Russian drones struck Ukrainian grain facilities at the Danube River port of Izmail overnight in what a senior official said yesterday was a systematic attempt by Moscow to prevent Kyiv exporting grain to the world.

President Vladimir Putin yesterday used a speech to a summit of BRICS leaders to defend Russia’s war in Ukraine and praise the grouping as a counterbalance to US global dominance.

A Russian warplane destroyed a Ukrainian reconnaissance vessel in an area in the Black Sea where Russian gas extraction facilities are located, the Russian Defence Ministry said yesterday.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday welcomed a “historic” decision by the Netherlands and Denmark to supply US-made F-16 fighter jets, the latest move by Western allies to bolster his country’s efforts to fend off Russia’s invasion.

Russia said yesterday a decision by Denmark and the Netherlands to donate the first F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine would only escalate the conflict, while Ukraine said the jets would help end Moscow’s invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that a Russian missile had hit the central square of the northern city of Chernihiv including a theatre and a university.

Russian forces have destroyed Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow and its Black Sea Fleet, officials said, the latest in a surge of attacks on the capital and the flashpoint waterway.

The Ukrainian military yesterday claimed more success in its counter-offensive against Russian forces on the southeastern front, a day after announcing the liberation of a village that had served as a Russian strongpoint.

Kyiv said yesterday that a civilian cargo vessel had exited its southern port of Odesa despite warnings from Russia that its navy could target any ships using Ukraine’s Black Sea export hubs.

Russian forces shelled two villages in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson yesterday, killing seven civilians including a baby, Ukrainian authorities said.

Russian air defence forces shot down three Ukrainian missiles over a bridge connecting Moscow-annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland, an official said yesterday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday dismissed officials responsible for military conscription in each region of the country, citing corruption allegations that he said could amount to treason.

Russia said it had shot down two Ukrainian drones near Moscow yesterday, one near a major airport to the south of the city and one to the west of the capital.

A woman was killed early yesterday when Russian forces shelled the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, while two other people were killed in Russian shelling of border areas of the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine, officials said.

Ukraine carried out a drone strike overnight on a Russian tanker in the Kerch Strait, a day after one of Moscow’s ships was hit in the Black Sea, a Ukrainian security source told AFP yesterday.

A Russian warship was seriously damaged in an overnight Ukrainian naval drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea navy base at Novorossiysk, two sources said yesterday, after Russia said it had fended off the attack.

Fighters from Russia’s private Wagner mercenary force are being moved close to Nato’s eastern flank to destabilise the military alliance, Poland’s prime minister said yesterday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken took aim at Russia at the UN Security Council yesterday, accusing Moscow of “blackmail” over its recent withdrawal from a key grain initiative.

Russian drones yesterday damaged infrastructure at a Ukrainian port on the Danube, as Moscow targeted facilities vital for grain shipments from Ukraine following the collapse of a key export arrangement.

A 10-year-old girl and her mother were among four civilians killed in a Russian air strike on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s home town yesterday, officials said, while his forces reported new incremental gains along the front line.