Caesar guns and the Mamba medium-range surface-to-air defence system supplied by France.

The supply of fighter jets would be one of the biggest shifts yet in western support and Moscow has warned it would escalate and prolong the conflict.

At least 17 Russian missiles hit the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia in an hour on Friday morning, its acting mayor, Anatolii Kurtiev, said.

The attacks reportedly targeted energy infrastructure as authorities assess any damage and possible casualties.

Kurtiev provided an update on the Telegram messaging app about 6am local time, writing:

In an hour, 17 enemy landings were recorded in the city – this is the largest number since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

The monsters insidiously attacked the objects of the energy infrastructure.”

Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments as they unfold over the next hour.

In response to Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s extended plea for fighter jets, French president Emmanuel Macron has said he will not rule out the aircraft to Ukraine at some point, but stressed Kyiv is in need of more immediate military firepower.

Though Macron told reporters early on Friday that he would “exclude absolutely nothing” he maintained that the priority should be on items such as artillery.

Meanwhile, the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia has been reportedly been hit by a string of Russian missiles in the early hour of Friday morning.

At least 17 missiles targeted energy infrastructure, the city’s acting mayor, Anatolii Kurtiev, said.

If you have just joined us, here are all the most immediate developments:

• Russian forces launched a series of overnight strikes that knocked out power supplies in parts of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, local officials said. There was no word on casualties.

• Russia has launched a major offensive in eastern Ukraine and is trying to break through defences near the town of Kreminna, the governor for the Luhansk region has said. Serhiy Haidai told Ukrainian TV on Thursday that Russian troops had gone on the attack and were trying to advance westwards across a winter landscape of snow and forests. There had been “maximum escalation” and a big increase in shooting and shelling, he said. “So far they haven’t had any success. Our defenders have been able to hold them back completely.” The Institute for the Study of War confirmed a “marked increase” in operations in the area over the past week in its latest report.

• A series of Russian drone and missile attacks struck targets in the south and east of Ukraine, according to officials and local residents who reported hearing loud explosions. Air raid sirens sounded in much of the country late on Thursday night. Serhiy Lysak, the military administrator in the Dnipropetrovsk region, said Shahed drones were detected on their way to the area.

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy claims Ukraine has intercepted plans by Russian secret services to destroy Moldova. Speaking to European Union leaders in Brussels, Zelenskiy warned that his services had intercepted a document which “shows who, when and how was going to break the democracy of Moldova and establish control over Moldova”, adding that he had immediately warned Moldova’s president, Maia Sandu. Zelenskiy’s claim could not be independently verified.

• Zelenskiy urged European leaders to speed up weapons delivery and open EU membership talks with Ukraine this year, in a highly symbolic visit to Brussels on Thursday, in which he said Russia was trying to annihilate “the Ukrainian-European way of life”. Zelenskiy addressed the European parliament on Thursday morning, proclaiming Ukraine “will join the European Union” and thanking the bloc’s members for their support during Russia’s invasion.

• Zelenskiy claimed that several European Union leaders said they were ready to provide Kyiv with aircraft, but gave no further details about the pledges. There was no immediate confirmation from any European countries. “Europe will be with us until our victory. I’ve heard it from a number of European leaders … about the readiness to give us the necessary weapons and support, including the aircraft,” he told a news conference on Thursday. “I have a number of bilaterals now, we are going to raise the issue of the fighter jets and other aircraft.”

• Downing Street said it was looking at a “whole suite of options” to assist Ukraine when asked again about sending warplanes. Asked about the Ukrainian president suggesting some European leaders were ready to provide fighter jets to Kyiv, a spokesperson for the prime minister said the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, was seeing “whether we can provide fighter jets in the future”.

• The UK government said it would not send fighter jets to Ukraine if there was risk to British safety. When asked about some western allies’ concerns that supplying jets could risk dragging Nato into the conflict, the prime minister’s spokesperson said: “Firstly, we haven’t made a decision in terms of UK provision of jets – we are training currently.”

• The European Union must continue to provide maximum support to Ukraine, the European Council president, Charles Michel, said on Thursday. “We understand that the coming weeks and months will be of decisive importance,” he said. “Artillery, munitions, defence systems … you have told us exactly what you need and what you need now.”