Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow ramping up pressure on Ukrainian forces; major missile attack kills eight in Dnipropetrovsk (2024)

Two people have been detained in Poland on suspicion of a hammer attack on the top aide of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Lithuania's president has announced.

Leonid Volkov suffered from hammer blows in the attack on 12 March outside his home in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.

Lithuanian counterintelligence has said the attack was the work of Russian special services and the Kremlin has declined to comment.

President Gitanas Nauseda said the suspects would be transferred to Lithuania.

Mr Volkov had blamed Vladimir Putin for the attack and he thanked Lithuanian police for working"energetically and persistently" over thepast month on this case.

"I am very glad that this work has been effective", hetweeted. "Well, we'll find out the details soon. Can't wait tofind out!"

Navalny, Mr Putin's most prominent critic, died in a Russian arctic prison in February - his followers believe he was killed by the authorities, which the Kremlin denies.

These pictures show the aftermath of a major Russian missile attack which killed at least eight people and injured over 25 more in the central Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine (see 8.08 post).

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack damaged multiple storeys of a residential building and a train station in the regional capital Dnipro.

A Russian oil and gas company has equipped key facilities at its refineries with anti-drone nets, the RIA news agency has reported.

It comes after a series of Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries in Russia.

RIA cited the head of the Russian republic of Bashkortostan, Radiy Khabirov, saying the company, Bashneft, was in talks with Russia's defence ministry about boosting the security of its refineries.

Ukraine has said it shot down a Russian strategic bomber "for the first time".

The Russian defence ministry claimed the Tu-22M3 bomber had crashed in Russia's southern Stavropol region, hundreds of miles from Ukrainian-controlled territory, as it returned to base after carrying out a combat mission.

It said the crash appeared to have been caused by a technical malfunction.

But Ukrainian Air ForceCommander Mykola Oleshchuk said Kyiv had "destroyed" thebomber, which is capable of carrying long-range missiles.

"For the first time, anti-aircraft missile units of the AirForce, in cooperation with the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine,destroyed a Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber, a carrier ofKh-22 cruise missiles used by Russian terrorists to attackpeaceful Ukrainian cities," Commander Oleshchuk said.

The Russian regional governor said the bomber's four pilots had ejected but one had died and a rescue operation was ongoing for the fourth.

It comes after Russia conducted a major missile attack on the central Dnipropetrovsk region earlier today, which killed at least eight and injured 25.

Russian air defence units intercepted 25 airborne targets early this morning over the southern Belgorod region, the region's governor said.

Vyacheslav Gladkov said the main target was the city of Belgorod, but there were no injuries.

Several private homes and other buildings were damaged and a small fire in a storage area was quickly extinguished.

Russia is ramping up pressure on exhausted Ukrainian forces as muddy fields dry out and allow tanks and armoured vehicles access to key positions.

Moscow has increasingly turned to using satellite-guided gliding bombs, which allow planes to strike from a safe distance, to hit Ukrainian troops.

Russian military bloggers argue a major ground offensive would be risky and unnecessary if Russian troops can successfully rely on smaller attacks across the front line to further drain Kyiv's military.

After claiming to have captured the Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka in February, Russian troops are pushing towards the hill town of Chasiv Yar, which would allow them to move towards Sloviansk and Kramatorsk - key cities in the eastern Donetsk region that remain under Ukrainian control.

Russia illegally annexed Donetsk and three other regions in 2022 and one of the Kremlin's key war aims is to control the region.

Vladimir Putin, who secured another term as Russian president in March, has vowed to carve out a "sanitary zone" to protect Russia's border regions from Ukrainian shelling and incursions.

While he didn't go into specifics, Russian milbloggers and experts have said Moscow could also try to capture Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv, which Russia tried and failed to storm in the opening days of the war.

Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

A major Russian missile attack has killed at least eight people, injured 25 and damaged infrastructure in Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region, local officials have said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack damaged multiple storeys of a residential building and a train station in the regional capital, Dnipro, as he called for more air defences.

"Russia must be held accountable for its terror, andevery missile, every Shahed must be shot down," the Ukrainian president said, referring to an Iranian-made drone.

"The world can guarantee this, and our partners have thenecessary capabilities."

A Russian attack in the early hours of this morning also injured three and damaged infrastructure in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, a local official said.

Before we bring you today's updates, here is a reminder of what's happened in the past 24 hours:

• Two men were arrested in Germany on Russian spy charges;
• Ukraine launched an attack on a Russian airfield in Crimea;
• The Kremlin claimed US aid would not help Ukraine;
• Russia claimed Ukraine struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

That's it from our live coverage of the war in Ukraine for today.

We'll be back again with more updates, but here's a round up of a day that saw the death toll from the worst Russian strike in weeks rise to 18.

Another 78 were wounded when three missiles slammed into the northern city of Chernihiv, causing a building to collapse.

The strike redoubled Volodymyr Zelenskyy's calls for further air defence munitions, and forced that issue high up the agenda of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Italy.

It even seemed to spark some progress in Washington, where funding for Ukraine has been tangled up in political squabbles for more than 40 months.

Two arrested in Germany on Russian spy charges

Two men were arrested in Germany for allegedly plotting sabotage attacks, including on American military facilities, in an effort to undermine support for Ukraine, according toGerman prosecutors.

Authorities searched the homes and workplaces of the two suspects, both German-Russian nationals, who are accused of working for a foreign secret service.

Berlin's foreign ministry later summoned the Russian ambassador following the arrests.

Ukraine needs $42bn (£34bn) in budgetary support this year as it continues to fightthe Russian invasion, the head of the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) has said.

IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said Russia's war against Ukraine needed to end, calling it both a human tragedy and a drag on growth prospects for the global economy.

She added that she saw globalsupport for Ukraine remaining firm.

G7 membersare considering using nearly $300bn (£240bn) in frozen Russianassets as collateral to provide loans to Ukraine.

European Commission executive vice president Valdis Dombrovskis made the revelation at a meeting of the group's foreign ministers in Italy.

He added that different options were also under consideration,and the discussions were ongoing.

Mr Dombrovskis said he hoped the EU - where the bulk of the frozen assets are held - would approve a separate EUmeasure in coming months to use the profits or interest earnedon the assets to help Ukraine.