Summary of the day so far
It is approaching 6pm in Kyiv and 7pm in Moscow. Here is a summary of the key updates from today’s live blog:
Ukraine is “fully committed” to constructive dialogue with US representatives in Saudi Arabia next week and hopes to agree on the necessary decisions and steps, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday. “Ukraine has been seeking peace from the very first second of this war. Realistic proposals are on the table. The key is to move quickly and effectively,” Zelenskyy said on social media network X.
Donald Trump has said Vladimir Putin was “doing what anybody would do” after Russia launched a massive missile and drone strike on Ukraine days after the US cut off vital intelligence and military aid to Kyiv. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday Trump said he finds it “easier” to work with Russia than Ukraine and that Putin “wants to end the war”.
Zelenskyy on Saturday called for more sanctions against Russia as overnight strikes killed at least 14 people and injured dozens more, days ahead of talks between US and Ukrainian negotiators aimed at securing a truce. A Russian assault hit the centre of Dobropillia in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region late on Friday, killing 11 people and injuring 30, according to the emergency services. In Dobropillia, Agence France-Presse (AFP) saw charred residential buildings, flattened market stalls and evidence of cluster bomb damage.
Separately, three people were killed and seven others injured in a drone attack early on Saturday in the city of Bogodukhiv, the military head of the eastern Kharkiv region, Oleg Synegubov, said. Russia fired two missiles and 145 drones at Bogodukhiv, Ukraine’s air force said.
Putin “has no interest in peace”, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Saturday, after overnight strikes by Moscow’s troops killed at least 14 people in Ukraine. Polish prime minister Donald Tusk described it as “another tragic night in Ukraine” and said “this is what happens when someone appeases barbarians” in a post on X.
The Russian defence ministry announced the recapture of Viktorovka, Nikolayevka and Staraya Sorochina. Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report. According to DeepState, an online military tracker linked to the Ukrainian army, the Russian move followed a “breach” in Ukrainian defence lines near the town of Sudzha which is under Kyiv’s control. An army source interviewed by Ukrainska Pravda newspaper said that the Ukrainian soldiers were trying to “stabilise the situation” but the Russian troops had “completely cut off the supply lines”.
Two Majors, a pro-Russian war blogger, wrote on Telegram on Saturday that Russian troops had begun an assault on Sudzha, a major town about 6 miles (9.5 km) from the border, and that the situation for Ukrainian troops in Kursk was “close to critical”. The Guardian has been unable to independently verify the report.
Ukrainian diplomatic and military representatives will stay for a meeting on Tuesday with the US team. The Ukrainian delegation will include foreign minister Andrii Sybiha, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak and defence minister Rustem Umerov.
Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff has also said he was in discussions with Ukraine for a framework deal to end the three-year war with Russia, and a meeting was planned next week with the Ukrainians in Saudi Arabia.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer has welcomed Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese’s “commitment to consider contributing to a coalition of the willing for Ukraine” in a phone call on Saturday, Downing Street has said.
Ben Wallace, the former UK defence secretary, has said Donald Trump’s decision to suspend US intelligence sharing with Kyiv is “suffocating” Ukrainian hope of holding out against Russian aggression. Wallace, who was the defence secretary when Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, said on Saturday that Trump was diminishing the hope of Ukraine with his actions.
Moscow’s defence ministry on Saturday said its air defence systems destroyed 31 Ukrainian drones over the past night. A Ukrainian drone attack also targeted Russia’s Kirishi oil refinery and falling debris caused damage to a reservoir, the governor of the north-western Leningrad region, Aleksandr Drozdenko, said. A civilian was injured by a drone attack in Belgorod district near the Ukraine border, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
Higher European defence budgets and a ramp-up of production by military equipment industries are necessary to secure Europe, Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said in a German newspaper interview. “We will need to spend more to keep ourselves safe,” Rutte told German Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag (WamS). “But we also need to quickly ramp up our defence production on both sides of the Atlantic … for far too long, we have produced far too little.”
Russia launched a devastating attack on Ukraine on Saturday, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more, hours after Donald Trump defended Vladimir Putin and said the Kremlin leader was “doing what anybody would do”.
Two ballistic missiles hit the centre of Dobropillia in the eastern Donetsk region. Fire engulfed a five-storey apartment building. As emergency services arrived, Russia launched another strike on the same area. Eleven civilians were killed, with five children among the 30 injured.
Writing on social media, Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the “vile and inhuman intimidation tactic often used by the Russians”. Three people also died and seven injured in a drone attack in the city of Bohodukhiv, in the Kharkiv region.
Russia’s relentless bombardment of Ukrainian cities has intensified after a torrid week in which Trump has pulled the plug on intelligence sharing with Ukraine and halted the supply of US weapons.
These hostile moves mean the alarm system that warns Ukrainian civilians of incoming enemy missiles is less effective. Asked if Putin was taking advantage of US aid pauses, Trump on Friday acknowledged Ukraine was experiencing a “tremendous pounding”.
He suggested, however, that “anyone in Putin’s position” would do the same. Before a meeting on Tuesday between US and Ukrainian representatives in Saudi Arabia, Trump said he was “finding it easier” to deal with Moscow than with Kyiv.
European leaders suggested the US president was complicit in the latest devastation.
The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, said there had been “another tragic night in Ukraine”, with “more bombs, more aggression and more victims”. Without mentioning Trump directly, he said: “This is what happens when someone appeases barbarians.”
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the “relentless” Russian missiles demonstrated that Putin had no interest in peace. “We must step up our military support. Otherwise, even more Ukrainian civilians will pay the highest price,” she said.
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, looked on as Donald Trump demanded more gratitude from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and accused the embattled leader of “gambling with world war three”.
“You right now are not in a very good position,” Trump chided Zelenskyy during their confrontation in the Oval Office last week.
Throughout the heated exchange, Rubio, who previously ran for president as a staunch Russia hawk, sat silently on a yellow sofa. The image of a sullen Rubio quickly went viral online, with one social media user dubbing him “the corpse on the couch”. One user wondered whether Rubio was “recognizing in real time that he is on the wrong side of history”, while another suggested he was “realizing he sold his soul to the dumbest people on the planet”.
The dynamic even caught the attention of Saturday Night Live, which featured a dour Rubio, played by Marcello Hernández, in its opening sketch last weekend.
“Oh man, look at Rubio over there, fully dissociating,” James Austin Johnson, impersonating Trump, said. “He looks like Homer Simpson disappearing into that hedge.”
It was a stunning display from the man who once attacked Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, as “a gangster”, “a thug” and “a war criminal”. Rubio’s ascension to the top of the state department has seemingly forced him to embrace Trump’s “America first” agenda and abandon his long-documented support of Ukraine.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit Saudi Arabia to meet Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman on Monday. Ukrainian diplomatic and military representatives will stay for a meeting on Tuesday with the US team, it has been reported.
According to Reuters, the Ukrainian delegation will include foreign minister Andrii Sybiha, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak and defence minister Rustem Umerov.
Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff has also said he was in discussions with Ukraine for a framework deal to end the three-year war with Russia, and a meeting was planned next week with the Ukrainians in Saudi Arabia.
In February, Riyadh hosted a meeting between US and Russian officials to discuss ways to halt the deadliest conflict in Europe since the second world war. Ukraine was not included in those talks, raising concern in Kyiv and among its European allies.
What is the ‘coalition of the willing for Ukraine'?
Earlier we mentioned that the UK prime minister Keir Starmer had welcomed Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese’s “commitment to consider contributing to a coalition of the willing for Ukraine” in a phone call on Saturday (see 11.39am GMT). But what exactly is the “coalition of the willing for Ukraine”? Agence France-Presse (AFP) has a little more information on this:
Key details about the “coalition of the willing” have not been specified, but the grouping was mentioned by Starmer during a summit of European leaders in London last Sunday aimed at guaranteeing “lasting peace” in Ukraine.
British officials have held talks with about 20 countries interested in being part of the group, a UK official said on Thursday.
The official refused to name the nations but said they were “largely European and Commonwealth partners”.
The Guardian’s senior political correspondent Peter Walker has also written this analysis piece:
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Zelenskyy says Ukraine is 'fully committed' to constructive dialogue with US
Ukraine is “fully committed” to constructive dialogue with US representatives in Saudi Arabia next week and hopes to agree on the necessary decisions and steps, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday, reports Reuters.
“Ukraine has been seeking peace from the very first second of this war. Realistic proposals are on the table. The key is to move quickly and effectively,” Zelenskyy said on social media network X.
“On our side, we are fully committed to constructive dialogue, and we hope to discuss and agree on the necessary decisions and steps,” he added.
Zelenskyy said he would visit Saudi Arabia next week and after his meeting with the Crown Prince on Monday, Ukrainian diplomatic and military representatives would stay for a meeting on Tuesday with the US team.
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Moscow’s defence ministry on Saturday said its air defence systems destroyed 31 Ukrainian drones over the past night, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A Ukrainian drone attack also targeted Russia’s Kirishi oil refinery and falling debris caused damage to a reservoir, the governor of the north-western Leningrad region, Aleksandr Drozdenko, said.
A civilian was injured by a drone attack in Belgorod district near the Ukraine border, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
Europe’s rightwing populist parties are split over how far to distance themselves from Donald Trump’s pressure on Ukraine, with some fearing unflinching solidarity with the US president’s brand of nationalism will damage their efforts to widen their domestic support.
Broadly, unease over Trump’s treatment of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the ominous encroach of authoritarianism by the new US administration, is strongest among the populist parties in western Europe and some Nordic countries.
By contrast in eastern Europe, where parts of the electorate view Russia sympathetically, support for Trump remains undimmed.
The populists may be right to be cautious about Trump. There are already tentative signs that governments in countries where leaders have taken a pro-Ukrainian line are enjoying a modest boost in support.
You can read the full analysis piece by the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, here:
On board a Ukrainian patrol boat in the Black Sea
Captain Oleksandr put his hand on the throttle and nudged it forward. His patrol boat roared into action and zipped through the waves. Behind him was the Ukrainian port of Odesa. In front – beyond a grey expanse of water, and 180km (112 miles) away, was occupied Crimea. “We’re here to stop the Russians from taking the Black Sea,” Oleksandr said, as his boat – travelling at a nippy 30 knots – rolled up and down.
In 2014, Ukraine lost three-quarters of its modest naval assets when Vladimir Putin seized the Crimean peninsula. Then, in 2022, Russia sank most of what was left. Its own fleet, by contrast, seemed invincible. It included a mighty flagship carrier, the Moskva, two modern frigates, several smaller warships and multiple missile boats and landing vessels, as well as four submarines carrying deadly Kalibr missiles.
The Moskva entered into legend when it told the Ukrainian garrison on Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender, on day one of Putin’s invasion. The radio operator responded: “Russian warship, go fuck yourself”. The Russians stormed the island anyway and took the Ukrainian soldiers guarding it prisoner. Since then, though, Moscow has suffered a series of maritime setbacks.
You can read Luke Harding’s full report from Odesa here:
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Polish prime minister Donald Tusk says there was “another tragic night in Ukraine” and “this is what happens when someone appeases barbarians” in a post on X.
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Here are some of the latest images coming out from Dobropillia in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, via the newswires:
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Russia launched more than 260 aerial attacks on Ukraine after the US decision to cut off intelligence and weapons to Kyiv, President Zelenskyy said.
In a press briefing, Donald Trump said he found it “easier” to deal with Russia than Ukraine. Senior US and Ukrainian officials plan to meet in Saudi Arabia next week.
You can see our latest video report on Trump’s comments below:
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Putin has 'no interest in peace', says EU foreign policy chief
Russian leader Vladimir Putin “has no interest in peace”, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Saturday, after overnight strikes by Moscow’s troops killed at least 14 people in Ukraine, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Kaja Kallas wrote on X:
Russian missiles keep relentlessly falling on Ukraine, bringing more death and more destruction. Once again, Putin shows he has no interest in peace. We must step up our military support – otherwise, even more Ukrainian civilians will pay the highest price.”
UK prime minister Keir Starmer has welcomed Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese’s “commitment to consider contributing to a coalition of the willing for Ukraine” in a phone call on Saturday, Downing Street has said.
According to the PA news agency, the statement reads:
The prime minister spoke to the prime minister of Australia Anthony Albanese this morning.
The prime minister began by expressing his support for all Australians effected by the cyclone and paid tribute to the strength of the partnership between the two countries.
He welcomed prime minister Albanese’s commitment to consider contributing to a coalition of the willing for Ukraine and looked forward to the chiefs of defence meeting in Paris on Tuesday.
The prime minister also reiterated the UK’s commitment to the Aukus programme. The leaders agreed to stay in touch.”
Ben Wallace, the former UK defence secretary, has said Donald Trump’s decision to suspend US intelligence sharing with Kyiv is “suffocating” Ukrainian hope of holding out against Russian aggression.
Last Friday, the US president, along with the vice-president, JD Vance, berated Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in full view of the media, telling the Ukrainian president that he was “gambling with world war three” and to come back to the White House “when he is ready for peace”.
In the week since, the US stopped sharing intelligence with Kyiv that had previously given advance warnings of attacks and Brussels agreed to a huge increase in defence spending.
On Friday, the day after intelligence sharing ceased, Russia carried out massive ballistic missile and drone strikes across Ukraine. Soon after the aerial attacks, Trump said Vladimir Putin was “doing what anybody would do”.
Overnight strikes in eastern Ukraine on Saturday killed at least 11 people and wounded 30 others, including five children.
Wallace, who was the defence secretary when Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, said on Saturday that Trump was diminishing the hope of Ukraine with his actions.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said:
Hope is the most important thing in this type of conflict and, at the moment, Donald Trump is suffocating the hope that Putin can be either fought to a standstill or indeed brought to the table.”
He added:
Hope is always the key for both morale and a military campaign. When this started three years ago, I remember gathering the military officials in my then department, and saying on day one, we have to give the Ukrainians hope.
If a Russian truck has a puncture, we need to let people know. If the Russians have a small defeat, we need to let the Ukrainian people know.”
Higher European defence budgets and a ramp-up of production by military equipment industries are necessary to secure Europe, Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said in a German newspaper interview, reports Reuters.
“We will need to spend more to keep ourselves safe,” Rutte told German Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag (WamS). “But we also need to quickly ramp up our defence production on both sides of the Atlantic …for far too long, we have produced far too little.”
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) includes much of Europe and also the United States and Canada.
Ammunition, ships, tanks, jets, but also satellites and drones were needed, Rutte said.
European countries are hastening to boost defence spending and maintain support for Ukraine after US president Donald Trump froze US military aid to Kyiv and raised doubts about Washington’s commitment to European allies.
German lawmakers will debate sweeping changes to state borrowing rules to fund defence, alongside a €500bn ($541.60bn) infrastructure fund, from 13 March to get those measures passed in the outgoing parliament ahead of the formation of a new one on 25 March, sources have said, according to Reuters.
EU leaders on Thursday held meetings to back joint defence loans to member states and to allow defence spending beyond tight budgetary rules for other sectors. Rutte said he had met with many heads of defence manufacturing companies and urged them to respond to higher demand.
US and Ukrainian negotiators are due to meet in Saudi Arabia next week with bilateral relations frayed, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Donald Trump publicly berated Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a White House meeting and suspended US aid to Kyiv in a stated bid to encourage diplomacy.
“I’m finding it more difficult frankly to deal with Ukraine and they don’t have the cards,” Trump said on Friday. “It may be easier dealing with Russia.”
The remarks followed Trump on Friday threatening new sanctions and tariffs on Russia over its bombardments of Ukraine. “To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late,” he added.
Zelenskyy is due to land in Saudi Arabia on Monday for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The meeting is a day before Ukrainian officials are expected to hold fresh talks with their US counterparts on Tuesday there.
Zelenskyy seeks more sanctions as Russian strikes kill at least 14 people
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday called for more sanctions against Russia as overnight strikes killed at least 14 people and injured dozens more, days ahead of talks between US and Ukrainian negotiators aimed at securing a truce, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A Russian assault hit the centre of Dobropillia in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region late on Friday, killing 11 people and injuring 30, according to the emergency services.
Separately, three people were killed and seven others injured in a drone attack early on Saturday in the city of Bogodukhiv, the military head of the eastern Kharkiv region, Oleg Synegubov, said. Russia fired two missiles and 145 drones at Bogodukhiv, Ukraine’s air force said.
The overnight air raids came after US president Donald Trump threatened new sanctions and tariffs on Russia but said it may be “easier” to work with Moscow than Kyiv on efforts to end the three-year-long war.
“Such strikes show that Russia’s goals are unchanged. Therefore, it is very important to continue to do everything to protect life, strengthen our air defence, and increase sanctions against Russia,” Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram social media channel.
In Dobropillia, AFP saw charred residential buildings, flattened market stalls and evidence of cluster bomb damage.
Irina Kostenko, 59, spent the night cowering in her hallway with her husband. When she left the apartment building on Saturday, she saw a neighbour “lying dead on the ground, covered with a blanket”. “It was shocking, I don’t have the words to describe it,” Kostenko told AFP.
Zelenskyy said that Russia had struck Dobropillia, waited until rescuers arrived and then “deliberately” targeted them as well. “This is a despicable and inhumane tactic of intimidation that the Russians often use,” he said.
Russia says it retook three villages from Ukraine in Kursk
The Russian defence ministry has announced the recapture of Viktorovka, Nikolayevka and Staraya Sorochina, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Reuters.
According to DeepState, an online military tracker linked to the Ukrainian army, the Russian move followed a “breach” in Ukrainian defence lines near the town of Sudzha which is under Kyiv’s control.
“One of our units left its positions. After that the enemy reinforced its troops and systematically launched assault operations … and here’s the result,” said DeepState, which is followed by more than 800,000 subscribers on the Telegram website, reports AFP.
An army source interviewed by Ukrainska Pravda newspaper said that the Ukrainian soldiers were trying to “stabilise the situation” but the Russian troops had “completely cut off the supply lines”.
Serhiy Sternenko, a prominent Ukrainian activist, wrote on Thursday:
The logistics situation in the Kursk region is rapidly deteriorating and is already critical.”
“Logistics routes to Sudzha are under full enemy fire control,” he said in a post on X, citing information from army units in the area.
Updated
According to Reuters, Two Majors, a pro-Russian war blogger, wrote on Telegram on Saturday that Russian troops had begun an assault on Sudzha, a major town about 6 miles (9.5 km) from the border, and that the situation for Ukrainian troops in Kursk was “close to critical”.
The Guardian has been unable to independently verify the report.
Russian troops retook from Ukrainian forces the villages of Viktorovka, Nikolayevka and Staraya Sorochina in Russia’s western Kursk region, the Tass state news agency reported on Saturday, citing the defence ministry.
Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report.
The Russian army has been fighting to eject Ukrainian troops from Kursk since last August, when Kyiv’s forces staged a lightning incursion over the border and seized a swath of Russian territory.
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Speaking about Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s eastern city of Dobropillia overnight, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Facebook:
Such strikes show that Russia’s objectives have not changed. Therefore, it is crucial to continue to do our best to protect lives, strengthen our air defences, and increase sanctions against Russia. Everything that helps Putin finance the war must collapse.”
Russia has carried out huge strikes across Ukraine as it targeted facilities in several regions, including Odesa and Poltava, using nearly 70 cruise and ballistic missiles and almost 200 attack drones, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Over a matter of days, the White House has suspended weapons deliveries and the supply of intelligence to Kyiv. Zelenskyy is due to travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Donald Trump has said Vladimir Putin was “doing what anybody would do” after Russia launched a massive missile and drone strike on Ukraine days after the US cut off vital intelligence and military aid to Kyiv.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday Trump said he finds it “easier” to work with Russia than Ukraine and that Putin “wants to end the war”.
“I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine. And they don’t have the cards,” Trump said. “In terms of getting a final settlement, it may be easier dealing with Russia.”
Asked whether the Russian leader was taking advantage of the pause in US intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine, Trump replied: “I actually think he is doing what anybody else would do.”
Senior US and Ukrainian officials plan to meet in Saudi Arabia next week as Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his advisers seek to revive relations with the US after a botched summit in the Oval Office during which Trump told Zelenskyy he was “gambling with world war three”.
Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukrainian energy facilities on Friday in the wake of the US decision to halt intelligence sharing with Ukraine that had helped it target incoming fire.
Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said: “We’re doing very well with Russia. But right now they’re bombing the hell out of Ukraine.”
You can read more on this reporting by Andrew Roth in Washington and Luke Harding in Kyiv here:
Updated
A tank at Russia’s Kirishi refinery, one of the country’s largest, was damaged by falling debris during a Ukrainian drone attack, the governor of the north-western Leningrad region said on Saturday, reports Reuters.
Surgutneftegaz’s Kirishinefteorgsintez (KINEF) refinery is one of the top two refineries in Russia. It refines about 17.7 million tons a year (355,000 barrels a day) of Russian crude, or 6.4% of the total, according to industry sources.
“Air defences shot down one drone on approach, the other was destroyed over the territory of the enterprise,” Alexander Drozdenko, governor of the Leningrad region, said on Telegram.
“When the debris fell, the external structure of one of the tanks was damaged,” he said.
No one was injured, he said.
The refinery produces about 2.3 million tons of gasoline – 5.3% of Russia’s total – 7.6% of its diesel fuel, 16.3% of its fuel oil and 3.4% of the country’s aviation fuel, according to industry sources.
Looking ahead to Ukraine’s talks with the US next week on a possible end to the war with Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to land in Saudi Arabia on Monday for discussions with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The meeting is a day before Ukrainian officials are expected to hold fresh talks with their US counterparts on Tuesday in the Middle Eastern kingdom.
After meeting with Prince Mohammed, Zelensky said his team “will remain in Saudi Arabia to work with our American partners”, Agence France-Presse reports.
“Ukraine is most interested in peace,” he added.
Earlier on Friday, the Ukrainian president renewed calls for a mutual halt to aerial attacks on critical infrastructure following the recent Russian barrage.
He said the first steps to establishing real peace should be stopping both Russian and Ukrainian aerial and naval attacks.
This latest proposal builds on growing rhetoric from Kyiv, Washington and Moscow on halting the war.
The Kremlin has previously ruled out a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine.
Updated
At least 11 killed and 30 injured in Russian missile strike on Ukraine, Kyiv says
Five children were among the 30 wounded in overnight Russian attacks on Dobropillia which also killed at least 11 people, the Ukrainian interior ministry said on Saturday.
It said Russian forces attacked the town in eastern Ukraine with ballistic missiles, multiple rockets and drones, damaging eight multi-storey buildings and 30 cars, Reuters reports.
“While extinguishing the fire, the occupiers struck again, damaging the fire truck,” the ministry said on Telegram.
It published photos of partially destroyed buildings engulfed in fire and rescuers removing rubble from the buildings.
Dobropillia, home to about 28,000 people before the war, is in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, 22km (14 miles) from the front line north of the key hub of Pokrovsk, which Russian troops have been attacking for weeks.
The ministry also said at least three people were killed and seven injured in a separate drone attack on the Kharkiv region overnight.
The Ukrainian military said Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and one Iskander-K cruise missile as well as 145 drones.
The military said air forces shot down one cruise missile and 79 drones. It said another 54 drones did not reach their targets, likely due to electronic countermeasures.
Updated
A tank at Russia’s Kirishi oil refinery – one of the country’s largest – was damaged by falling debris during a major Ukrainian drone attack, the governor of the north-western Leningrad region said on Saturday.
Surgutneftegaz’s Kirishinefteorgsintez (KINEF) refinery is one of the top two refineries in Russia, Reuters reports.
“Air defences shot down one drone on approach, the other was destroyed over the territory of the enterprise,” Alexander Drozdenko, governor of the Leningrad region, said on Telegram.
When the debris fell, the external structure of one of the tanks was damaged.
No one was injured, he said.
The extent of the damage to the refinery was not immediately clear. There was no immediate comment from Surgutneftegaz, one of Russia’s biggest oil companies, or from Ukraine.
Industry sources say the Kirishi refinery refines about 17.7m tons a year or 355,000 barrels a day of Russian crude – 6.4% of the country’s total.
Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war. Here’s a snapshot of the latest to bring you up to speed.
At least 11 people were killed and 30 wounded in Russian strikes on eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region late on Friday, the country’s emergency service said on Saturday, raising the earlier death toll of four.
At least nine buildings were damaged in the attack on the centre of Dobropillia, it said on Telegram.
The regional governor said earlier that Russian forces had launched three night-time strikes on the town north of Pokrovsk, a focal point of their advance through eastern Ukraine, and according to initial information high-rise apartment buildings were involved. Emergency crews were at the site, Vadym Filashki said on Telegram.
Meanwhile in Russia, thousands of Ukrainian troops who stormed into the country’s Kursk region last August are almost surrounded by Russian forces there in a major blow to Kyiv, which hoped to use its presence as leverage over Moscow in any peace talks, Reuters has reported, citing open source maps.
The news agency said the maps showed Ukraine’s situation in Kursk had deteriorated sharply in the past three days, after Russian forces retook territory as part of a gathering counteroffensive that has nearly cut the Ukrainian force in two and separated the main group from its principal supply lines.
The situation for Ukraine comes after Washington suspended its intelligence sharing with Kyiv and raises the possibility that its forces may be forced into a retreat back into Ukraine or risk being captured or killed.
In other developments:
Russia carried out huge ballistic missile and drone strikes across Ukraine a day after the US stopped sharing intelligence with Kyiv which had previously given advance warnings of attacks. The strikes came early on Friday as a Ukrainian delegation prepared to meet with US counterparts in Saudi Arabia next week for talks about a possible end to the war, report Luke Harding and Dan Sabbagh. In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump appeared to criticise Russia’s latest bombardment. The US president posted: “Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED.”
Separately, Trump said after the strikes that Vladimir Putin was “doing what anybody would do”. “I think he wants to get it [the war] stopped and settled and I think he’s hitting them harder than he’s been hitting them and I think probably anybody in that position would be doing that right now,” he told reporters in the White House. Trump also said he found it “easier” to deal with Russia than with Ukraine in efforts to end the war and that he trusted Putin, the Russian president. “I believe him,” Trump said. “I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine and they don’t have the cards. It may be easier dealing with Russia.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to Russia’s strikes by calling for a truce covering air and sea. “The first steps to establishing real peace should be forcing the sole source of this war, Russia, to stop such attacks,” the Ukrainian president said on Telegram. Moscow has rejected the idea of a temporary truce, which has also been proposed by Britain and France.
US aerospace company Maxar Technologies disabled Ukraine’s access to its satellite images after a request from the Trump administration. Maxar said it had contracts with the US government and dozens of allied and partner nations and “each customer makes their own decisions on how they use and share that data”.
Zelenskyy’s approval rating in Ukraine has risen by 10 percentage points since his White House spat with Trump, a survey by a leading Ukrainian pollster showed on Friday. The poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology – conducted from 14 February to 4 March – found 67% of respondents trusted Zelenskyy in March, up from 57% a month earlier.
Iran’s foreign ministry denied accusations by Emmanuel Macron that Tehran had supplied equipment to Russia for use in the Ukraine war, calling the French president’s remarks “baseless and false”.
