Russia Ukraine war latest: Kyiv claims Russian troops ‘beheaded’ soldier as Putin starts North Korea visit

Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed 19 out of 21 drones that Russia launched overnight targeting several regions, Ukraine’s air force said this morning.

The aerial attack on Ukrainian cities, especially western region of Lviv, has injured one man and damaged a multi-storey residential building, the mayor of Lviv city said.

The drone attack in the village of Malekhiv in the Lviv city district also damaged scores of windows in other residential buildings, Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.

No major casualties or damage has been reported elsewhere in Ukraine immediately.

Ukraine is investigating the suspected beheading of one of its servicemen by Russian forces in an occupied part of the eastern Donetsk region, the Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office said yesterday.

“The fact of decapitation of a Ukrainian defender was recorded in the Donetsk region,” Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin wrote on X, the social media platform.

In a statement, the general prosecutor’s office said the severed head of a Ukrainian soldier had been identified on a damaged armoured vehicle during aerial reconnaissance of the area.

It said the Ukrainian military had received information on Monday that members of a unit of Russian forces in Donetsk region’s Volnovaha district had ordered their subordinates not to capture Ukrainian servicemen and to behead them.

Kostin says that Ukraine has documented nearly 130,000 war crimes committed by Russia.

Russia, which has repeatedly denied its forces carry out war crimes during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022, has made no comment on the allegation.

A blaze at an oil depot in the town of Azov in Russia’s southern region of Rostov has been raging for more than 24 hours, local emergency services said this morning.

Several oil storage tanks were engulfed in fire after a drone attack early yesterday that a Ukraine intelligence source said was conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).

“The fire at the Azov district has been localized at the 3,200 square metres at 5.30am (0200 GMT),” the emergency service said on the Telegram channel.

The source told Reuters the attack struck the Azovskaya and Azovnefteprodukt depots that have a total of 22 fuel tanks.

Kyiv has often said that targeting Russia’s energy, military and transport infrastructure undermines Moscow’s military effort.

The town of Azov is situated on the Don River and is about 16 km (10 miles) from the Sea of Azov.

Nothing much came from the sessions of mutual admiration, apart from a temporary suspension by North Korea of ballistic missile building and deep apprehension from America’s allies in the region that Trump may do a deal with Kim jeopardising their security. That did not materialise in the end, to much relief.

Now Kim has a new bestie, Vladimir Putin, and this presents a clear and present danger to the West and its allies. North Korea is already stepping in to replenish Russia’s exhausted ammunition and missile stock for the Ukraine war. Moscow has been accused of circumventing international sanctions to help Kim develop his military arsenal as well as planning to help his nuclear programme.

Read Kim Sengupta’s report here:

Russia is discussing with its closest partners the issue of deploying long-range weapons, said Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, according to Russian news agency TASS.

He told TASS in an interview that Moscow has “closest partners” in both Asia and Latin America with whom “the security situation is being worked out substantively, not only at the level of exchange of assessments”.

“There is nothing new in this,” TASS cited Ryabkov as saying. “The issue (placement of long-range weapons) is being raised … with a number of our partners.”

Ryabkov would not name any countries and he said that the discussions take place “with full respect” for obligations that the countries may bear under international treaties, including those to which Russia is not a party.

At least one person was injured in Russia’s drone attack on Ukraine’s western region of Lviv that borders Nato-member Poland, the mayor of Lviv city said today. The attack also damaged a multi-storey building, he added.

The drone attack in the village of Malekhiv in the Lviv city district damaged also scores of windows in other residential buildings, Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi wrote on his official Telegram channel.

A 70-year-old man was hospitalised in a moderate condition, Mr Sadovyi added.

Lviv city is the administrative centre of the Lviv region in western Ukraine.

Hungary’s prime minister, has said he supports outgoing Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte to replace Jens Stoltenberg as Nato’s next secretary general.

Rutte would be the fourth Dutchman to hold the post if he is chosen as the alliance’s 13th secretary general. He must now only secure the backing of Romania, whose President Klaus Iohannis also wants the role.

Hungary’s backing follows a meeting Orbán had with Stoltenberg last week, in which the two sides agreed that Hungary would not block Nato decisions on providing support for Ukraine but has agreed that it would not be involved.

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un were seen awkwardly debating who gets in the car first during Russian dictator’s North Korea visit on yesterday.

The Russian president arrived in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang for his first official visit in 24 years and was met at the airport by his strongest ally Kim.

After greeting Putin, the two leaders then became involved in an awkward encounter about who was getting into the car first.

Putin has continuously sought to rebuild ties with Pyongyang as part of efforts to restore his country’s clout and its Soviet-era alliances.

After North Korea, the Kremlin said Putin will also visit Vietnam for talks that are expected to be focused on trade.