Russia Ukraine war latest: Putin fires barrage of missiles on Kyiv, air defence activated

Air raid alerts have been issued throughout all of Ukraine by emergency services after a threat of missile strikes in the early hours today.

“The threat of a missile strike!” Kyiv’s regional administration wrote on the Telegram. “Stay in shelters.”

Andriy Yermak, head of president Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, said on the Telegram, “Take care of your safety, do not publicise the work of air defence.”

The recent defences erected by Vladimir Putin’s forces highlight deep concern running among Russian leaders that Ukraine could achieve a major breakthrough, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

“Since summer 2022, Russia has constructed some of the most extensive systems of military defensive works seen anywhere in the world for many decades. These defences are not just near the current front lines but have also been dug deep inside areas Russia currently controls,” the MoD said in its latest intelligence update.

It pointed to the imagery of Russia’s particular effort to fortify the northern border of occupied Crimea, including with a multi-layered defensive zone near the village of Medvedevka.

“Russia has also dug hundreds of miles of trenches well inside internationally recognised Russian territory including in the Belgorod and Kursk regions,” the ministry said.

It added: “However, some works have likely been ordered by local commanders and civil leaders in attempts to promote the official narrative that Russia is ‘threatened’ by Ukraine and Nato.”

All missiles directed at the capital were destroyed, Kyiv’s city officials wrote on Telegram.

“According to (preliminary information), no casualties among the civilian population and no destruction of residential facilities or infrastructure have been recorded,” the city administration said.

Air defence systems were also called into action to shield the Kyiv region, which is a separate administrative entity from the city, from Russian missiles, officials said.

Ukrainian media also reported blasts in the Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions.

Ukrainian air defence has shot down 15 out of 18 missiles launched by Russia in the early hours today.

“Around 2.30am (1130 GMT), the Russian invaders attacked Ukraine from strategic aviation planes,” the country’s commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi said on Telegram.

It added that 15 out of the 18 missiles launched had been destroyed.

Russia fired cruise missiles of Х-101/Х-555 types on Ukraine, commander Zaluzhnyi said.

Petr Pavel, president of the Czech Republic, has been in Ukraine over the weekend.

The Ukraine defence ministry tweeteed: “After the events of 1968, the Czechs were left to fend for themselves for more than 20 years, all because no one came to their aid.

“Ukraine has over 50 partner countries supporting it. The Russians will be pushed out much faster.”

Loud explosions were heard in Dnipropetrovsk oblast’s Pavlohrad city last evening, officials said.

Mayor Anatolii Vershyna confirmed explosions in the Pavlohrad region while an air raid warning was in force.

Some social media users also reported powerful explosions in the city, damage to buildings and broken windows.

Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron over a phone call and discussed Ukraine’s military needs, both sides said.

Mr Zelensky said he had a long and meaningful talk with Mr Macron during which the two men co-ordinated their positions on the war and on how to end the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

“I am grateful to France and Emmanuel personally for their support of our country and our people,” he said in an evening video address, in which he also thanked France for promising to send weapons to Ukraine.

The French presidency said Macron had reaffirmed France’s support for Ukraine to the war-time president, and that Mr Macron had given an update on European co-ordination to give Ukraine military help.

Pope Francis urged Hungarians to open their doors to others on Sunday, as he wrapped up a weekend visit with a plea for Europe to welcome migrants and the poor and for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Francis issued the appeal from the banks of the Danube as he celebrated Mass on Budapest’s Kossuth Lajos Square, with the Hungarian Parliament and Budapest’s famed Chain Bridge as a backdrop. The celebration provided the visual highlight of Francis’ three-day visit that has been dominated by the Vatican’s concern for the plight of migrants and the war in neighboring Ukraine.

Pope Francis has confirmed the Vatican’s direct involvement in a peace mission to try to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“I am willing to do everything that has to be done. There is a mission in course now but it is not yet public. When it is public, I will reveal it,” the Pope told reporters during a flight home after a three-day visit to Hungary.

“I think that peace is always made by opening channels. You can never achieve peace through closure. … This is not easy.”

The Pope added that he had spoken about the situation in Ukraine with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban and with Metropolitan (bishop) Hilarion, a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Budapest.

“In these meetings we did not just talk about Little Red Riding Hood. We spoke of all these things. Everyone is interested in the road to peace,” he said.

Ukraine’s troops are holding onto parts of the eastern city of Bakhmut, focus of a prolonged Russian assault, while the head of a major pro-Moscow force said his men were making progress.

“Fierce fighting continues in the city of Bakhmut. The enemy is unable to take control over the city, despite throwing all its forces into the battle and having some success,” said Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar.

“The defence of Bakhmut is coping with its military tasks,” she said in a Telegram post. The Ukrainian military does not reveal exactly how much of the city is in Russian hands.

Russian forces, which have struggled for months to capture Bakhmut, are slowly taking over more and more of the city.

On Sunday, Russian defence ministry has said its forces had taken four blocks in the western direction in Bakhmut.

And, Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukrainian troops in the east, told the ICTV channel it was still possible to supply the Bakhmut defenders with food, ammunition and medicine and evacuate the wounded.