​Russian drones struck civilian targets and caused fires early Friday in and near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Ukrainian officials said. Oleg Synegubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, wrote in Telegram that the attacks took place after midnight and were aimed at the civilian infrastructure of this city in the north-east of Ukraine, and also hit another populated place in the region.

Highlights of the war in Ukraine, day 618, LIVETEXT:

07:47 Several Russian drones hit buildings in Kharkiv, causing fires.

07:38 Polish carriers will block several border crossing points with Ukraine starting next week to protest the unlimited freedom Ukrainian carriers have in Poland, which affects their business, one of the protest organizers told Reuters.

The protest, planned for November 6, comes amid soft rules for Ukrainian transport companies adopted in 2022 by the European Union to make it easier to transport goods to and from the country, which is under attack from Russia.

Protesters plan to stop truck traffic at three border crossings, allowing one truck per hour, except for loads of equipment for the Ukrainian army and vehicles carrying livestock, according to a protest report seen by Reuters.

The protesters’ demands include, in particular, the restoration of restrictions on the entry of Ukrainian-registered trucks into Poland and a ban on transport companies with capital from outside the European Union.

01:42The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a Republican plan to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel in its fight against Hamas, despite opposition from Democrats who insisted the plan would not pass the Senate and the White House vowed to counter it with legislation veto.

President Joe Biden threatened to veto it, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, the majority leader of the Democratic-controlled Senate, said he would not bring the legislation up for a vote.

Synthesis of the last 24 hours of the war:

• The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhny, said on Wednesday that he believes his army is in a static positional war, hinting that Kyiv’s summer offensive has failed.
• The Kremlin on Thursday denied the statements of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhny about the deadlock in the conflict in Ukraine and said that Russia will continue its military campaign in Ukraine until it achieves all its goals.
• Why does Russia have North Korean weapons, although it has significantly increased its production of weapons? After it was reported that more than a million artillery shells had been shipped from North Korea to Russia, many asked why Russia could not produce its own weapons, despite announcing a 300% increase in military production.
• Latvia will ban cars registered in Russia. Russian vehicles not registered by the Latvian authorities by mid-February will be confiscated and sent to Ukraine, the Latvian parliament said on Thursday.
• Oleksiy Arestovych, a former adviser to Ukraine’s president, has announced that he will run against President Volodymyr Zelenskyi in next year’s election, amid suspicions that he was one of the anonymous sources cited by Time magazine in a grim report. about the mood of the Kyiv leadership.
• Russia said on Thursday that Moldova’s pro-European President Maia Sandu was a “disgrace” to his country and accused the Chisinau government of trying to distract from its own failures ahead of local elections.
• Vladimir Putin on Thursday unveiled a law to revoke ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) after it was approved by both houses of Russia’s Federal Assembly.
• Pavel Prigozhin, the son of the ex-head of Wagner’s PMC, resumed recruiting mercenaries after his father’s death, several local sites in Russia report.
• The situation at the front around the city of Avdiyivka shows the inability of the Russian military command to learn from the mistakes it made on the battlefield since the beginning of the war, the Institute for the Study of War believes.
• China’s Chang Guang Satellite (CGSTL) sold satellite imagery to Nika Frut, a subsidiary of the Wagner Group, for $31 million earlier this year, according to a recent article published by AFP.
• On Thursday, the United States announced a new round of sanctions against companies involved in the supply of arms to Russia in the 21st month since its invasion of Ukraine.

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• Thursday’s events related to Russian aggression were broadcast LIVE on HotNews.ro