A Russian missile strike on a town in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region on Saturday killed at least four people, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. More than a dozen others were wounded, including a child, while a residential building and shop were damaged, according to officials. Zelenskyy said a rescue operation was under way. Tsarychanka is about 50km (30 miles) north of Dnipro, the region’s capital.
Former UK ambassador to Russia Sir Tony Brenton has said Zelenskyy is “playing a very sophisticated game” in calling for Ukrainian-controlled territories to come under the “Nato umbrella”. But he added that the Ukrainian president had made “quite a major concession” in stating he was prepared to see a ceasefire and then negotiate the return of Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine over the long term. Zelenskyy earlier suggested that Ukrainian territory under his control should be taken under the Nato umbrella to try to stop the “hot stage” of the war with Russia. He told Sky News that such a proposal has “never been considered” by Ukraine because it has never “officially” been offered.
Ukraine came under attack from 10 Russian drones, of which eight were shot down over the Kyiv, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions, the air force said on Saturday. One drone returned to Russian-occupied territory, while the final drone disappeared from radar, often a sign of the use of electronic defences.
Eleven Ukrainian drones had been shot down by Russia’s air defences, its defence ministry said. The mayor of Sochi, Andrey Proshunin, and the head of Russia’s Dagestan region, Sergey Melikov, both in Russia’s south-west, said drones had been destroyed in their regions overnight to Saturday. No casualties were reported.
Ukraine has asked Latin American parliamentarians and diplomats to assist in its defence in the war with Russia. Representatives of Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, El Salvador, Ecuador, Peru and Costa Rica came to Kyiv for a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Police in North Macedonia arrested a Macedonian national suspected of intending to join the Russian army and fight in Ukraine, according to the country’s interior ministry. It is the first case of a Macedonian national facing the specific charge. The man, identified only as JK, faces a minimum three-year sentence if convicted. The ministry said the suspect had been in online contact with a person who had introduced himself as tasked by the Russian army to recruit soldiers for a compensation of €3,000 ($3,175). The suspect flew to Moscow in October and on returning to North Macedonia a week later was interrogated at Skopje airport.
