An overnight Russian drone strike in northern Ukraine has killed at least five people, including a one-year-old toddler, after Donald Trump warned that Vladimir Putin will seek revenge following the success of Volodymyr Zelensky's audacious counteroffensive.
The attack on the city of Pryluky in Chernihiv Oblast, near the border with Russia and Belarus, sparked large fires and left multiple homes in ruins.
Regional governor Viacheslav Chaus said at least six Iranian-designed Shahed-136 drones were used in the assault.
“By launching attacks while people sleep in their homes, the enemy once again confirms its tactic of insidious terror,” Mr Syniehubov said on Thursday.
Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s interior minister, confirmed that a local fire chief’s wife, daughter and granddaughter died in the strike.
He said: “The killings and suffering of civilians are the style of a cruel Russia, for which human lives have no value.”
Meanwhile, 17 people were reportedly wounded in an airstrike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, including children, a pregnant woman and a 93-year-old woman.
The renewed offensive came just hours after the US President spoke to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone call lasting around 75 minutes.
According to Trump, Putin “very strongly” said that Moscow will retaliate for Ukraine’s covert attack on Russian military airfields, known as “Operation Spiderweb”.
Trump described the call as a "good conversation", but warned it was not one that will lead to "immediate peace".
Putin also spoke to Pope Leo XIV, with the Vatican saying the pontiff urged the Kremlin “to make a gesture that favours peace”.
Ukrainian officials claimed that the weekend strikes damaged one-third of Russia's strategic cruise missile carriers, estimated to be worth $7 billion (£5.2 billion).
In a further boost to Kyiv, defence minister Rustem Umerov announced on Thursday that his country will receive up to €1.3 billion (£1.1 billion) for domestic weapons production in 2025 from European allies.
The first tranche of €428 million (£360 million) come from Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Norway and Iceland, Reuters reports.
