Ukraine war latest: Kyiv’s drones fly record 1,100 miles to strike Putin’s bombers

Russia’s air defence systems destroyed seven drones launched by Ukraine overnight, the Russian defence ministry said this morning.

Five drones were destroyed over the Belgorod region and two over the Kursk region, both bordering Ukraine, the ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

Three tanks at an oil storage depot in Russia’s Kursk region caught fire as a result of a Ukrainian drone attack, acting regional governor Alexei Smirnov said on Sunday.

No one was injured in the attack, and a fire at one of the tanks was quickly extinguished. At least 82 firefighters were involved in trying to put out fires at the other two tanks, Mr Smirnov said on the Telegram messaging app.

Three Russian warships arrived in Cuban waters on Saturday, Moscow’s second such maritime voyage in as many months in a reflection of deepening ties between Russia and Cuba.

The naval group, consisting of a training ship, patrol frigate and refueling tanker, are expected to remain docked in Cuba’s port of Havana until 30 July.

The arrival of the vessels comes mere weeks after another squadron of Russian warships, including a powerful nuclear-powered submarine, visited Havana as part of planned military exercises last month.

American officials closely tracked the mid-June military exercises, saying that the four-vessel group posed no real threat. At the time, experts described the warships’ Caribbean tour as a symbolic show of strength in response to continued US and Western support for Ukraine.

Cuban defense officials announced the latest port call earlier this week, calling the arrival of the Russian warships a “historical practice” and show of “friendship and collaboration.” But neither government elaborated on the purpose of this latest deployment.

Cuba greeted the Baltic fleet on Saturday with a booming cannon salute. The docking of the flotilla has sparked a flurry of excitement among the general public, with Cubans strolling the port avenue to get a better glimpse of the warships Saturday and authorities saying interested visitors would be admitted on board the Russian training ship, called Smolniy, on Sunday and Monday.

“It’s a friendly thing. A bond between Russia and the Cubans,” said 29-year-old onlooker Maydelis Perez, pointing the hulking warships out to her three children. “I’m taking a family outing.”

China’s foreign minister Wang Yi has denied helping the Russian war effort in Ukraine.

“The US should stop indiscriminate unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction,” Mr Wang told US secretary of state Antony Blinken in response to Nato’s punitive action against Chinese firms selling equipment to Russia.

Mr Wang met Mr Blinken on the sidelines of the Asean meeting in Laos.

“China is opposed to being smeared and to false accusations being made against it, does not accept pressure and blackmail, and will take resolute and forceful measures to safeguard its major interests and legitimate rights,” he said.

“China’s position on the Ukrainian issue is candid and we will continue to promote peace talks” between the two warring nations, Mr Wang said.

Russian shelling killed at least five civilians yesterday in separate regions of Ukraine, officials said.

In the Kherson region, in Ukraine’s south, officials said three people were killed, one in the administrative centre also called Kherson, one outside the city and one near the city of Beryslav, to the north.

Kherson region was occupied in the first days of Russia’s February 2022 invasion, but Ukrainian troops recaptured large swathes of it later in the year. Russian troops continue to shell Ukrainian-held areas from new positions.

In the northeastern Sumy region, a border area frequently under Russian attack, a 14-year-old boy was killed and 12 other people wounded in a rocket attack on the small town of Hlukhiv, the Ukraine prosecutor’s office said.

The attack on the town near the Russian border hit apartment blocks, houses, an educational institution, a shop and vehicles just after noon. Six of the wounded were children.

In Kharkiv region, another frequent Russian target further east, governor Oleh Syniehubov said one person was killed when a private home near the city of Chuhuiv came under fire.

Over the border, in southern Russia’s Belgorod region, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks had killed one person, injured two and damaged homes and other buildings.

Russia’s defence ministry said air defence units had destroyed two drones over the region late on Saturday.