Ukraine war latest: Ukrainians imprisoned in Russia released after Vatican mediation - as five people killed in drone strike on Russian village (2024)

President Vladimir Putin has called for resuming production in Russia of intermediate-range missiles that were banned under a now-scrapped treaty with the US.

The Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty was regarded as an arms control landmark when then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US president Ronald Reagan signed it in the 1980s.

It banned ground-based missiles with a range of between 310 and 3,410 miles (500 to 5,500 km).

The US withdrew from the treaty in 2019, citing Russian violations.

"We need to start production of these strike systems and then, based on the actual situation, make decisions about where - if necessary to ensure our safety - to place them," Mr Putin said at a meeting of Russia's national security council on Friday.

Mr Putin said Russia had not produced such missiles since the 2019 treaty scrapping, but that "today it is known that the United States not only produces these missile systems, but has already brought them to Europe for exercises, to Denmark. Quite recently it was announced that they are in the Philippines."

The US has tested missiles that would have been banned by the INF treaty since it was scrapped.

The end of the INF was a milestone in the deterioration of relations between the US and Russia.

The last remaining arms control pact between Washington and Moscow is the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers.

It is set to expire in 2026, and the lack of discussion about anchoring a successor deal has worried arms control advocates.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said that Mr Putin's statement was "part of the Kremlin's ongoing reflexive control campaign...aimed at discouraging Western military assistance to Ukraine".

"The Kremlin has invoked the fear of a nuclear confrontation between Russia and the West throughout its full-scale invasion to push the West to self-deter from providing Ukraine the weapons it needs to sustain its defence against Russian forces," the ISW said.

"The Kremlin notably employs this effort during key moments in Western political discussions about further military assistance to Ukraine."

In June, Mr Putin spoke to executives from international news organisations about Moscow's use of nuclear weapons.

"We have a nuclear doctrine, look what it says," he said. "If someone's actions threaten our sovereignty and territorial integrity, we consider it possible for us to use all means at our disposal. This should not be taken lightly, superficially."

Footage of the extraordinary rescue of a man trapped in his car after the Russian missile strike on Dnipro has emerged.

The video shows emergency services removing debris from the strike that had severely damaged the vehicle.

One person was killed in the attack, with two more still missing.

At least 12 people, including a seven-month-old baby, were injured.

The Ukrainian air force has said they shot down 10 Shahed drones overnight in a post on Telegram.

"As a result of combat work by fighter aircraft, anti-aircraft missile units... all 10 [drones] were shot down," the air force said in a post on Telegram.

The drones were shot down over Mykolaiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Cherkasy, and Vinnytsia.

Meanwhile, Russia's defence ministry also said in a Telegram post that they shot down six Ukrainian-launched drones over Bryansk, Tver, and Belgorod, as well as occupied Crimea last night.

At least one person was killed and 12 injured in a Russian missile attack in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

The missile hit a nine-storey residential building on Friday.

Ukraine's interior minister Ihor Klymenko warned the death tollwould likely rise as more people remained trapped in thebuilding where four upper storeys collapsed.

The ministry later said a fire at the site had been extinguished and two people were listed as missing.

Among the injured was a seven-month-old child, regionalgovernor Serhiy Lysak said.

Three people were insevere condition.

Dnipro, which had a pre-war population of almost onemillion people, is a major Ukrainian city that lies on the roadto the east of the country where the most intense fighting withRussian forces is raging.

It has been regularly targeted by missile and dronestrikes since the start of Russia's invasion.

Ten Ukrainians who had been imprisoned in Russia for years have been released after mediation was provided by the Vatican, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Some of the former captives arrived overnight by helicopter at Kyiv International Airport.

It was the first time in more than two years that the airport received passengers after it was shut when Russian launched its invasion of Ukraine.

Some of the released civilians had been captured before Russia's 2022 invasion.

One of the freed people was Nariman Dzhelyal, deputy head of the Mejlis, a representative body of Crimean Tatars. He was detained in 2021.

Mr Dzhelyal said: "I was in captivity, where many Ukrainians remain.

"We cannot leave them there, because the conditions, both psychological and physical, are very frightening there."

Prisoners were wrapped in yellow and blue flags as they reunited with their families in the main hall of the airport, where pre-war advertisem*nts still hang.

As well as Mr Dzhelyal, two civilians from Ukraine and five civilians who were captured in Belarus were freed.

Two priests were also among those who were returned.

One of them, Bohdan Heleta, was detained in 2022 inside his church in the occupied city of Berdiansk in the Zaporizhzhia region.

According to Ukraine's Co-ordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 3,310 Ukrainians have already been released from Russian captivity.

Many thousands, both civilians and military personnel, remain imprisoned.

In a post on X, President Zelenskyy said: "I am grateful to everyone who helped. I thank our team that works on freeing the captives.

"I would also like to recognise the Holy See's efforts to bring these people home. We will definitely free all our people."

More on the Ukrainian strike overnight.

Five people were killed after a Ukrainian drone hit a residential building in the Kursk region of Russia, the Kursk governor Alexey Smirnov posted on Telegram.

Two young children were also injured in the attack on the village of Gorodishche, around 73 miles (118km) from the Ukrainian border.

Two other people, believed to be family members of some of the victims were injured and are in a "serious condition" in hospital.

Hello and welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

Before we bring you the latest, here's a quick rundown of the key updates from the past 24 hours:

• Overnight, a Ukrainian drone killed five people in Russia's Kursk region while one person was killed and 12 injured in a Russian missile attack on Dnipro on Friday;
• Russia said it captured a village in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine as the country's army pushes ahead with its offensive;
• Ten Ukrainian prisoners who were imprisoned in Russia for years have been released - with help from the Vatican;
• US officials said it would send air defence missiles in its next aid package, which is worth $150m (£118.6m);
• Putin has said Russia may resume production of immediate-range missiles, which were banned in a now-scrapped treaty with the US signed by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s;
• Russia said the outlook for EU-Russia ties was bad after EU leaders nominated Ursula von der Leyen for another term as European Commission president.

We're pausing our live coverage of the war in Ukraine for this evening.

Scroll through below to catch up on the latest developments.

Two people have been killed and two more are wounded as a result of Russian shelling in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, an official has said.

Vadym Filashkin, head of the regional military administration, said Russian forces struck the centre of Kurakhove city, killing a woman and a 40-year-old man.

Two injured people were taken to hospital, he said.

He added that the extent of the damage in the attack was being assessed.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had a seemingly lively chat ahead of a meeting of European leaders in Brussels today.

It's not known what that the two men discussed - but relations between Budapest and Kyiv have become more strained since the Russian invasion in 2022.

Hungary is Russia's closest ally in the EU and Mr Orban has maintained a friendship with Vladimir Putin while criticising the EU's strategy on Ukraine.

In December, Mr Orban blocked a €50bn aid package for Ukraine in a move that frustrated other EU leaders. He lifted the veto several months later.