Kyiv: In the most recent nighttime test of Ukrainian air defences, Russia launched 30 cruise missiles at various points in Ukraine early on Thursday. According to officials, 29 of them were intercepted.
According to Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the region's military administration, a Russian missile that managed to penetrate and hit an industrial structure in the southern region of Odesa resulted in one death and two injuries.
China reported that its special envoy met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky amid the recent escalation of Russian airstrikes during discussions with Ukraine's top diplomat in Kyiv earlier this week.
Beijing's peace initiative hasn't seemed to end the war as of yet. Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, stated on Thursday that the combatants needed to "build mutual trust."
According to Ukraine's presidential office, Ukrainian representatives made an effort to win China's support for Kyiv's own peace proposal during the negotiations. Zelensky's proposal calls for the territorial integrity of his nation to be restored, the withdrawal of Russian forces, and the prosecution of Russian President Vladimir Putin for the February 2022 invasion.
The leaders of the Group of Seven major industrialised nations, who are meeting in Japan on Thursday, were anticipated to condemn Russia's war and promise to continue supporting Ukraine in its struggle against Moscow. According to Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, they were to have "discussions about the battlefield" in Ukraine.
Despite having doubtful reserves, a Western official claimed that Russia had established "potentially formidable" defensive lines on Ukrainian soil, including extensive minefields, and had more than 200,000 soldiers along the 1,000 km (600 mi) front line.
According to the official, as Ukraine receives sophisticated weaponry from its Western allies, Russia has begun losing warplanes in previously considered safe areas, while Kyiv has demonstrated its ability to shoot down Russia's hypersonic ballistic missiles, the most cutting-edge weapons in Moscow's arsenal.
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The official discussed military intelligence while requesting anonymity. Eight train cars derailed on Thursday due to an explosion, according to the Kremlin-installed authorities in occupied Crimea, raising new questions about potential Ukrainian saboteur activity behind Russian lines. The train was said to be transporting grain, according to Russian state media.
According to a source in the emergency services, the incident took place close to the city of Simferopol, according to the state news agency RIA Novosti. The Crimean Railway Company claimed that "the interference of unauthorised persons" was to blame for the derailment and that no one was hurt.
Officials from Ukraine are unwilling to comment on potential sabotage. Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military intelligence, stated on Ukrainian television that Russian train lines "are also used to transport weapons, ammunition, and armoured vehicles."
Kyiv was the target of loud explosions overnight as the Kremlin's forces attacked the city for the ninth time this month. After several weeks of a lull and before a hotly anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive using recently delivered cutting-edge Western weapons, there was a clear escalation.
Two Kyiv neighbourhoods were hit by debris, which caused a garage complex to catch fire. According to Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv military administration, there was no immediate word on any victims.
According to the authorities, Ukraine also downed two Russian reconnaissance drones and two drones that explode.
According to the commander-in-chief of Ukraine, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the missiles were fired from Russian sea, air, and ground bases.
Between 9 p.m. on Wednesday and 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, a number of waves of missiles were fired towards Ukraine, he claimed.
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According to Kyiv authorities, Russian forces used strategic bombers from the Caspian Sea and appeared to fire missiles of the X-101 and X-55 types that were created during the Soviet era. Then Russia flew surveillance drones over the city.
According to officials, Ukraine's air defences, strengthened by sophisticated Western-supplied systems, successfully shot down all incoming missiles in the most recent significant air attack on Kyiv on Tuesday.
That attack made use of hypersonic missiles, which Putin has frequently praised for offering a crucial tactical advantage. The hypersonic speed and manoeuvrability of the missiles, which are among the most sophisticated weapons in Russia's arsenal, make them challenging to detect and intercept.
However, modern Western air defence systems, such as Patriot missiles made in the United States, have helped Kyiv avoid the kind of destruction seen along the main front line in the east and south of the country.
Both sides are using long-range weapons to target each other's territory even though the battle on the ground is largely at a standstill along that front line.
The battle for the city of Bakhmut and the surrounding area, in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk province, has seen the most intense fighting; a Ukrainian military official claimed Thursday that the army advanced there by up to 1.7 kilometres (more than a mile) from the day before.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the millionaire owner of the Wagner private military company in Russia, whose soldiers are leading the fight, asserted that Russian army units had fled from their positions to the north of the city. The Russian military is frequently criticised by Prigozhin.
Over the previous 24 hours, at least seven civilians from Ukraine, including a 5-year-old boy, were killed and 18 others were injured, according to the presidential office.
In addition, two people were hurt in a drone attack in the Ukraine-bordering Kursk region of southern Russia on Thursday, according to the local governor.
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Roman Starovoit claimed in a Telegram post that Ukrainian forces used a drone to drop an explosive device on a sports and recreation complex.
According to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, two people were killed in Ukrainian shelling of the village of Nizhnee Berezovo in the Belgorod region of Russia, which is about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border.
