Six dead after latest Russian strikes on Ukraine

Russian strikes across Ukraine have killed at least six people, officials said today, most of them in an attack on a residential building in the eastern city of Dnipro.

"The Russians' tactics remain unchanged: attack drones, cruise missiles and a significant amount of ballistic missiles," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

"Most of the targets are ordinary infrastructure in cities.

Residential buildings, energy facilities and businesses have been damaged," he said.

Four people were killed and 27 wounded in one overnight strike on an apartment block in Dnipro, Oleksandr Ganzha, head of Drinpropetrovsk regional military administration said on Telegram.

A later strike on another apartment building in the city, killed one person and wounded seven, he said.

"The Russians hit the same residential neighbourhood as the one targeted overnight," Mr Ganzha said.

In the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, one person was killed and four wounded by a Russian drone hit on a civilian minibus, the head of the region's administration, Ivan Fedorov, said on Telegram.

Mr Zelensky said the incessant Russian strikes on civilian targets required a strong response from Ukraine's allies, especially in Europe.

"Every such strike should serve as a reminder to our partners that the situation requires immediate and firm action, and the rapid strengthening of our air defence," he said.

Zelensky calls for fresh EU sanctions
President Zelensky urged the European Union to impose even more sanctions on Russia.

The plea came two days after EU leaders approved a long-stalled 20th sanctions round against Russia that target the banking sector and add new restrictions on exports of Russian oil.

That package had been blocked for months by Hungary's Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, who was voted from power two weeks ago.

The EU also approved a €90 billion loan to Ukraine intended to strengthen its defences and cover state expenditures for the 2026-2027 period.

Almost every day since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, civilians have been killed in Ukraine in Russian bombardments.

Ukrainian drone attacks over the past 24 hours injured one person in Russia's Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, governor Alexander Khinshtein announced today.

The governor for Russia's neighbouring Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said a woman was killed and a man seriously wounded in a drone attack on a car, and a man driving a tractor was wounded in another strike.

A Ukrainian drone also hit a multi-storey apartment building in Russia's fourth-largest city, Yekaterinburg, the regional governor said today, in the first attack on the city since the start of the conflict.

There were no fatalities but some people suffered minor injuries and one woman was hospitalised, the governor of the Sverdlovsk region, Denis Pasler, wrote on the Telegram app.

Diplomatic efforts to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II are at a standstill with US mediation efforts diverted by the outbreak of the Middle East war in February.

British fighters scramble after drone crashes in Romania
Two British fighter jets scrambled today and Romanian authorities evacuated more than 200 people from a zone where a drone crashed after Russian strikes in neighbouring Ukraine, authorities said.

Romania, a NATO member, has repeatedly seen its airspace violated and drone fragments fall on its territory since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

But President Nicusor Dan said: "This is the first incident where Romanian property has actually been damaged, a threshold we take very seriously."
Foreign Minister Oana Toiu summoned the Russian ambassador, a statement said.

Romania's defence ministry said in a statement the incident happened that after "Russian forces resumed drone attacks against civilian and infrastructure targets" in Ukraine.

"A drone crashed in a populated area," with a "possible explosive charge," emergency services said in a separate statement.

No casualties were reported, but an electricity pole and a house outbuilding were damaged, authorities said, adding that gas supplies had been cut as a precautionary measure.

Two British Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets based at Borcea in Romania as part of a NATO force scrambled after the incident, the defence ministry said.

Britain's defence ministry denied reports, however, that the planes shot down Russian drones.

In 2025, Romania adopted a law authorising it to shoot down drones that violate its airspace, but no such action has been taken so far.