Ukraine Russia war latest news: Trump to send weapons to Kyiv after Putin’s forces kill two in drone attack – UK Times

Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that two people have been killed and 20 others injured in a huge barrage of overnight attacks.

The “vast majority” of the nearly 600 drones and 26 missiles were destroyed by Ukrainian air defences, Zelensky said, but some hit their targets.

”Sadly, there were hits on civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings. As of now, 2 people have been reported killed in Chernivtsi. My condolences to their families and loved ones. Around 20 more people injured in the attack are receiving all the necessary assistance,” The Ukrainian president said on X.

“The pace of Russia’s aerial strikes demands swift decisions – and it can be curbed through sanctions right now. Tough secondary sanctions are needed against everyone helping the Russians produce drones and profiteer from oil.

“More air defence systems are needed, along with investments in interceptor drones, which are already delivering good results. This war can only be stopped through strength. We expect not just signals from our partners, but actions that will save lives.”

Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister says Russia has continued to escalate the scale of its attacks on Ukraine, after Moscow launched 597 drones and 26 cruise missiles at targets across the country.

Yulia Svyrydenko said cities just 50 km (31 miles) from the border with the European Union were attacked, highlighting the risk to the rest of the continent.

“Cities 1,000 km from the front — and just 50 km from the EU border — were attacked. This is rapidly growing threat to all of Europe, and failure to recognise it as such only assures the eventual cost increases with every passing day,” she said.

“This cycle of escalation must be stopped. It requires stronger sanctions, more air defence systems, and greater investment in interceptors. Signals are no longer enough. Lives depend on decisive action.”

Donald Trump on Tuesday said the US would send more weapons to Ukraine to help the country defend itself against intensifying Russian advances.

The package could include defensive Patriot missiles and offensive medium-range rockets but a decision on the exact equipment had not been made, sources said. One of the people said this would happen at a meeting on Thursday.

The Trump administration had so far only sent weapons authorised by former president Joe Biden, who was a staunch supporter of Kyiv. The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr Trump had pledged to swiftly end the war but months into his presidency, little progress has been made. The Republican president has sometimes criticised US spending on Ukraine’s defence, spoken favorably of Russia and publicly clashed with Ukraine’s leader.

However, sometimes he has also voiced support for Kyiv and expressed disappointment in the leadership of Russia.

Russia launched 597 drones and 26 missiles in an overnight attack on Ukraine on Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in North Korea on Friday, North Korea’s state media KCNA said on Saturday, the latest visit by a senior Russian official to the isolated state amid warming ties between the countries.

Lavrov’s visit, scheduled to Sunday, includes a meeting between the countries’ foreign ministers, KCNA reported.

Lavrov flew out of the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur following the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting and arrived in Wonsan, North Korea’s eastern coastal city, which is home to a recently opened resort and known for its missile and naval facilities.

Lavrov’s visit is the latest high-level meeting between the two countries amid a dramatic upgrading of their strategic cooperation that now includes a mutual defence pact.

The South Korean intelligence service has said North Korea may be preparing to deploy additional troops in July or August, after sending more than 10,000 soldiers to fight with Russia in the war against Ukraine.

North Korea has agreed to dispatch 6,000 military engineers and builders for reconstruction in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces launched a mass cross-border incursion nearly a year ago.

Russian news agencies also reported Lavrov’s arrival and said after North Korea he is expected to travel to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, which is set to take place on Monday and Tuesday.

Russia’s state TASS news agency said Lavrov and his North Korean counterpart, Choi Son Hui, would discuss the 40-month-old Ukraine conflict and the situation on the Korean peninsula.

Russia launched a new barrage of drones and missiles in an overnight attack on Ukraine on Saturday, targeting the west of the country and killing at least two people in the city of Chernivtsi on the border with Romania.

Western Ukrainian cities of Lviv, Lutsk, and Chernivtsi suffered the most due to the Russian attacks, and other Ukrainian regions were also hit, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said.

“Russia continues to escalate its terror, launching another barrage of hundreds of drones and missiles, damaging residential areas, killing and injuring civilians,” Sybiha said in a post on X, reiterating the call for stronger sanctions against Moscow. “Russia’s war machine produces hundreds of means of terror per day. Its scale poses a threat not only to Ukraine, but to the entire transatlantic community.”

Ruslan Zaparaniuk, the governor of the Chernivetskyi region, said that two people were killed and 14 others wounded as Russian drones and a missile struck the city, located about 40 kilometres (24 miles) from Ukraine’s border with Romania.

Several fires broke out across the city, and residential houses and administrative buildings were damaged, regional officials said.

In the city of Lviv, on Ukraine’s border with Poland, 46 residential houses, a university building, the city’s courts, and about 20 buildings housing small and medium-sized businesses were damaged in the attack, mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said wartime censorship in Russia is justified amid the conflict with Ukraine.

Russian authorities swiftly blocked Russian-language media outlets in February 2022 to quash dissenting voices as Russia invaded Ukraine, and they introduced laws threatening many years in prison for those “discrediting” the army, Reuters reported.

Speaking to a Russian magazine called Expert, Peskov said that many media outlets have been closed and some reporters have emigrated from the country in the past three years.

“But don’t forget the situation we are in. Now is the time of military censorship, unprecedented for our country. After all, the war is going on in the information space too,” Peskov is quoted as saying by the magazine.

“It would be wrong to turn a blind eye to the media that are deliberately engaged in discrediting Russia. Therefore, I believe that this regime (censorship) is justified now,” Peskov told the magazine.

NATO will need more long-range missiles in its arsenal to deter Russia from attacking Europe because Moscow is expected to increase production of long-range weapons, a U.S. Army general told Reuters.

Russia’s effective use of long-range missiles in its war in Ukraine has convinced Western military officials of their importance for destroying command posts, transportation hubs and missile launchers far behind enemy lines.

“The Russian army is bigger today than it was when they started the war in Ukraine,” Major General John Rafferty said in an interview at a U.S. military base in Wiesbaden, Germany.

“And we know that they’re going to continue to invest in long-range rockets and missiles and sophisticated air defences. So more alliance capability is really, really important.”