Ukrainian president promises ‘notable response’ to Russian missile strike that killed seven and injured 144 in northern city; Kursk drone hit leaves five hurt
Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine – this is Adam Fulton bringing you up to speed.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed to hit back at Russia after a rocket attack on a central square in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv left seven people dead, including a six-year-old child, and 144 injured on Saturday.
The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 15 out of 17 Russian drones targeting northern, central and western regions overnight into Saturday. Civilian infrastructure was damaged in at least two regions, authorities said.
Training had begun for Ukrainians to operate US F-16 fighter jets but it would take at least six months and possibly longer, the Ukrainian defence minister said. Oleksiy Reznikov’s comments on Saturday came two days after a US official said F-16s would be transferred to Ukraine once its pilots were trained.
Ukraine has begun discussing with Sweden the possibility of receiving Gripen jets to boost its air defences, Zelenskiy said on Saturday after meeting the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson. Zelenskiy cast the talks as preliminary, saying: “Today we discussed in detail the future steps regarding the possibility of opening the subject of receiving Swedish Gripens.” He also said Ukrainian pilots had already begun training on the planes. Kristersson made no mention of Gripens in his remarks. The two leaders announced that the two countries agreed to strengthen cooperation on production, training and servicing of Swedish CV-90 infantry fighting vehicles.
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