At least seven people have been killed in a barrage of Russian drone attacks over the past day, including huge strikes on Kyiv and Odesa, regional officials said.
Two men were killed in Ukraine’s Odesa after a maternity ward was struck in the southern port city in a “massive" overnight drone attack regional governor Oleh Kiper said.
Patients and staff were safely evacuated from the maternity hospital, Mr Kiper added. An emergency medical building and residential buildings were also damaged in the attack.
Four people were injured following one of Russia’s heaviest attacks in Kyiv overnight on Tuesday, sparking fires across the capital according to mayor Vitalii Klitschko.
Over the past day, three were killed in the Donetsk region, one in the Kherson region and one in the Dnipropetrovsk region, local authorities reported. At least 34 people were also injured across Ukraine in total.
This attack comes just hours after Ukraine’s military said they struck two Russian fighter jets stationed at an airfield nearly 400 miles from the border, days after conducting Operation Spiderweb. There was no immediate comment from Russia, but Russian war bloggers claimed there was no damage to any warplanes.
Read More
Key Points
- Seven dead after barrage of Russian drone strikes across Ukraine
- Two killed in Russian attack on maternity ward in Odesa
- 'Our people are home,' Zelensky says as young POWs return from Russia
- Kyiv ‘damages more fighter jets in nighttime raid’ after success of Operation Spiderweb
- Russia is already at war with Britain, defence adviser warns
Bulletin | Russia and Ukraine swap prisoners of war as fighting continues
09:40
,
Alex Croft
Seven killed in barrage of Russian drone strikes across Ukraine
09:23
,
Alex Croft
At least seven people were killed as Russia launched a barrage of drone attacks across Ukraine.
Three were killed in the eastern Donetsk region, two in the southern Odesa region, one in the southern Kherson region and one in the central Dnipropetrovsk region.
At least 34 others were injured in the mass drone strikes, local authorities reported.
Russia launched 315 drones at Ukraine overnight on Tuesday, 284 of which were shot down by Ukraine’s air force, it said on Telegram.
Watch: Mark Rutte issues Nato defence warning: 'You better learn to speak Russian'
09:11
,
Alex Croft
Ukraine's path to Nato membership 'irreversible', says Rutte
09:03
,
Alex Croft
Political commitment to Ukraine’s future in Nato will not change even if it is not explicitly mentioned in a communique published following a summit in the Hague, Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said on Monday.
"The irreversible path of Ukraine into NATO is there, and it is my assumption that it is still there after the summit," Mr Rutte said at Chatham House in London, according to The Kyiv Independent.
"Whether it is again in the communique or not, I think that's not relevant, because all the language we previously agreed on is there — until we decide it is no longer there."
The Nato summit will take place from June 24-25, and Mr Rutte said the following communique may exclude Russia and Ukraine.
Kyiv main target of overnight attack as 284 drones shot down - Ukrainian air force
08:43
,
Alex Croft
Let’s bring you more details on Russia’s mass drone attack on Ukraine last night.
The Ukrainian air force shot down 284 of the 315 drones fired by Russia overnight, it said on Tuesday, adding that Kyiv was the principal target of the attack.
Of the drones, 220 were shot down by fire weapons and 64 disappeared from the radar, the air force said.
Russia used 315 Shahed-type drones, two KN-23 ballistic missiles and five Iskander-K cruise missiles ballistic missiles in the attack, along with various types of decoy drones.
In pictures: Destruction in Odesa after major drone strike
08:27
,
Alex Croft
Russia launches 315 drones, says Zelensky, in one of war's biggest drone attacks
08:08
,
Alex Croft
Volodomyr Zelensky has now confirmed on X that Russia launched 315 drones at sites across Ukraine - making it one of the largest attacks of the war.
Seven missiles, including two North Korean-made ballistic missiles, were involved in the attack according to the Ukrainian president.
“Residential buildings and urban infrastructure were damaged. In Odesa, even a maternity hospital became a Russian target. Thirteen people were injured. Tragically, there are fatalities,” he said.
Russian missile and Shahed strikes drown out the efforts of the United States and others around the world to force Russia into peace. For yet another night, instead of a ceasefire, there were massive strikes with Shahed drones, cruise and ballistic missiles. Today was one of the… pic.twitter.com/t3uEzzoCsL
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 10, 2025
Two killed in Russian attack on maternity ward in Odesa
07:44
,
Arpan Rai
Russia launched another prolonged drone attack on Ukraine, killing two people and damaging swathes of Kyiv as well as striking a maternity ward in the southern port of Odesa, officials said early this morning.
In the southern port of Odesa, a "massive" overnight drone attack targeted an emergency medical building and a maternity ward, as well as residential buildings, said regional governor Oleh Kiper.
At least two men were killed in the attack, and nine people were injured, according to the Ukrainian prosecutors. Patients and staff were safely evacuated from the maternity hospital, Kiper added.
He posted photos of broken windows in what looked like a medical facility and of damage to the facade of several buildings.
The overnight strikes followed Russia's biggest drone assault on Ukraine on Monday – part of stepped-up operations that Moscow said were retaliatory measures for Kyiv's recent brazen attacks in Russia.
Poland's new president says Russia is country's 'greatest threat'
07:14
,
Arpan Rai
Poland’s newly elected president Karol Nawrocki has warned that Russia is the “biggest threat” his country faces, as he expressed a desire to meet with Hungary’s Viktor Orban, who is perhaps the European leader most closely aligned with Vladimir Putin.
It was not yet clear what Mr Nawrocki’s policy on Ukraine would be, but he reiterated that he opposed Kyiv’s plans to join the European Union.
However, Poland supports Ukraine strategically, because “the greatest threat to me, as an anti-communist, and in my opinion to the entire region, is the Russian Federation”, he said.
Mr Nawrocki claimed that “Ukraine must also understand that other countries – including Poland, Hungary, and other European nations – have interests of their own.”
And in his first foreign interview, given to a Hungarian magazine Mandiner, Mr Nawrocki said that Budapest is a “very important partner for Poland”, adding: “We are facing serious tasks, such as building the Visegrad Group, which will be an important format for me, as well as strengthening Nato’s eastern flank and the Bucharest Nine.”
He added: “I certainly wish to meet prime minister Viktor Orban, who is a very effective politician, as proven by his repeated election results in Hungary. And I count on good cooperation with him, just as with other countries, in the interest of the region.”
Mr Orban said on Friday that Mr Nawrocki’s victory was “fantastically good”, hailing the success of an ally of US president Donald Trump.
Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk sends invitation to Trump over Russian war
06:59
,
Arpan Rai
Oleksandr Usyk has challenged Donald Trump to spend a week in Ukraine, at his home, to witness firsthand the realities of the conflict.
The invitation comes after Trump claimed he could resolve the war "in 24 hours" before became US president. With the conflict now past its third year since Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion, Usyk believes Trump needs a deeper understanding of the situation.
Speaking to the BBC, Usyk, the current WBC, WBA, and WBO heavyweight champion, painted a stark picture of life in Ukraine. He stated, "I advise American president Donald Trump to go to Ukraine and live in my house for one week, only one week."
Zelensky confirms Ukraine and Russia have begun prisoner of war exchange
06:49
,
Arpan Rai
Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed that Ukraine and Russia have exchanged prisoners of war, the first swap since the two nations engaged in a second round of peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month.
The Ukrainian president said that the swap involved those that are seriously wounded as well as those under the age of 25.
“I thank everyone who is helping to carry out the exchange and working to ensure that all our people can return home – home from Russian captivity,” he said, adding that the trade will be done in several stages over the coming days.
Russia’s defence ministry also confirmed the return of the first group of Russian POWs, without providing information on the swapped military personnel.
In photos: One killed and several injured in Ukraine after overnight attacks
06:42
,
Arpan Rai
Flights halted in Moscow as Ukraine launches drone attacks
06:29
,
Arpan Rai
Russia has been forced to observe a temporary suspension of flights at all airports serving Moscow and the country's second-largest city St Petersburg due to an overnight drone attack by Ukraine, Russian officials reported this morning.
Russian air defence units destroyed a total of 102 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Russian defence ministry said.
Nearly half of the drones were destroyed over the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, the ministry said. At least three drones were downed over the Moscow region and two over the Leningrad region, of which St Petersburg is the regional capital.
Russian officials only report how many were downed, not the number Ukraine launched.Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia temporarily halted flights at all four major airports serving Moscow and St Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport as well as at airports in nine other cities to ensure safety, it said on Telegram.
Flights in Moscow and some other cities were restored by morning, but restrictions were still in place in St Petersburg at 0430 GMT.
Regional governors, who wrote about the attacks on Telegram, did not report any damage caused by the attacks.
Russia producing more ammunition in three months than Nato does in a year
05:41
,
Arpan Rai
Russia is producing more ammunition in three months than the whole of Nato produces in a whole year, Nato chief Mark Rutte has warned.
“Russia is reconstituting its forces with Chinese technology and producing more weapons faster than we thought,” said the Nato secretary-general.
“In terms of ammunition, Russia produces – in three months – what the whole of Nato produces in a year.”
“And its defence-industrial base is expected to roll out 1,500 tanks, 3,000 armoured vehicles and 200 Iskander missiles this year alone. Russia could be ready to use military force against Nato within five years. Five years.”
Analysis | Why Nato is calling for Cold War levels of defence spending
05:40
,
Arpan Rai
Our world affairs editor Sam Kiley writes:
Nato chief Mark Rutte has called for a 400 per cent boost to air and missile capabilities and his demand to raise defence spending across the alliance to 5 per cent has raised the voices of doom to a scream.
A return to Cold War levels of defence spending is not, however an hysterical plea from a lackey of the military-industrial complex.
It is a sad acknowledgement that the peace dividend that came with the collapse of the Soviet Union has been squandered by the West in a pointless war in Afghanistan and a criminal conflict in Iraq which expanded the lists of peoples with a good reason to hate democracy.
But there were plenty around already. Vladimir Putin is one of them, Xi Jinping is another – Donald Trump is rushing to their ranks. Autocracy is on the rise around the world while democracies have been consumed by complacency.
“Wishful thinking will not keep us safe,” said Rutte, who called for Nato to become a “stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance”.
Russia has plans to test Nato's resolve, German intelligence chief warns
05:22
,
Arpan Rai
Russia is determined to test the resolve of the Nato alliance, including by extending its confrontation with the West beyond the borders of Ukraine, Germany's foreign intelligence chief told the Table Media news organisation.
Bruno Kahl, head of the Federal Intelligence Service, said his agency had intelligence indicating that Russian officials believed the collective defence obligations enshrined in the Nato treaty no longer had practical force.
"We are quite certain, and we have intelligence showing it, that Ukraine is only a step on the journey westward," Mr Kahl told Table Media in a podcast interview.
"That doesn't mean we expect tank armies to roll westwards," he added. "But we see that Nato’s collective defence promise is to be tested."
Germany, already the second-largest provider of armaments and financial support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, has pledged to step up its support further under the new government of Friedrich Merz, promising to help Ukraine develop new missiles that could strike deep into Russian territory.
Without detailing the nature of his intelligence sources, Mr Kahl said Russian officials were envisaging confrontations that fell short of a full military engagement that would test whether the US would really live up to its mutual aid obligations under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
"They don't need to dispatch armies of tanks for that," he said.
"It's enough to send little green men to Estonia to protect supposedly oppressed Russian minorities."
In photos: Ukrainians spend another sleepless night in shelter as Russian drones fill skies
04:53
,
Arpan Rai
One killed as Kyiv, maternity ward hit by Russian barrage of drones overnight
04:38
,
Arpan Rai
Russia launched a massive drone attack on Ukraine overnight, killing one person and damaging swathes of Kyiv and striking a maternity ward in the southern port of Odesa, regional officials said early this morning.
The strikes followed Russia's biggest drone assault on Ukraine yesterday – part of stepped-up operations that Moscow said were retaliatory measures for Kyiv's recent brazen attacks in Russia.
At least four people were hospitalised as a result of the hours-long attacks that hit seven of the city's 10 districts, city officials said.
Air raid alerts in Kyiv and most Ukrainian regions lasted five hours until around 5am, according to military data.
"A difficult night for all of us," Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's military district, said on Telegram. "Throughout the night, the enemy relentlessly terrorised Kyiv with attack drones. They targeted civilian infrastructure and peaceful residents of the city."
The attack sparked fires in residential and non-residential neighbourhoods and open space areas, city officials said. Reuters' witnesses heard and saw countless loud explosions shaking the city and lighting the night sky.
Photos and videos posted on Telegram channels showed heavy smoke rising in the darkness in different parts of Kyiv. The scale of the attack was not immediately known.
"You can't break Ukrainians with terror," Andriy Yermak, president Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, said in a Telegram post after the attacks.
UK had 'better learn to speak Russian' unless it ramps up defence spending, warns Nato chief
04:27
,
Arpan Rai
People in the UK had “better learn to speak Russian” if the UK does not ramp up defence spending, Nato chief Mark Rutte has suggested.
Speaking at Chatham House in London, Mr Rutte was asked if he believed chancellor Rachel Reeves should be raising taxes to meet Nato’s defence spending commitments.
He replied: “It's not up to me to decide, of course, how countries pay the bill. I mean, what I know is that if we want to keep our societies safe.
But he added: “Look, if you do not do this, if you would not go to the 5 per cent, including the 3.5 per cent core defence spending, you could still have the National Health Service, or in other countries their health systems, the pension system, et cetera, but you had better learn to speak Russian.”
Mr Rutte would not reveal the deadline for when he hopes Nato allies will spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence.
Asked about a deadline, he told reporters: “I have a clear view on when we should achieve that. I keep that to myself, because we are having these consultations now with allies, and these discussions are ongoing, and we will in the end agree on a date when we have to be there.”
‘We are all on the eastern flank now,’ warns Nato chief
04:24
,
Arpan Rai
Nato chief Mark Rutte has warned that we are “all on the eastern flank now” as he outlined plans to “transform” the Western military alliance in the face of threats from Russia and China.
“I know we can count on the United Kingdom as we start the next chapter for Nato,” Mark Rutte said in comments at Chatham House in London.
The Nato secretary-general said: “Russia is reconstituting its forces with Chinese technology and producing more weapons faster than we thought. In terms of ammunition, Russia produces in three months what the whole of Nato produces in a year.”
Warning that Russia could be ready to use force against Nato within five years, Mr Rutte said: “We are all on the eastern flank now. “The new generation of Russian missiles travel at many times the speed of sound. The distance between European capitals is only a matter of minutes. There is no longer east or west. There is just Nato.”
'Our people are home,' Zelensky says as young POWs return from Russia
04:19
,
Arpan Rai
President Volodymyr Zelensky shared a celebratory post on X as he welcomed home prisoners of war that are wounded, severely wounded, and those under the age of 25 from Russian captivity.
He said: “Our people are home.Ukrainians are returning home from Russian captivity.
“Today, an exchange began, which will continue in several stages over the coming days.
“Among those we are bringing back now are the wounded, the severely wounded, and those under the age of 25. The process is quite complex, with many sensitive details, and negotiations continue virtually every day,” he said.
Our people are home.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 9, 2025
Ukrainians are returning home from Russian captivity. Today, an exchange began, which will continue in several stages over the coming days.
Among those we are bringing back now are the wounded, the severely wounded, and those under the age of 25. The process… pic.twitter.com/tEmJctz5ON
Analysis: As Putin ramps up his summer offensive in Ukraine, will he succeed?
04:17
,
Arpan Rai
Russia is stepping up its summer offensive both on the ground and in the air but support from Europe and sophisticated drone warfare could help Ukraine hold Moscow back.
“A peevish spokesman for Vladimir Putin bristled with indignation this week at Donald Trump’s description of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “like kids fighting in the park”.
“Not so, Dmitry Peskov pouted; the conflict is an “existential question” for Russia. “This is a question of our security and the future of ourselves and our children, the future of our country,” continued Putin’s spokesman, who has grown more accustomed to preening with pleasure at the relentless assaults on Ukraine from the White House this year.
“He is right. Victory for Russia was once defined as regime change in Kyiv. But it really need only be a messed up Ukraine, unstable, violent and impoverished.”
World affairs editor Sam Kiley takes a closer look.
Ranked: Russia's biggest attacks of the war so far
04:12
,
Arpan Rai
According to Ukraine’s daily air force updates, these are some of the biggest attacks of the war so far:
- 499 drones and missiles reported 9 June
- 479 drones and missiles reported 1 June
- 452 drones and missiles reported 6 June
- 367 drones and missiles reported 25 May
- 364 drones and missiles reported 26 May
Ukraine's drone attack halts work at electronic plant in Chuvashia, Russia says
04:09
,
Arpan Rai
A Ukrainian drone strike, among the deepest into Russia in more than three years of the war, forced a temporary suspension of production at an electronics company in the Volga river region of Chuvashia, the head of the region said on Monday.
The strike, some 1,300 km (800 miles) from the border with Ukraine, caused no casualties, Chuvashia Governor Oleg Nikolayev said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
But "the responsible decision was made to temporarily suspend production to ensure the safety of employees" of the VNIIR enterprise where the drones fell, Nikolayev said.
It was not immediately clear whether the drones caused any damage. Nikolayev said that another drone fell onto some fields in the area of the capital of the region, Cheboksary.
Ukraine's military said in a Telegram statement on Monday that "at least two drones" hit the VNIIR facility that specialises in manufacturing navigation equipment used in attack drones, guided aerial bombs and high-precision weapons.
The Ukrainian military said the drone attack sparked a large -scale fire at the VNIIR plant.
Reports about the attack could not be independently verified.
Russia is already at war with Britain and we can no longer rely on Trump, defence adviser warns
04:07
,
Arpan Rai
Britain is already at war with Russia, one of the authors of the government’s strategic defence review has warned, while arguing that the UK can no longer rely on the US as a dependable ally.
Dr Fiona Hill, who served as the White House’s chief Russia adviser during Donald Trump‘s first term, said the UK is in “pretty big trouble”, warning that the country is stuck between “the rock” of Russia aggression and the “hard place” of an increasingly unreliable US under Mr Trump.
Political Correspondent Millie Cooke reports:
Putin approves big revamp of Russia's navy, Kremlin aide says
04:06
,
Arpan Rai
Russian president Vladimir Putin has approved a new naval strategy which aims to fully restore Russia's position as one of the world's leading maritime powers, Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev said in an interview published yesterday.
Russia has the world's third most powerful navy after China and the United States, according to most public rankings, though the navy has suffered a series of high-profile losses in the Ukraine war.
Patrushev said the new naval strategy - entitled "The Strategy for the Development of the Russian Navy up to 2050" - had been approved by Putin in late May.
"Russia's position as one of the world's greatest maritime powers is gradually recovering," Patrushev told the Argumenti i Fakti newspaper in an interview.
"It is impossible to carry out such work without a long-term vision of the scenarios for the development of the situation in the oceans, the evolution of challenges and threats, and, of course, without defining the goals and objectives facing the Russian Navy," Patrushev said.
Patrushev gave no further details about the strategy, though Russia is believed to have ramped up spending on defence and security to Cold War levels as a percentage of gross domestic product.
Kyiv ‘damages more fighter jets in nighttime raid’ after success of Operation Spiderweb
04:05
,
Arpan Rai
Ukraine’s military claims to have struck two fighter jets stationed at an airfield 400 miles into Russian territory, just days after launching its audacious Operation Spiderweb.
"According to preliminary information, two enemy aircraft (presumably MiG-31 and Su-30/34 aircraft) were struck," the military said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
Kyiv did not say how the planes were hit in the fresh attack by Ukrainian special operations forces on the Savasleyka airfield, and there was no immediate comment from Russia. However, Russian war bloggers claimed there had been no damage to the warplanes.
It will cause further concern for Vladimir Putin after Ukraine destroyed swathes of his bomber fleet last month in a long-planned drone attack on Russian airbases.
The latest strike came as Ukraine welcomed home another group of prisoners from Russian captivity, in an exchange agreed last week in Istanbul and set to continue over the coming days.
Flights halted at all airports serving Moscow, Russia says after Ukraine's drone attacks
04:00
,
Arpan Rai
Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said early today it temporarily halted flights at all four major airports serving Moscow to ensure safety.
The alert of airport shutdown comes shortly after the defence ministry said Ukraine was carrying out a drone attack on Russia.
