Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv warns Belarus it has list of 500 targets ready if Lukashenko joins Putin’s war

Zelensky says there are concerns Belarus could become involved in Russia opening up a new front in northern Ukraine

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• British man, 23, killed in action in Ukraine after joining specialist unit supporting army
• How Ukraine and Russia’s drone war spread into Europe as Putin ‘hijacks’ Kyiv’s weapons in mid-air
• Putin launches huge attack on Ukraine with high speed missile and 600 drones after threatening revenge
• Russia becoming more reckless and dangerous as Ukraine war falters, foreign secretary warns

Key Points

• Ukrainian commander says Kyiv has list of 500 targets in Belarus ready if Lukashenko joins Putin in war on Ukraine
• Russia says it has launched a campaign of 'systematic' strikes on Kyiv, urging foreign citizens, diplomats and residents to leave city
• Over 50 countries condemn Russia’s large-scale attack on Ukrainian capital at UN, calling it 'a new and appalling level of aggression'
• Russia is asking its top banks to shoot down Ukrainian drones themselves, as Moscow struggles to defend key sites from attacks
• Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky meets with Belarusian opposition leader Tsikhanouskaya to discuss Russian attempts to draw Minsk into war
• Russia and Kazakhstan will sign a nuclear power agreement and discuss boosting Russian oil transit to China during Vladimir Putin’s visit this week

Missile down over Russia's Taganrog city

A missile was shot down over the southern Russian city of Taganrog in the early hours of Wednesday, Rostov region governor Yuri Slyusar said on Telegram, adding that details about possible casualties were still being clarified.

Taganrog is a port city on the eastern edge of the Sea of Azov, near the border with Ukraine.

Sevastopol governor says Ukraine used Storm Shadow missiles in attack

Air defence units in the port city of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea shot down more than 20 Ukrainian drones early on Wednesday, while Ukraine also launched Storm Shadow missiles, the city’s governor said on Telegram.

Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said there were no reported injuries, though several buildings were damaged, including a regional central bank office and an eight-storey apartment block.

Storm Shadow missiles are produced by a Franco-British consortium. Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, has previously summoned the British and French ambassadors to protest Ukraine’s use of the weapons.

Separately, two people were wounded in the southern Russian port city of Taganrog, near the Ukrainian border, after Russian forces shot down a missile early on Wednesday, mayor Svetlana Kambulova said on Telegram.

Overall, Russia said it had intercepted 140 drones overnight, according to the Interfax news agency, citing the defence ministry.

Meanwhile, Russian strikes on Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions wounded 21 people, local authorities said on Telegram.

Russia and Kazakhstan will sign nuclear power deal during Putin trip, Kremlin says

Russian President Vladimir Putin will oversee ⁠the signing of a deal outlining ⁠parameters for ​Russian ⁠construction of a ⁠nuclear power ​plant ⁠and a ‌Russian state loan when he ‌visits Kazakhstan this ‌week, the Kremlin ⁠said on Tuesday.

He will also discuss an increase in transshipment of Russian oil ‌to China ​via ‌Kazakhstan, Kremlin ⁠aide Yury ⁠Ushakov told reporters.

Czech-led ammunition drive secures one million shells for Ukraine in 2026

The Czech Republic’s ammunition initiative for Ukraine has secured contracts to deliver around one million large-calibre rounds in 2026, the defence ministry said.

The scheme supplied about 1.5 million rounds in 2024 and 1.8 million in 2025, despite fears it could be scrapped after prime minister Andrej Babis took office with anti-Ukrainian coalition partners.

The Czech president, Petr Pavel, has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine and its defence against Russian aggression.

Backed by countries including Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, the initiative matches donor funding with Czech arms traders sourcing ammunition globally.

Prague said nearly €1bn in financing has already been secured this year, including funds from profits generated by frozen Russian assets.

More than 50 countries condemn Russia's mass strike on Ukraine

Over 50 countries have joined in condemning Russia’s large-scale attack on Ukraine on Saturday at the UN, saying Moscow had reached “a new and appalling level of aggression” by intensifying strikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure.

In a joint statement delivered on Tuesday by Ukraine’s permanent representative to the United Nations, ambassador Andrii Melnyk, the countries warned that Russia’s repeated use of nuclear-capable missiles constituted an “unacceptable escalation”.

The signatories included the European Union and a broad group of allied states, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, Germany, France, Poland and the Baltic states.

“For the city of Kyiv, this was one of the most devastating attacks recorded to date,” the statement said, referring to the overnight barrage on 23–24 May, when Russian forces launched hundreds of aerial weapons, including ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones, against Ukrainian cities and regions.

Russia warns of ‘systematic’ strikes on Kyiv

Russia said on Monday it had launched a campaign of “systematic” strikes on Kyiv targeting the Ukrainian capital’s “decision-making centres”.

It urged foreign citizens, diplomats and residents to avoid public buildings and leave the city “as soon as possible”.

Ukraine said the threats by Russia were "nothing short of shameless blackmail" and urged allies to ignore it – a call they have largely heeded.

With its warning to foreign nationals, Moscow is "effectively admitting that its shelling is aimed, among other things, at intimidating the foreign diplomatic corps", it said.

Russia tells banks to shoot down Ukrainian drones as air defences are stretched thin

The Russian government is asking its top banks to shoot down Ukrainian drones themselves, as Moscow struggles to defend key sites from attacks.

The Russian parliament has passed a new law allowing banks, including its largest, Sberbank, and other financial institutions to operate defence systems, Reuters reported.

It also asks banks to arm staff against drones without special forces involvement.

Anatoly Aksakov, the head of the State Duma’s financial committee, said the institutions will handle the cost themselves

Alexander Shokhin, the head of Russia’s most influential business lobby, told Vladimir Putin on Monday that companies were willing to purchase heavier weapons and electronic warfare systems to protect themselves from drone attacks.

Putin gifts four Amur tigers to Kazakhstan ahead of visit

Russia has handed Kazakhstan ​four Amur tigers, two of them cubs, to help the country restore its numbers of the animals, president Vladimir Putin said in an article ⁠issued ahead of his visit to the Central Asian nation this week.

Rich in energy resources and critical minerals, Kazakhstan shares a border with Russia and is a close ally of Moscow in a region where China and the United States are also expanding their influence.

The four animals captured ⁠in Russia's far eastern region of Khabarovsk were flown ​to ⁠Kazakhstan, Putin said on ‌the Kremlin's website on Tuesday, and are soon to be released into the wild.

Putin is no stranger to using animals to advance diplomatic efforts.

In 2022, Russia sent 30 grey thoroughbred horses to North Korea, and the two nations have steadily boosted ties since the invasion of Ukraine that year.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is a keen horseman.

Kazakhstan, which is trying to restore the tiger population in Central Asia, sees the Amur tiger as a close relative of the extinct Caspian tiger.

The Russian gesture boosts the country's tally of the animals previously sent by the Netherlands.

On his visit, Putin will oversee ‌the signing of a ⁠deal for a nuclear power project in Kazakhstan, ⁠which currently has no nuclear power generation, and will discuss efforts ‌to boost the ​transit of Russian oil to ‌China through the country, ​the Kremlin has said.

Diplomats refuse to leave Kyiv after Russia's threat

There were no announcements of diplomatic departures from Kyiv as of Tuesday afternoon.

The European Union, French and Polish delegations publicly said that they would not leave.

The level of security threats posed by Russia to Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities “remains the same as in previous years and months,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement late last night.

Russia had urged foreign citizens, including members of diplomatic missions, to leave the Ukrainian capital as quickly as possible and told residents to steer clear of military and government facilities.

It said that “systemic strikes” on Kyiv were being prepared.

Russia has continuously launched missile and drone attacks on the capital for more than four years, it pointed out, adding that Ukraine was prepared to assist diplomatic missions seeking additional security measures.

Zelensky meets with Belarus opposition leader Tsikhanouskaya

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky met with the Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya today and the two leaders discussed Russia's attempts to draw Belarus deeper into the war against Ukraine.

"Ukraine has ‌never been a threat to ‌Belarus. And ‌we are grateful to those Belarusians ⁠who stand with Ukraine – now, when the fate of both our independence and ‌the independence of ​every nation ‌that borders ⁠Russia is ⁠being decided," Zelensky ‌said ​on X after ‌the meeting.

Zelensky said Ukraine supports the “aspiration of the Belarusian people to free themselves from Russian interference”.

“We value every expression of support from Belarusians for a free Ukraine, and we know that the day will come when there will once again be good-neighborly relations between our states – based on the real independence of both Ukraine and Belarus from Moscow,” he said, sharing a video of their meeting.

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