Four people were killed and 17 were injured in Russian drone attacks on Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, Reuters and Agence France-Presse reported, citing local authorities.
“There is a massive attack on Kharkiv“, the city's mayor, Igor Terekhov, wrote on Telegram last night.
He reported that four people were killed and 17 were injured.
According to the head of the regional military administration, Oleg Sinegubov, among the injured were two children aged 11 and 12.
Reuters reports that 15 strikes were recorded in six locations in the city.
The city of Kharkiv, located 30 km from the border with Russia, resisted Russian attempts to seize and has been a frequent target of Russian air strikes since then.
At the same time, the head of the Dnepropetrovsk regional administration reported that two people had been killed in a Russian strike in the city of Marhanets.
Vilnius airport was closed this evening due to the appearance of smugglers' balloons on the radar, Reuters reported, citing the Lithuanian National Crisis Management Center.
The center reported that navigation systems had spotted balloons not far from the airport, most likely entering from the territory of Belarus with smuggled goods, reported the news portal “Delphi“, which covers news in the three Baltic republics.
“At 18:55, temporary restrictions were introduced over Vilnius airport“, the center reported.
“Delphi“ reminds that this is one of the most frequent cases of airport closures due to balloons in the past month. Because of air smuggling, Lithuania has already closed its border with Belarus. Lithuanian airports have asked the prosecutor's office to open an investigation into the air smuggling, which poses a threat to national security.
A British patrol ship has intercepted a Russian corvette and a tanker after following them through the English Channel, the Ministry of Defense said, adding that Russian naval activity around the waters of the United Kingdom has increased by 30% in the past two years, the Associated Press reported.
„Over the past two weeks, the patrol ship „Severn“ intercepted the Russian corvette „Stoikiy“ and the tanker „Elnya“ as they sailed through the English Channel,“ the ministry said. „Severn“ has since handed over surveillance duties to an unidentified NATO ally off the coast of Brittany.
“In addition to ships stationed around its coast, Britain has deployed three Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft to Iceland as part of a NATO mission to patrol for Russian ships and submarines in the North Atlantic and Arctic,“ the ministry said.
The news comes just days after Defence Secretary John Healy told reporters that the Russian spy ship Yantar had aimed lasers at pilots of reconnaissance aircraft monitoring its activities off the coast of Scotland. Britain has described the actions of the Yantar as as “reckless and dangerous“, adding that it is ready to respond to any incursions into its territory.
“My message to Russia and to Putin is this: We see you. We know what you are doing,“ Healy said on Wednesday.
The Russian embassy in London responded to the minister's comments by accusing the British government of “fueling militaristic hysteria”, adding that Moscow has no interest in undermining Britain's security.
Healy made the warning as he announced a boost to defence spending a week before the government published its new budget. Although Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised a sharp increase in military spending in light of threats from Russia, China and Iran, the government faces difficult compromises as it considers tax increases and spending cuts to close a multi-billion-pound deficit.