Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow kills four in massive attack after Trump warns Putin’s revenge ‘won’t be pretty’ – UK Times

President Donald Trump once accused Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky of lacking “cards” to play in his country’s years-long fight against Russia, but now he’s paying far more attention to what might be in the Ukrainian leader’s nhands.

In the wake of Ukraine’s brazen, and successful, attack on multiple Russian air bases over the weekend, Mr Trump was reportedly left marveling at the ingenuity and sheer chutzpah of Kyiv’s counteroffensive using dozens of armed drones launched from trucks traveling deep inside Russia, swarming over military airfields across the country and raining down onto nuclear-capable long-range bombers.

According to Axios, Mr Trump has privately described it as “strong” and “badass.”

Russia’s defence ministry has said its air defence units have downed 174 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Russia only reports the drones it claims to have shot down, and does not reveal total numbers or when they hit their targets.

Meanwhile, Russia mounted a major attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv killing four and injuring at least 20 people in residential areas.

The attack followed a warning from Russian president Vladimir Putin, conveyed via US leader Donald Trump, that the Kremlin would hit back after Ukrainian drones destroyed several strategic bomber aircraft in attacks deep inside Russia.

Ukraine’s Air Force said the Kyiv city had been targeted overnight with drones and Kalibr cruise missiles.

Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said drones had struck the upper floors of a high-rise apartment building and started a fire in Darnytskyi district on the east side of the city, where he said emergency power cuts were possible.

Mr Tkachenko said a fire had also broken out in an apartment building in a western district. He said drone fragments had been spotted in three districts.

Reuters witnesses reported a series of booming explosions powerful enough to rattle windows far from the impact sites, and at least one large fire at the site of a drone hit.

Some Kyiv residents sought shelter in metro stations, or in underground car parks.

At least four people were killed in an overnight Russian air attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

The toll was revised up from the previous figure of one dead.

Russia mounted an intense and sustained barrage of Kyiv overnight, with missiles and drones targeting the Ukrainian capital where there was a succession of large explosions.

By daybreak today, authorities in Kyiv reported that one person was killed and 20 people had been wounded, of whom 16 had been hospitalised.

Operation of the city’s metro transport system was disrupted because a Russian strike had hit and damaged a train between stations, the city’s military administration said.

The air attack also triggered fires in residential buildings in different parts of the city, authorities said.

A meeting between president Donald Trump and German chancellor Friedrich Merz took an awkward turn yesterday when he suggested that Germans might not view the anniversary of D-Day — commemorating the US-led invasion of Europe that was the beginning of the end for the Nazis — in a favorable light.

Sitting in the Oval Office, Mr Merz and Mr Trump were discussing the death toll from Russia’s three-year-old war against Ukraine, the bloodiest conflict in Europe since the end of the Second World War, when the German leader noted that tomorrow marks the 81st anniversary of Operation Overlord, the allied amphibious assault on Adolf Hitler’s European stranglehold that began with American, British, Canadian and Free French troops storming the beaches of Normandy.

German Chancellor Freidrich Merz stressed that Donald Trump agreed with him on the war in Ukraine when asked for his response to the US president’s comments.

He pointed to Mr Trump as the “key person in the world” who would be able to stop the bloodshed.

But Mr Merz also emphasised that Germany “was on the side of Ukraine” and that Kyiv was only attacking military targets, not Russian civilians.

“We are trying to get them stronger,” Mr Merz said of Ukraine.

International monitors at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine heard repeated rounds of gunfire that appeared to be aimed at drones reportedly attacking the site’s training centre, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said yesterday.

Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility with six reactors, in the early weeks of Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Each side has since routinely accused the other of attacking the plant and posing a threat to nuclear safety.

Monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported hearing at least five explosions between 11.30am and 13.45pm local time, each preceded by gunfire, an IAEA statement said.

The statement gave no indication of the origin of the drones and said there were no reports of any damage to the centre.

“Drones flying close to nuclear power plants could threaten their safety and security, with potentially serious consequences,” IAEA director general Rafael Grossi said.

“As I have stated repeatedly during the war, such incidents must stop immediately.”

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has warned that drones flying near nuclear power plants are a danger, after international monitors at the Russian-held Zaporizhia plant in Ukraine heard repeated gunfire.

The gunfire appeared to be aimed at drones reportedly attacking the site’s training centre, the UN nuclear watchdog said.

The plant’s Russian management had earlier said Ukrainian drones had landed on the roof of the training centre in “yet another attack” on the facility.

“Drones flying close to nuclear power plants could threaten their safety and security, with potentially serious consequences,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said.

“As I have stated repeatedly during the war, such incidents must stop immediately.”

The statement said it was the fourth time this year that the training centre, just outside the site perimeter, was reportedly targeted by drones.

Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility with six reactors, in the early weeks of Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

With all its reactors in shut down mode, the plant produces no electricity. Before the war, it generated one-fifth of Ukraine’s electricity.

At least four people were killed in an overnight Russian air attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

The toll was revised up from the previous figure of one dead.

Russia mounted an intense and sustained barrage of Kyiv overnight, with missiles and drones targeting the Ukrainian capital where there was a succession of large explosions.

By daybreak today, authorities in Kyiv reported that one person was killed and 20 people had been wounded, of whom 16 had been hospitalised.

Operation of the city’s metro transport system was disrupted because a Russian strike had hit and damaged a train between stations, the city’s military administration said.

The air attack also triggered fires in residential buildings in different parts of the city, authorities said.