Russia struck the Kremenchuk oil refinery in the central Poltava region of Ukraine in an overnight drone attack, causing a fire, Governor Dmytro Lunin said yesterday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday confronted Russia directly at the UN Security Council, denouncing the Kremlin’s invasion of his country as “criminal” and urging the United Nations to strip Moscow of its veto power.

Ukraine said yesterday its forces had recaptured small clutches of land from Russian forces along the southern front and near Bakhmut, regions where Kyiv’s troops have focused their slow-moving counter-offensive.

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg has warned there will be no swift end to the Ukraine war, in an interview published yesterday, as Kyiv pushes on with its counteroffensive against Russia.

Poland, Slovakia and Hungary will impose their own restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports, the governments said on Friday, after the European Commission decided not to extend a ban affecting Ukraine’s five EU neighbours.

Ukraine said yesterday it had recaptured the devastated eastern village of Andriivka, setting the stage for further advances on the southern flank of Bakhmut, the city that fell into Russian hands in May after months of heavy fighting.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un yesterday told Russian President Vladimir Putin via a translator that he was sure that the Russian army and people would triumph against “evil”, in what he cast as the West’s imperialism in the war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces have regained control from Russia of several gas and oil offshore drilling platforms close to Crimea, Ukraine’s military intelligence (GUR) said yesterday.

Ukraine yesterday said four people were killed and dozens injured as Russia launched a new wave of air strikes in the centre and east of the country.

At least 17 people were killed and many more were wounded in a Russian attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka yesterday as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv Wednesday after another night of Russian strikes on Ukraine, with Washington set to unveil more than $1 billion in fresh aid to battle Russia.

President Vladimir Putin said today that Russia was "open" to talks on restoring the landmark Black Sea grain export deal, hours after Moscow pounded one of Ukraine's key grain-exporting ports overnight

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced on Monday he had handed his resignation letter to parliament after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for "new approaches" to face Russia's invasion.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said yesterday that Kyiv’s troops were “moving forward” in their counteroffensive against Russian forces, rebuffing Western officials who say that Ukraine is gaining ground too slowly.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday said there cannot be “sustainable peace” in Ukraine unless the country regains control of Crimea, Donbas and other territories occupied by Russia.

Ukrainian drones struck targets in at least six regions deep within Russia yesterday, including an airfield where they destroyed military transport planes, in one of the broadest volleys yet of Kyiv’s campaign to turn the tables on Moscow.

Ukraine announced yesterday it had recaptured a village on the southern frontline, where its forces are hoping for a breakthrough in their grinding offensive against entrenched Russian positions.

At least one person was killed and 16 people were wounded in Russian attacks across Ukraine yesterday, local officials said, as Kyiv marked 32 years of independence from Moscow.

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.