Summary
Talks between the US and Russian delegations were taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as Donald Trump pushes to broker a limited ceasefire that Washington hopes will mark the first step toward lasting peace in Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia have agreed in principle to a one-month halt on strikes on energy infrastructure after Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders last week. But uncertainty remains. We are pausing this live blog now. Here is the Guardian’s main story on the events of the day. We will continue to cover the talks as they happen in due course.
Here’s where things stand:
Donald Trump said again on Monday that he expects a US-Ukraine revenue-sharing agreement on Ukrainian critical minerals will be signed soon. The US president has been teasing such a deal for a few weeks.
Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal said the continuing Russian attacks on his country show that Moscow wants to go on with its “terror” despite the partial ceasefire agreed to last week. He said there were children among “casualties” in the latest assault.
A Russian missile attack on an industrial facility in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy on Monday damaged a residential area and a hospital, and injured at least 28 people. At least four children were among the injured, acting Sumy mayor Artem Kobzar said, without identifying the industrial facility.
The talks in Riyadh are centred on the safety of shipping in the Black Sea. Washington has been eyeing a Black Sea ceasefire deal, a major aim of Russia, before securing a wider agreement. The White House wants a maritime ceasefire to allow the free flow of shipping.
Moscow is interested in restoring a deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain from its ports without being attacked, according to reports. If the deal is revived, Russia would export farm produce and fertiliser through the Black Sea, getting relief from sanctions imposed by western countries.
Moscow and Washington believe they have a common understanding on the need to move towards a settlement to end the war. However, Reuters reported that there are still many different aspects of that to be worked out.
Sunday’s talks between Ukraine and the US were technical, related to infrastructure and shipping safety, but “productive and focused” and the Kyiv delegation remains in Saudi Arabia. Ukrainian adviser Serhiy Leshchenko says further talks could take place with the US.
The Kremlin says a suspension on strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, agreed in the Putin-Trump phone call last Tuesday, remains in place. At least seven people were killed in a barrage of strikes from more than 140 drones across Ukraine on Sunday, according to local officials and emergency services.
A war correspondent for Russia’s main pro-Kremlin newspaper, Izvestia, was killed in Ukraine on Monday, the outlet announced.
Izvestia correspondent Alexander Fedorchak was killed in the zone of the special military operation,” Izvestia said, using Moscow’s propaganda term for its invasion of its southern neighbor and the resulting three-year old war.
The man was killed in the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
The publicity sheet said that its correspondent died “in the Kupyansk direction” - a city that has been under intense Russian attack and where Russian forces have been advancing.
His last report was broadcast literally the day before,” Izvestia said on its website.
Izvestia was previously a Soviet organ focusing on foreign affairs.
Russian war correspondent from "Izvestia" Alexander Fedorchak has been killed in the combat zone on the Kharkiv front in Ukraine.
— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (BlueSky too) (@Archer83Able) March 24, 2025
"Izvestia" informed about it on Monday. pic.twitter.com/s7VIgEjhu0
Donald Trump previously told Volodymyr Zelenskyy, last Wednesday, that the US could own and run Ukrainian nuclear power plants as part of a ceasefire.
The Ukrainian president said, following their call, that “we talked only about one power plant, which is under Russian occupation”, referring to Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power station.
The Guardian has reported that both Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy would not be in favor and Trump’s idea is not realistic.
Such is the nuclear power station’s importance that it was seized by Russia within the first month of fighting and has remained on the frontline ever since. Electricity generation was halted in September 2022 – it is simply too dangerous and too many prewar employees had fled. All six reactors have been in cold shutdown (running below boiling point) since April last year.
Experts in Ukraine speculate that Trump’s interest in Zaporizhzhia is because Kyiv has told the US it would be a source of cheap local energy that could be used to power the mining and processing plants as part of the rare earths and minerals extraction deal it hopes to sign with the White House.
Read more here.
The talks in Riyadh have consisted so far of a US delegation meeting with Ukrainian officials on Sunday and with Russian officials today.
Discussions have focused mostly on a limited ceasefire to allow security for shipping using the Black Sea to and from Ukraine, but Donald Trump said at the White House moments ago that other issues are coming up, as he pushes for a halt to Russia’s three-year war against Ukraine, Reuters further reports.
We’re talking about territory right now. We’re talking about lines of demarcation, Talking about power, power plant ownership. Some people are saying the United States should own the power plant...because we have the expertise,” he said.
Talk in recent days has centered on whether there could be a suspension of attacks on power infrastructure, then leading to a temporary ceasefire and ultimately a peace deal.
Trump again predicts deal with Ukraine on minerals "soon"
Donald Trump said moments ago that he expects a US-Ukraine revenue-sharing agreement on Ukrainian critical minerals will be signed soon.
The US president also told reporters gathered at the White House as he met his Cabinet that the United States is talking to Ukraine about the potential for American firms owning Ukrainian power plants, Reuters reports.
Trump has been teasing such a deal for a few weeks, since before Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House late last month to talk about prospects for kick-starting the process towards a wide-ranging agreement ending Russia’s invasion of his country. It turned into a disastrous meeting in the Oval Office where he was excoriated by Trump and US vice president JD Vance, for seemingly being too assertive, and left early. The parties have since cooled off enough to begin versions of preliminary negotiations, from phone calls to talks now in Saudi Arabia.
Last Thursday Trump also said the US would sign a minerals and natural resources deal with Ukraine soon and that his efforts to achieve a peace deal for the country were going “pretty well” after his talks that week with Russian and Ukrainian leaders.
Updated
Meanwhile, Downing Street said that UK prime minister Keir Starmer is not worried about remarks made by the White House special envoy about the coalition of the willing.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson was asked if there were worries after Steve Witkoff’s remark that Starmer’s plans were a “combination of a posture and a pose” in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “No, the PM has repeatedly said that a lasting peace in Ukraine can only be achieved if we provide real and credible security assurances to deter Putin.
“And the coalition of the willing is a group of nations politically aligned to the defence, security and sovereignty of Ukraine … if there is a deal, it’s a deal that has to be defended.”
Downing Street said it is continuing to keep the US updated on military planning meetings.
Asked if there is a specific moment when the coalition of the willing’s plans will be presented to Donald Trump, the British prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “These conversations are happening the whole time between the US, UK and other allies.
“Ahead of, following these military planning meetings, political leaders meetings, we’re continuing to update US and debrief them on these discussions.
“It’s happening at the same time as the US-led talks in Riyadh as well.
“I wouldn’t think of these things necessarily in a kind of linear sequence … I think there’s lots of conversations happening.
“And clearly we’ll be keeping the US closely updated on the development in relation to the coalition of the willing, much like they’re obviously keeping us closely updated on the status of the talks out in Riyadh.”
Reuters is reporting that the Russian missile attack on Sumy – the administrative centre of the northeastern Sumy region in Ukraine – injured at least 74 people.
The attack was reported to have occurred around 14:00 local time (12:00 GMT) and, according to acting mayor Artem Kobzar, targeted residential areas and infrastructure facilities.
The head of the Sumy regional administration, Volodymyr Artyukh, has been quoted by BBC News as saying Russia “launched a rocket strike on the city centre” and damaged several high-rise buildings and a school.
“The children were in a protective structure and were evacuated,” he said, confirming they were all alive.
Russian attack on Sumy shows Moscow wants to 'continue its terror on Ukraine' - PM
The regional prosecutor’s office has said that at least 65 people, including 14 children, have been injured after the Russian attack on a residential area of Sumy, in the northeast of Ukraine.
As we mentioned in an earlier post, local officials previously put the injured number at 28. We have not been able to independently verify either figure yet.
In a post on X, Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal said the continuing Russian attacks show that Moscow wants to continue its “terror” despite the partial ceasefire agreed to last week. He said there were children among “casualties” in the Sumy attack.
Shmyhal wrote:
Ukraine is striving for peace, and Russia is once again showing that it wants to continue the terror. The international community must increase the pressure on Russia to stop the aggression and ensure justice and save the lives of Ukrainians.
russia attacked the civilian infrastructure in Sumy. Residential and private houses in particular were damaged. There are casualties, including children.
— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) March 24, 2025
Units of the State Emergency Service are on the ground. They are removing the consequences of the enemy attacks and providing… pic.twitter.com/8GdLTKtzK7
Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy have already agreed to a partial ceasefire covering energy and civilian infrastructure – but both Moscow and Kyiv have accused the other of violating the agreement.
Updated
Grigory Karasin, a former diplomat who negotiated the 2014 Minsk accords between Russia and Ukraine and a participant in Monday’s talks in Riyadh, told the Interfax news agency the negotiations were going on in a “creative way” and that the US and Russian delegations “understand each other’s views”.
He is part of a negotiation team that includes Sergei Beseda, an adviser to the head of the Russia’s FSB security agency.
The American delegation is being led by Andrew Peek, a senior director at the White House national security council, and Michael Anton, a senior state department official.
Updated
Russian missile attack on Sumy damages hospital, school and residential area
A Russian missile attack on an industrial facility in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy on Monday damaged a residential area and a hospital, and injured at least 28 people, a local official said.
At least four children were among the injured, acting Sumy mayor Artem Kobzar said on the Telegram messenger app. He did not identify the industrial facility.
“The enemy launched a missile strike on the city centre. Several high-rise buildings, and a school are damaged. Children were in a shelter,” the Sumy region’s governor Volodymyr Artiukh said from the site in a video posted on Telegram and reported by Reuters.
The Kremlin earlier said a suspension on strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, agreed in the Putin-Trump phone call last Tuesday, remains in place.
Sumy, about 30 km (18.6 miles) from the Russian border, as well as the surrounding region, is subject to constant drone and missile strikes by Russia.
Ukraine’s state-owned railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said on Monday traffic was not disrupted by a cyberattack that knocked out its online ticketing system.
“Operational traffic did not stop for a single moment. The enemy attack was aimed to stop trains, but we quickly switched to backup systems,” Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, Ukrzaliznytsia’s board chairman, told national TV in comments carried by Reuters. The outage was first reported on Sunday.
Vladimir Putin last week agreed to halt strikes on Ukraine energy targets for 30 days, after a lengthy phone call with US President Donald Trump. But there is confusion about what constitutes energy infrastructure, with Kyiv pushing for railways and ports to be protected under the definition, which the Kremlin has framed narrowly.
Summary of the day so far...
Talks between the US and Russian delegations are continuing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in the Ritz-Carlton hotel. Here is an update on what we know:
The talks are centred on the safety of shipping in the Black Sea. Washington has been eyeing a Black Sea ceasefire deal, a major aim of Russia, before securing a wider agreement. The White House wants a maritime ceasefire to allow the free flow of shipping.
Moscow is interested in restoring a deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain from its ports without being attacked, according to reports. If the deal is revived, Russia would export farm produce and fertiliser through the Black Sea, getting relief from sanctions imposed by western countries.
Moscow and Washington believe they have a common understanding on the need to move towards a settlement to end the war. However, Reuters reported that there are still many different aspects of that to be worked out.
Sunday’s talks between Ukraine and the US were technical, related to infrastructure and shipping safety, but “productive and focused” and the Kyiv delegation remains in Saudi Arabia. Ukrainian adviser Serhiy Leshchenko says further talks could take place with the US.
The Kremlin says a suspension on strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, agreed in the Putin-Trump phone call last Tuesday, remains in place. At least seven people were killed in a barrage of strikes from more than 140 drones across Ukraine on Sunday, according to local officials and emergency services. Another wave of drones was fired into Ukraine overnight. The Russian military says they intercepted 28 Ukrainian drones overnight, while Ukraine says its forces destroyed four Russian military helicopters. Ukraine’s state-owned railway says its online systems have been hit by a cyber-attack.
Updated
Vladimir Putin has spoken to UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan about the OPEC+ agreement and Russia-US talks on Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Monday.
Putin thanked the UAE president for mediating in prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine, according to Reuters.
Updated
Ukraine's delegation plans to meet US officials after Russian talks conclude - report
The Ukrainian delegation remains in Saudi Arabia for further talks with the US, having had discussions yesterday, Serhiy Leshchenko, an advisor to the head of the office of the Ukrainian president, told Ukrainian news agency Unian.
Leshchenko said:
These are technical negotiations. Usually, negotiations are not one day. And sometimes they last months, and some negotiations, like the Middle East settlement, last for years, so I don’t want us to compare ourselves to that.
We just have to understand that the meetings will be quite regular, and not every meeting ends with public statements.
Leshchenko, who said talks with American officials are about “infrastructure and shipping safety”, along with a mutual ceasefire, added:
This is infrastructure and shipping safety. And it was about a mutual ceasefire. We are not attacking their facilities at sea, including river facilities.
They are not attacking our facilities and our ports - Kherson, Mykolaiv, and the ports of greater Odessa, so that they function.
US officials held initial talks with Ukraine in Saudi Arabia on Sunday evening, in what the Ukrainian delegation described as a “productive and focused” meeting, and were meeting separately with Russia on Monday.
A senior Ukrainian official confirmed to the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency that Ukrainian officials are expecting to meet their American counterparts to continue discussing a potential ceasefire later, after the round of talks between negotiators from Russia and the US has finished.
“We are so far waiting for the outcome of the meeting between the United States and Russia. Based on that, we will have another meeting with the United States,” the official said.
What are Russia's conditions for a long term settlement?
Pjotr Sauer is a Russian affairs reporter for the Guardian
Moscow has set out several maximalist conditions for any long-term settlement – most of which are non-starters for Kyiv and its European allies.
These include a halt to all foreign military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, restrictions on the size of its armed forces, and international recognition of the four Ukrainian regions Russia illegally annexed following staged referendums in 2022.
The Kremlin has also signalled it would reject any presence of western troops in Ukraine – something Kyiv views as essential to securing lasting security guarantees.
Ukraine remains deeply sceptical of any Russian agreement, pointing to past instances where Moscow failed to honour its commitments.
Beijing has dismissed reports that China might send peacekeepers to Ukraine to enforce any future peace deal.
“Let me stress that the report is completely false. China’s position on the Ukraine crisis is clear and consistent,” China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a daily briefing.
China has provided Russia with trade earnings from oil and other natural resources, along with diplomatic backing, but has not given any weapons or sent any personnel.
Beijing and Moscow proclaimed a “no limits” partnership just days before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Beijing says it is neutral in the conflict and has repeatedly signalled a willingness to act as a peacemaker in the war.
Updated
At least four people were killed and 13 others injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day, regional officials reported earlier today.
Two people were killed in the Donetsk region (one in Pokrovsk and one in the village of Donetske) and two in the Sumy region, according to local officials. We have not yet been able to independently verify these reports.
At his daily briefing with journalists, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was Donald Trump who had proposed discussing the collapsed Black Sea deal at the talks and that Vladimir Putin had agreed for it to be a topic for discussion.
“This is primarily about the safety of navigation,” Peskov said, when asked what the Black Sea deal amounted to.
“But if you remember the initiative in its previous form, there was quite a large part of the obligations to our country that were not fulfilled last time. Therefore, this will also be on the agenda today.”
The UN and Turkey brokered the Black Sea deal in July 2022 that allowed Ukraine to safely ship grain and other foodstuffs from three Black Sea ports. A separate memorandum between the UN and Russia pledged to overcome obstacles to Moscow’s shipment of food and fertiliser to world markets.
But Russia pulled out of the Black Sea grain initiative in July 2023. Vladimir Putin partly blamed the withdrawal on western sanctions that he said restricted the sale of Russian agricultural products abroad.
Kremlin says Russian moratorium on Ukrainian energy attacks remains in place despite continued strikes
The Kremlin is claiming that a suspension on strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, agreed in the Putin-Trump phone call last Tuesday, remains in place.
Last week, Vladimir Putin agreed to Donald Trump’s proposal for a 30-day halt on attacks to energy infrastructure. The ceasefire, however, was cast into doubt soon after, with both sides reporting continued strikes.
“So far, there have been no other orders from the president,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said when asked if Russia intended to maintain its moratorium or not.
Speaking to journalists at a daily briefing, he added:
Our armed forces are following all instructions of the supreme commander-in-chief, but of course we are monitoring the situation very closely.
Our American interlocutors are also able to monitor the situation and draw the appropriate conclusions.
Russia has been relentlessly targeting Ukraine’s infrastructure since it launched its full scale invasion in February 2022, while in recent months Ukraine has been increasingly able to hit targets deep inside Russia with long-range drones.
Kyiv, which accused Russia of flouting its moratorium almost immediately, said it would need to sign a formal document to suspend its own attacks, something which has not happened.
Updated
Kremlin says Russia and US have common understanding on need for settlement in Ukraine
We have some information trickling in from what is being discussed in the talks between US and Russian officials at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Reuters is reporting that the Kremlin said that Moscow and Washington shared a common understanding on the need to move towards a settlement to end the war in Ukraine, but that there are still many different aspects that need to be worked out.
A fast US brokered ceasefire in Ukraine is unlikely for many reasons. Vladimir Putin has said any talks must address what he frames as “the root causes” of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022, primarily his concerns around an expanding Nato alliance. Ukraine has made membership of the alliance a key strategic aim that it says would help protect the country in the event of future Russian aggression.
Putin also said during his call with Donald Trump earlier this month that any long-term deal would require an ending of intelligence sharing and military aid to Kyiv from its allies. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the call that Ukraine’s allies would never agree to such a move, adding that he hopes supplies will continue.
Updated
Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) say they have destroyed four Russian military helicopters in Russian border region of Belgorod using US-made Himars missiles with cluster munitions.
The SSO said, in a post on X, that two Ka-52 strike helicopters and two Mi-8 transport helicopters were concealed in a “hidden position” used for “rapid redeployment or attacks against Ukraine”.
The Belgorod region has often been targeted by Ukrainian forces since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago/
Why does Russia want to restore the Black Sea Grain Initiative?
Moscow is interested in restoring a deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain from its ports without being attacked, according to reports.
If the deal is revived, Russia would export farm produce and fertiliser through the Black Sea, getting relief from sanctions imposed by western countries.
Russia pulled out of the Turkish-brokered Black Sea grain deal in July 2023, accusing the west of failing to uphold its commitments to ease sanctions on Russia’s own exports of agricultural products and fertilisers.
It meant Moscow stopped granting safe passage to cargo ships going to and from Ukraine, and the country’s grain exports subsequently slumped. You can read more about the deal and its economic significance in this explainer.
Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 57 out of 99 drones launched by Russia overnight in the south, north, west and central regions of the country. Another 36 imitator drones did not reach their targets, it added in a post on Telegram.
The air force did not say what happened to the remaining six drones, but said the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Kirovohrad and Zaporizhia regions were affected by the Russian attack.
Updated
As we mentioned in an earlier post, US and Russian negotiators have sat down for talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on a partial ceasefire in Ukraine.
The meeting is expected to be followed by another round of talks between US and Ukrainian teams (after officials from Washington and Kyiv met yesterday).
The separate meetings are set to discuss details of a pause in long-range attacks against energy facilities and civilian infrastructure and a halt on attacks in the Black Sea to ensure safe commercial shipping.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last week agreed to halt strikes on Ukraine energy targets for 30 days, after a lengthy phone call with US President Donald Trump.
But there is ongoing confusion about what constitutes energy infrastructure, with Kyiv pushing for railways and ports to be protected under the definition, which the Kremlin has framed narrowly.
Any deal in Riyadh comes after developments last week when Vladimir Putin agreed to Donald Trump’s proposal for a 30-day halt on attacks to energy infrastructure. The ceasefire, however, was cast into doubt soon after, with both sides reporting continued strikes.
Talks aim for Black Sea deal
In the talks, Washington has been eyeing a Black Sea ceasefire deal, a major aim of Russia, before securing a wider agreement.
As Reuters reports, the negotiations, which followed US talks with Ukraine on Sunday, come as Donald Trump intensifies his drive to end the three-year-old conflict after he last week spoke to both Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin.
A source briefed on the planning for the talks told Reuters that the US side was being led by Andrew Peek, a senior director at the White House National Security Council, and Michael Anton, a senior State Department official.
The White House says the aim of the talks is to reach a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, allowing the free flow of shipping.
Russia will be represented by Grigory Karasin, a former diplomat who is now chair of the Federation Council’s Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sergei Beseda, an adviser to the director of the Federal Security Service.
Talks begin, says Russian news agency
The Russian-US talks in Saudi Arabia have started, according to Tass, the Russian state news agency. You can read our curtain raiser on the negotiations, and the gap between expectations on the two sides, here:
Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war – here’s a snapshot of the latest.
Talks between the US and Russia are to be held in Saudi Arabia on Monday as Washington signalled its hope for “real progress” on a ceasefire in the Ukraine war while Moscow warned that “difficult negotiations” were ahead.
The start of the latest round of negotiations comes a day after Ukrainian and US delegations held “constructive and meaningful” talks in the kingdom with a focus on protecting energy facilities and critical infrastructure, Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov said.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff expressed optimism about the chances of ending the war, telling Fox News on Sunday: “I think that you’re going to see in Saudi Arabia on Monday some real progress, particularly as it affects a Black Sea ceasefire on ships between both countries. And from that, you’ll naturally gravitate into a full-on shooting ceasefire.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country’s delegation to Sunday’s talks was working in “a completely constructive manner” and “the conversation is quite useful”.
“But no matter what we say to our partners today, we need to get Putin to give a real order to stop the strikes,” the Ukrainian president said in a televised statement.
The Kremlin poured cold water on hopes for a rapid resolution of the war, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling Russian state TV on Sunday: “We are only at the beginning of this path.”
The US is pushing for a broad ceasefire by 20 April, Bloomberg has reported, while sources said the timeline might slip given the wide gap between Kyiv and Moscow’s positions.
In other news:
Witkoff dismissed Keir Starmer’s attempts to rally peacekeepers in Ukraine as “a posture and a pose”. He said the idea was based on a “simplistic” notion of the UK prime minister and other European leaders thinking: “We have all got to be like Winston Churchill.” Witkoff also played down concerns among Washington’s European Nato allies that Putin might be emboldened by any peace deal in Ukraine to invade other neighbours, saying: “I just don’t see that he wants to take all of Europe. This is a much different situation than it was in world war two.”
White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said the US was talking through a range of confidence-building measures in the talks on the war, including on the future of Ukrainian children taken into Russia. Asked about the goals for the broader negotiations, Waltz said that after a Black Sea ceasefire was agreed, “we’ll talk the line of control, which is the actual front lines. And that gets into the details of verification mechanisms, peacekeeping, freezing the lines where they are. And then, of course, the broader and permanent peace.”
At least seven people were killed in a barrage of strikes from more than 140 drones across Ukraine on Sunday, according to local officials and emergency services. Explosions were heard in the early hours of the night across the capital, Kyiv, as the air raid continued for more than five hours. Russian drones and debris from downed drones, which were flying at lower altitudes to evade air defences, fell on residential buildings across Kyiv, with at least one child among those killed. The Russian barrage also struck the Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Odesa and Donetsk regions, according to officials.
The online systems of Ukraine’s state-owned railway Ukrzaliznytsia were subjected to a large-scale, targeted cyber-attack, it said. Restoration of the online systems was ongoing, the company said on Telegram, but train traffic had been stable and running without delays.
Ukraine’s air force said on Monday it shot down 57 drones out of 99 launched by Russia overnight. Another 36 imitator drones did not reach their targets, it said, while not specifying what happened to the remaining six drones.
Russian authorities said on Sunday their air defences destroyed 59 Ukrainian drones targeting the country’s south-western regions, adding that the strikes had killed one person in Rostov.
Russian troops reportedly seized the small village of Sribne in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, while Ukraine’s army said its troops had recaptured a small village called Nadia in the eastern Luhansk region.
