Russian air defense systems shot down two Ukrainian drones over the Moscow and western Smolensk regions near the border with Belarus, the Russian Defense Ministry said early Saturday. An air strike with ballistic missiles was carried out on Kyiv, the first since September.

Ukrainian military personnel at an artillery position in the Bakhmut districtPhoto: Diego Herrera Carcedo / AFP / Profimedia

Highlights of the war in Ukraine Day 626 LIVETEXT:

08:54Ukraine’s capital Kyiv was hit by an airstrike on Saturday, and loud explosions were heard, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said, but there were no reports of possible casualties, Reuters reported.

08:12A group of former Ukrainian soldiers, including prisoners of war, “volunteered” to fight on the front lines for Russia, Moscow’s state news agency RIA Novosti said, reporting a potential violation of international law, CNN reports.

A brief summary of recent events:

  • Russia says it foiled Ukraine’s attempt to build a bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Dnieper.
  • The Russian army, which has been on the offensive for a month in the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiyivka, is still trying to surround the city and seize a strategic plant, a Ukrainian army spokesman said on Friday.
  • Russian artillery and drone strikes on Friday killed three people and damaged infrastructure, power lines and a gas pipeline in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions, local officials said.
  • Russian prisoners sent to fight in Ukraine pay for their crimes with “blood,” Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov said today.
  • Britain’s Ministry of Defense said a civilian cargo ship was hit by a Russian missile earlier this week.
  • The EU believes that by March 2024 it is unlikely to deliver all the promised 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine.

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Friday’s events regarding Russian aggression were broadcast LIVE on HotNews.ro