Putin visits Russian troops in Ukraine’s Kherson and Luhansk regions
Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 10 out of 12 Iranian-made Shahed drones sent by Russia to target Odesa overnight.
Two of the drones caused a fire after hitting a “recreational infrastructure facility” in the southern Ukrainian coastal region, the local administration said, adding that no casualties were reported.
Earlier, Washington’s second-highest diplomat warned Nato must stay alert to signs Vladimir Putin is planning to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
“We have all watched and worried that [Mr Putin] would use what he considers a non-strategic tactical nuclear weapon or use some demonstration effect to escalate, but in an managed risk escalation,” Wendy Sherman, deputy secretary of state, said, adding: “It is very critical to remain watchful of this.”
The Russian president’s 25 March announcement that he was preparing to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighbouring Belarus “is his effort to use this threat in a managed way,” Ms Sherman said.
Mr Putin yesterday visited partially occupied Kherson in Ukraine, in a trip mocked by Kyiv as “a ‘special tour’ of the mass murders”.
