Three killed in Ukraine as Russia continues drones offensive
According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched a barrage of 63 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight. It said that air defences destroyed 28 drones while another 21 were jammed.
Ukraine's police said two people were killed and six were injured over the past 24 hours in the eastern Donetsk region, the focus of the Russian offensive.
One person was killed and 14 others were also injured in the southern Kherson region, which is partly occupied by Russian forces, police said.
The head of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said 15 people, including four children, were injured by Russian drone attacks overnight.
Kharkiv city mayor Ihor Terekhov said Russian drones targeted residential districts, educational facilities, nurseries and other civilian infrastructure.
'Kharkiv is holding on. People are alive. And that is the most important thing,' Mr Terekhov said.
The Russian military has launched waves of drones and missiles in recent days, with a record bombardment of almost 500 drones on Monday and a wave of 315 drones and seven missiles overnight on Tuesday.
The recent escalation in aerial attacks has come alongside a renewed Russian battlefield push along eastern and north-eastern parts of the 600-mile front line.
While Russian missile and drone barrage have struck regions all across Ukraine, regions along the front line have faced daily Russian attacks with short-range exploding drones and glide bombs.
Ukraine hit back with drone raids, with Russia's defence ministry saying air defences downed 52 Ukrainian drones early on Thursday, including 41 over the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine.
Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said three people were injured by Ukrainian attacks.
The attacks have continued despite discussions of a potential ceasefire in the war.
During their June 2 talks in Istanbul, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators traded memorandums containing sharply divergent conditions that both sides see as non-starters, making any quick deal unlikely.
Speaking at a meeting of leaders of south-east European countries in Odesa, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the European Union to toughen its latest package of sanctions against Russia.
He argued that lowering the cap on the price of Russian oil from 60 US dollars (£44) to 45 dollars (£33) as the bloc has proposed is not enough.
German defence minister Boris Pistorius arrived in Kyiv on Thursday on an unannounced visit, noting that the stepped-up Russian attacks on Ukraine send a message from Moscow that it has 'no interest in a peaceful solution at present', according to German news agency dpa.
Pistorius said his visit underlines that the new German government continues to stand by Ukraine.
'Of course this will also be about how the support of Germany and other Europeans will look in future – what we can do, for example, in the area of industrial co-operation, but also other support,' he said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Iran vows revenge for Israeli strikes, saying it will write ‘end of this story'
Iran vowed to avenge the attack on its nuclear sites and the assassination in Tehran of its senior military leadership, saying it would respond forcefully and that the 'end of this story will be written by Iran's hand'. In the first signs of a counterstrike, Israel said Iran had launched 100 drones towards Israel and that its air defences were intercepting them outside Israeli territory. Iraq said more than 100 Iranian drones had crossed its airspace, and, soon after, neighbouring Jordan said its air force and defence systems had intercepted several missiles and drones that had entered its airspace, for fear they would fall in its territory. Responding to the most serious attack on Iran since the revolution in 1979, the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, threatened 'severe punishment' and claimed residential areas had been targeted. The Iranian leadership vowed both a military and diplomatic response, saying women and children had been killed in the strikes across Iran. It remains to be seen if Iran decides to attack US military sites in the Middle East, but its leaders are likely to believe that the Trump administration was not just aware of these strikes in advance, but covertly endorsed them. The US said it had not been involved in the attacks, but Tehran pointed both to Israeli officials stating the attack had been completely coordinated with the US, and that the Israeli air force is entirely dependent on US supplies. In a furious statement, the Iranian government accused Israel of terrorism and insisted the attack demonstrated it 'does not adhere to any international rules or laws and, like a drunkard, openly and brazenly engages in terror and ignites the flames of war before the eyes of the world, including westerners who claim to uphold human rights and international law'. 'Starting a war with Iran is playing with the lion's tail,' the statement added. In a telling warning that the Iranian regime, if it survives, may now indeed feel the need to try to assemble a nuclear bomb in the face of Israel's attacks, the statement further said: 'The world now better understands Iran's insistence on the right to enrichment, nuclear technology and missile power, and the enemy has made it possible to prove our injustice and righteousness, who is the aggressor and which regime is threatening the security of the region.' Among those killed by Israeli strikes were Gen Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards Gen Gholamali Rashid, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander, the nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi and Fereydoun Abbasi, the former head of the Atomic Energy Organization. Residential buildings across Tehran were hit. Pictures showed that specific floors on high-rise apartments were struck, but the damage had spread to many different floors. Army barracks across the country appear to have been hit, with reports trickling in of deaths and damage. But Isfahan regional governors said there had been no leakage of uranium from the Natanz nuclear facility. No electricity or oil installations were struck, but Israel may well return to hit economic targets in the coming days, depending on any Iranian response. Iran, aware that the savage blow to its prestige may lead to some form of uprising, urged its citizens only to listen to official channels, and ignore rumours. The foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, had been in Oslo with other Arab ministers for a security conference and had been looking towards Oman-brokered talks on Sunday with the US special envoy Steve Witkoff. The planned sixth round of talks, the first in which both sides had put forward proposals in writing, were to focus on whether Iran would be allowed to continue domestic uranium enrichment with monitoring by the UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran insists it did not have a covert plan to build a nuclear bomb, but all signatories to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty including Iran have a sovereign right to enrich uranium for civilian purposes. It points out that the comprehensive report put to the IAEA board this week showed no evidence that Iran was close to building a nuclear weapon. The report did say it could not be certain that the nuclear programme was entirely civilian in purpose. Tehran has consistently argued that its increased stockpiles of highly-enriched uranium was a calculated and legitimate response to Donald Trump unilaterally withdrawing in 2018 from the nuclear deal agreed with Barack Obama three years earlier and imposing economic sanctions. The highly experienced Iranian negotiating team were aware that Israel was increasingly worried that Trump, facing an open war for his ear on Iran in Washington, might strike an unsatisfactory deal with Iran. But the consensus among Arab diplomats was that Trump was sincere in saying he did not want Israel to strike, and that he would allow the bilateral US-Iran talks to play out before permitting any Israeli action. The belief among Iranian negotiators that they had further time before Trump implicitly or explicitly sanctioned military action looks, in retrospect, to have been a severe error. But the right to enrich has been an Iranian red line for decades, and they will reject the accusation they overplayed a weak hand. Moreover, Iranian diplomats had been led to believe initially that the US would permit Iran to continue some form of uranium enrichment, but had been struggling to convert that belief into a specific American offer in the talks held in Oman and Rome. Iran will now have to reflect whether it was being played by the US negotiators, or whether Israel has the freedom of action to mount such an assault without a green light from Washington. To many Iranian eyes, despite the reports that Trump was distancing himself from Israel, there is little that Trump has done in practice since taking office to restrain Israel either in Gaza or across the region. Araghchi, for instance, said on 23 April: 'The attempts by the Israeli regime and certain special interest groups to derail diplomacy – using variety of tactics – is abundantly clear for all to see. Our security services are on high alert.' Iran's air defences have proved ineffective, partly due to the previous airstrikes launched on Iran by Israel in October that took out Russian-made air defence systems, including around its nuclear sites. One of the few cards Iran has to play is that in recent months, it has managed to improve its fractured relations with Arab states in the region, even though its policy of forward defence based on proxy groups in Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Yemen and Iraq was largely dismantled by Israel. But the valued Gulf state sympathy for Iran is not likely to extend to joint military action against Israel.
New Statesman
2 hours ago
- New Statesman
Digital sovereignty should sit at the core of the UK's AI strategy
Image by Shutterstock With the Prime Minister's AI Opportunities Action Plan, the UK government pledged to turbocharge the economy by infusing AI throughout the public sector. From hospitals leveraging AI for faster diagnoses to public sector teams freed from administrative drudgery, the goal is to use AI as the engine of British progress. But as the government throws its weight behind this technological revolution, several crucial questions arise: who owns and controls the digital foundations upon which our AI-powered future will be built? What tools, platforms and companies make up the digital supply chains of public and private sector services? And how can we ensure that homegrown innovations in AI are scalable? Ultimately, the challenge lies in establishing 'digital sovereignty' – ensuring the UK can secure and govern the foundations of its AI-driven future. In times of global unrest and economic uncertainty, digital sovereignty is a necessity, not a luxury. It means the UK retaining control over its critical technological infrastructure, data and algorithms. It's about ensuring that the tools underpinning our public services and industries are not black boxes managed from afar, but transparent, accountable systems shaped by our values. The risks of dependency are real. Over-reliance on foreign-owned platforms can expose our institutions to security vulnerabilities, regulatory misalignment and loss of control over sensitive data. And yet, pragmatism will need to be practised. Technological supply chains will undoubtedly cross international lines. Achieving digital sovereignty, therefore, requires a balanced approach: ensuring transparency so the public can understand these supply chains, prioritising domestic and European technology solutions, and working with a carefully vetted group of international partners. This approach will also help the UK tackle one of its biggest challenges with AI: scaling projects from proofs of concept to delivering value more quickly and widely. Digital sovereignty empowers the UK to set its own standards, foster innovation within a trusted ecosystem and maintain control over the process of moving AI projects from concept to widespread implementation. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe With this in mind, consider Humphrey, the UK government's new AI assistant, which is being trialled in 25 local authorities to streamline administrative tasks such as planning, archive searches and transcription. Early results are promising. Government pilots found that Humphrey's 'Minute' notetaking tool saved officials an hour of admin for every 60-minute meeting, freeing staff to focus on higher-value work and improving morale. Other components, like 'Consult', can analyse thousands of public consultation responses far faster than human teams, with comparable accuracy and significant projected cost savings across the civil service. If the platform can continue to deliver such results as its adoption scales, Humphrey may serve as a valuable case study for public-sector AI implementation. At the same time, with increasing attention on how governments manage and govern AI tools, providing clear information about the platform's technical underpinnings – from the large language models powering it to its hosting setup – will help build confidence and set standards for future initiatives. Digital sovereignty fits into a wider framework of responsible digitalisation – a guiding principle for Netcompany. It means deploying technology in ways that are ethical, transparent and aligned with societal needs. Our experience delivering large-scale digital projects across the UK and European public sector has shown that responsible digitalisation is not only possible but essential for building trust and ensuring long-term impact. Whether deploying a digital patient registration service used by 98 per cent of English GPs or developing an AI-powered delay prediction tool for rail networks across Europe, we let our customers take control of their processes and data, foster collaboration and commit to re-using technologies, never developing the same tools twice. The same goes for the EASLEY AI platform. Developed by Netcompany, EASLEY is a secure, model-independent generative AI solution for both public and private sector organisations. Unlike many off-the-shelf AI products, EASLEY puts data privacy and organisational control at its core. It integrates seamlessly with existing systems, allowing clients to switch between AI models as technology evolves – without relinquishing control over their data or processes. In practice, this means a local authority can automate document processing or improve citizen services with confidence, knowing their data never leaves UK or European jurisdiction. Legacy IT systems are silent saboteurs of digital progress. Across the UK and Europe, outdated infrastructure drains budgets and stifles innovation, with up to 80 per cent of IT budgets spent just keeping these obsolete systems running – resources that could otherwise fund better digital services, innovation and security. In June 2025, we announced Feniks AI, a pioneering tool that accelerates the transition from legacy systems to modern, open architectures – cutting delivery times by up to 60 per cent. In short, what once took years can now be completed in months. The tool has already delivered promising results in three large-scale public sector projects in Denmark, and we look forward to bringing it to the UK. Feniks AI is built on Netcompany's unique methodology and platforms, developed through 25 years of experience delivering large-scale, business-critical projects across the public and private sectors in Europe. By embracing such solutions, we can help our customers break free from decades of digital debt and lay the foundations for a more innovative and secure future. As the UK charts its course towards an AI-powered future, cross-sector collaboration is key to delivering digital transformation at scale. Partnerships focused on transparency, scalability and pragmatic digital sovereignty will best position the UK to become a leader in the development and deployment of AI. In doing so, we can shape a digital landscape that is not only world-leading but also serves the needs and aspirations of our citizens. Related
South Wales Argus
2 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
Oil prices soar after Israel launches strikes on Iran's capital
The price of Brent crude jumped nearly 10% higher at one stage before easing back a little to stand 7% higher at 74 US dollars a barrel. The strikes by Israel on Iran's capital Tehran early on Friday are said to be the most significant attack the country has faced since its 1980s war with Iraq and have led to concerns over an all-out conflict between the two Middle Eastern countries. In Washington, the Trump administration said it had not been involved in the attack and warned Iran not to retaliate against US interests or personnel. It threatens disruption to the supply of crude from the Middle East while some traders flagged concerns it could also impact the flow of liquified natural gas (LNG) if tensions escalate. There were also heavy overnight losses on Asian stock markets as the worries spooked investors, with the Hang Seng down by more than 1% and Japan's Nikkei 225 off by nearly 1%. Rising oil prices could threaten to push up inflation in the UK, possibly impacting the outlook for further interest rate cuts. The Bank of England has been cutting rates but, as inflation strays further from the 2% target, it has less leeway to bring down borrowing costs. Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'It's not just the outlook for Iranian exports that's a concern but also the potential for disruption to shipping in the Persian Gulf's Strait of Hormuz, a key route for about 20% of global oil flows and an even higher proportion of liquified natural gas haulage.' He added: 'The escalation of military action adds another factor to consider for central bankers in an already complex world as they weigh up the inflationary impact of ever-changing tariff rates and a weakening outlook for jobs and growth.'
