Russia launches combined air attacks on centre of Kherson
Russia bombed a regional administration building in the centre of the southern city of Kherson early on Thursday morning.
Moscow's forces dropped four glide bombs on the historic building along with drones and artillery attacks, according to local authorities.
Footage showed a quick-fire succession of targeted strikes, followed by large explosions, which also damaged five apartment buildings and an educational facility, reportedly hurting three civilians.
The attack came hours after Donald Trump warned that Vladimir Putin intended to retaliate for Kyiv's unprecedented drone assaults on Russia's bomber fleet on Sunday.
Putin finally broke his silence on Wednesday, refusing to mention Ukraine's surprise strikes on his most prized aircraft, but once again ruled out a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Elsewhere, Russian drone attacks in Ukraine's north killed five people, including a baby, in the city of Pryluky and injured 17 in Kharkiv.
Latest updates
Iona Cleave
05 June 2025 9:47am
9:47AM
Russia says it will repair warplanes damaged by Ukraine
Moscow has said its warplanes were damaged but not destroyed in a coordinated June 1 drone attack by Ukraine, and said they will be restored.
According to US intelligence assessments, 20 warplanes were hit and around 10 were destroyed, a figure that is half the number estimated by Volodymyr Zelensky.
Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, who oversees arms control diplomacy, said: 'The equipment in question, as was also stated by representatives of the Ministry of Defence, was not destroyed but damaged. It will be restored.'
Russia is unlikely to repair or replace the aircraft quickly - if at all - given the complexity of the technology, the age of some of the Soviet-era planes, and Western sanctions that restrict Russian imports of sensitive components.
9:36AM
In pictures: Russian attacks on Odesa and Kharkiv
9:10AM
Russia accuses British Council of harbouring spies
Russia's security service has accused British intelligence of using the British Council as cover to undermine Russia.
The British Council, which calls itself 'the UK's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities', said in 2018 that it had been told to cease operations in Russia.
The FSB claimed on Thursday the London-based charity was being used by British intelligence to undermine the sovereignty of countries, including Russia.
'During the investigation, representatives of the teaching staff of leading Russian universities who collaborated with the British side to the detriment of the security of the Russian Federation were identified,' the FSB said.
8:52AM
Watch: Russia strikes Kherson
7:50AM
Russian strike kills 5 in Ukraine's north
At least five people, including a one-year-old child, were killed in a Russian drone strike on the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky overnight.
Six more people were wounded in the attack and have been hospitalised, regional governor Viacheslav Chaus said.
According to him, six Shahed-type drones struck residential areas of Pryluky early Thursday morning, causing severe damage to residential buildings.
Hours later, 17 people were wounded in a Russian drone strike on Kharkiv, including children, a pregnant woman, and a 93-year-old woman.
'By launching attacks while people sleep in their homes, the enemy once again confirms its tactic of insidious terror,' regional governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.
7:41AM
Putin planning revenge for secret drone attacks, Trump warns
Vladimir Putin is planning revenge for Ukraine's drone strikes on Russia's bomber fleet, Donald Trump has warned.
The US president said he had a 'good conversation' with his Russian counterpart, after an unexpected phone call, but that it was 'not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace'.
'President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields,' Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
His comments came after Putin finally broke his silence following Kyiv's co-ordinated drone assaults to once again rule out a ceasefire in Ukraine.
The Russian leader said that Kyiv would exploit the break in the fighting to rearm and remobilise and carry out further 'terrorist attacks'.
7:40AM
North Korea vows 'unconditional support' for Russia's war in Ukraine
Kim Jong-un has vowed to 'unconditionally support' Russia in its war in Ukraine and said he expected Moscow to emerge victorious.
North Korea has become one of Moscow's main allies during its more than three-year Ukraine offensive, sending thousands of troops and large quantities of weapons to help the Kremlin oust Ukrainian forces from Russia's Kursk border region.
Meeting top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday, Kim said that Pyongyang would 'unconditionally support the stand of Russia and its foreign policies in all the crucial international political issues including the Ukrainian issue'.
Kim 'expressed expectation and conviction that Russia would, as ever, surely win victory in the sacred cause of justice'.
The two sides agreed to 'continue to dynamically expand' relations.
Russia and North Korea signed a sweeping military deal last year, including a mutual defence clause, during a rare visit by Vladimir Putin to the nuclear-armed North.
7:36AM
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