Closing summary
We’re about to wrap up this live coverage for now – thanks for reading. Here’s a recap of what happened this morning.
Russia attacked Ukraine with Russian ballistic missiles and drones during a nighttime attack early on Friday, wounding at least three people, officials said.
Multiple explosions were heard in Kyiv, the capital, and falling debris triggered fires across several districts as air defence systems tried to intercept incoming targets, said the Kyiv city administration’s head, Tymur Tkachenko.
Authorities reported damage in several districts and rescue workers were responding at multiple locations. Officials urged residents to seek shelter.
The attacks came after Russia accused Kyiv of state terrorism over its drone operation striking Russian heavy bomber planes at air bases in Siberia and the far north at the weekend and said it would respond as and when its military saw fit.
In Friday’s Russian attacks a fire broke out in a 16-story residential building in Kyiv’s Solomyanskyi district and emergency services evacuated three people from the apartment. Rescue operations were continuing. Another fire broke out in a metal warehouse.
A Shahed drone exploded near an apartment building in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region, shattering windows and doors, the regional military administration chief said. Explosions from ballistic missiles were also recorded on the city’s outskirts, Dmytro Bryzhynskyi added.
US president Donald Trump said that during a call with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday he urged the Russian president to refrain from retaliating but fully expected Moscow to strike back over Ukraine’s assault on Russian heavy bomber planes.
And in other Ukraine developments:
The UN nuclear safety watchdog’s team at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine heard repeated rounds of gunfire that appeared to be aimed at drones reportedly attacking the site’s training centre, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Thursday. There were no immediate reports of damage to the centre, it said.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz urged Trump in an Oval Office meeting to increase pressure on Russia to end the war.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to “unconditionally support” Russia in the war at a meeting with top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu, Pyongyang state media reported.
With agencies
Updated
Looking back at the lead-up to Russia’s assault on Ukraine this morning, Moscow had vowed to respond to Ukraine’s drone operation “how and when” it saw fit, amid reports that Vladimir Putin had told Donald Trump that Moscow was obliged to retaliate.
Ukraine had been bracing for retaliation after its SBU security service carried out a surprise drone strike over the weekend targeting four airbases and damaging up to 20 Russian warplanes deep inside the country, according to US officials, Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer have reported.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, was asked on Thursday what Moscow’s response would be and said:
How and when our military deems it appropriate.
Trump said Putin had “strongly” told him during their unannounced call on Wednesday that Russia would respond to the recent attacks on its airfields.
The US embassy in Ukraine warned of a continuing risk of “significant airstrikes” and advised its citizens to exercise caution.
Hours after Trump and Putin spoke, Russia launched a series of missiles and drones across Ukraine, killing at least five people in the northern city of Pryluky.
Updated
At least three wounded in missile and drone attack on Kyiv – officials
Ballistics missiles are also involved in Russia’s ongoing attack on Kyiv and at least three people have been wounded, officials say.
“Our air defense crews are doing everything possible,” Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv city administration, said on Telegram. “But we must protect one another — stay safe.”
Authorities reported damage in several districts and rescue workers were responding at multiple locations, the Associated Press reports.
Local officials urged residents to seek shelter.
In Solomyanskyi district, a fire broke out on the 11th floor of a 16-story residential building. Emergency services evacuated three people from the apartment and rescue operations were ongoing. Another fire broke out in a metal warehouse.
In northern Chernihiv region, a Shahed drone exploded near an apartment building, shattering windows and doors, according to regional military administration chief Dmytro Bryzhynskyi.
He added that explosions from ballistic missiles were also recorded on the outskirts of the city.
Updated
Images have started arriving of people taking shelter in Kyiv amid the Russian drone assault on the capital.
Updated
Ukrainian air defences trying to repel drone waves, says Kyiv
Russian drones approached Kyiv in waves and air defence units were attempting to repel them, the head of the city’s military administration said.
Tymur Tkachenko later warned of a risk of ballistic missiles being deployed against the capital, Reuters reports.
He said Russia’s drone attack on Kyiv early on Friday triggered fires in residential buildings in different parts of the city
Tkachenko said drones had struck the upper floors of a high-rise apartment building and started a fire in Darnytskyi district on the east side of the city, where he said emergency power cuts were possible.
One unofficial Telegram channel said a shopping centre in the area was ablaze.
Tkachenko said a fire had also broken out in an apartment building in a western district. Drone fragments had been spotted in three districts, he said.
Updated
Opening summary
Welcome to today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine, where the capital is under attack from Russian drones early and authorities say drone fragments have fallen in different parts of the city.
Witnesses reported a series of explosions in Kyiv, with one of them reporting a large fire at a site where one drone had fallen.
“Enemy drones are approaching one after the other on approaches to the capital from different directions and in the city’s airspace,” Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, wrote on Telegram.
The attacks came after Russia accused Kyiv of state terrorism over its daring drone operation striking Russian heavy bomber planes at air bases in Siberia and the far north at the weekend and said it it would respond as and when its military saw fit.
Donald Trump said that during a call with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday he urged the Russian president to refrain from retaliating, but fully expected Moscow to strike back.
“It’s probably not going to be pretty. I don’t like it,” said Trump, who described what he called “great hatred” between Putin and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Tkachenko said on Friday that in Kyiv drone fragments had been spotted in three districts on opposite sides of the Dnipro River that bisects the city. One drone had fallen on a building, he said, and details on damage and possible casualties were being collated.
In other key developments:
The IAEA’s team at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine heard repeated rounds of gunfire that appeared to be aimed at drones reportedly attacking the site’s training centre, the head of the UN’s nuclear safety watchdog said on Thursday. There were no immediate reports of damage to the centre, it said.
Russia launched a series of missiles and drones across Ukraine hours after Trump and Putin spoke on Wednesday. At least five people – including a one-year-old boy, his mother and grandmother – were killed when a drone struck a residential building in the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz urged Trump to increase pressure on Russia to end the war.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to “unconditionally support” Russia in the war at a meeting with top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu, Pyongyang state media reported.
