Baby and man dead in Russia after Ukraine drone strikes

A six-month-old baby in Russia ⁠died after debris from a drone fell on a building in the Moscow region today, ⁠governor Andrei Vorobyov said on his Telegram channel.

The baby was taken out of the ‌building with another child and two ⁠other survivors, ‌but died on the way ⁠to ‌hospital, the governor said.

A man was also killed overnight ⁠by a Ukrainian drone ⁠attack in Russia's Belgorod region, local authorities said.

Russia shot down 419 Ukrainian drones across the country overnight, according to its ministry of defence.

Kyiv has stepped up its long-range drone strike campaign against Russia in recent months, particularly against energy infrastructure to target a vital source of the Kremlin's revenue to fund its war effort, now in its fifth year.

Air defence systems "intercepted and destroyed 419 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles" around the country, the defence ministry posted on the state-run Max platform.

Moscow's Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said that air defence forces had shot down 50 "enemy drones" overnight headed for the capital.

The swarm came days after Russia shot down 660 Ukrainian drones between Thursday and Friday, one of the highest figures since the start of the conflict.

EU sends Ukraine €3.9 billion to fund drones under loan deal

The European Union has transferred €3.9 billion to Ukraine to finance drone procurement, the commission said.

The disbursement is part of a €90 billion loan approved by the ‌EU earlier ⁠this year and follows the commission's first €3.2billion instalment to Ukraine made on 25 June to help ‌with the country's government financing.

"We are releasing ⁠a first tranche ‌of €3.9 billion for advanced drone technology to ⁠strengthen ‌Ukraine's defence. And more will follow. These investments will help Ukraine ⁠protect its citizens, defend its sovereignty, ⁠and reinforce Europe's security," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

Zelensky mocks Russia's failure to capture Donbas

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mocked Russia's military drive last night, saying the Kremlin, over the course of more than four years, had set and put off 15 deadlines to capture the eastern Donbas region.

Mr Zelensky's comments amounted to a response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's rejection a day earlier of what the Kremlin leader said was a Ukrainian proposal to abandon long-range strikes and scale down the fighting.

He said Mr Putin's comments showed he was out of touch with the feelings of Russians who faced queues at petrol stations, linked to a Ukrainian campaign of strikes on oil industry targets.

"Even an oil-producing state, a 'gas station' as Russia has often been called, is now facing fuel shortages," Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

"This is a direct consequence of the war. One of many consequences. It is also one example of how Ukraine responds - with precision, not through terrorism."

Mr Zelensky explained at considerable length what he said had been 15 deadlines set - and later put back - by the Kremlin over the course of four years to capture four regions in eastern Ukraine - Donetsk and Luhansk in Donbas, and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

"Russia's political leadership remains obsessed with Donbas," he said. "If Russia does not end the war, it will have to postpone that deadline once again."

In the weeks following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces initially tried to advance on the capital Kyiv, but when they failed to complete that advance they withdrew and focused efforts on capturing Donbas.

Russia has captured all of the Luhansk region and large chunks of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Although Moscow's forces are slowly moving westward through Donetsk region, Ukrainian officials say the advance has slowed considerably while Ukraine steps up its campaign of medium and long-range drone strikes.

In a televised interview on Sunday, Mr Putin said Russian forces would press ahead with their battlefield aim of fully capturing the four Ukrainian regions.

He acknowledged that Russians were subject to fuel shortages but rejected what he said was a new Ukrainian proposal to rein in hostilities as a ploy to relieve pressure on Kyiv's military.

Mr Zelensky, who this month wrote an open letter to Mr Putin calling for a one-on-one meeting, made no comment on what the Russian president portrayed as a new proposal.

Mr Zelensky said Ukraine had already put forward proposals to move towards an end of the war "and Russia rejects them every time".

He said Russians who had yet to be subject to mobilisation "and are currently arguing in fuel queues should think carefully about what awaits them".

Ten dead and dozens wounded in Ukraine

Russian attacks on three major Ukrainian cities killed 10 people and wounded dozens yesterday, authorities said.

A missile attack in the southeastern city of Dnipro killed six people and wounded 29, regional governor Oleksandr Hanzha said on Telegram. He said a business, a school, private homes and cars had come under attack.

In Zaporizhzhia, a city further southeast, a Russian drone attack on a minibus killed two men and a woman and injured eight, including a 7-year-old boy, regional officials said.