Ukraine-Russia war – live: Kyiv gains ground in counteroffensive as Putin condemned for ‘inhuman attack’

Ukrainian forces have gained ground near Bakhmut as Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Russia’s strike on a funeral service “inhuman” and “a completely deliberate act of terrorism”.

It comes after a village where a Russian missile killed at least 52 civilians in one of the deadliest attacks in the war had no military targets, according to Ukraine’s defence minister.

About 60 people, including children, were at a wake in Hroza, in eastern Ukraine, when the missile hit.

Defence minister Rustem Umerov said: “The terrorists deliberately carried out the attack during lunchtime, to ensure a maximum number of casualties.”

“There were no military targets. This is a heinous crime intended to scare Ukrainians.”

Just 24 hours later, another Russian missile killed a 10-year-old boy and his grandmother in the city of Kharkiv, not far away.

The attack also injured 28 people, including an 11-month-old baby, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said.

Elsewhere, according to the latest report from The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukrainian military sources reported a successful offensive south of Bakhmut near Andriivka and advanced in western Zaporizhia Oblast on 6 October.

Key Points

• Boy, 10, killed and dozens injured as Russian rocket strikes Kharkiv

• Russian missile strike on Ukraine village kills over 50 during memorial service

• Ukraine gains ground in counteroffensive near Bakhmut

• Putin deliberately attacked civilians in Kharkiv strike, says Zelensky

• Drone attack near Moscow thwarted by Russian defence forces

In pictures: Firefighters battle blaze next to Danube river

15:47 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Photos show firefighters working to extinguish a fire on the port infrastructure on the Danube river in the Odesa region on Friday.

Russia hits Odesa grain facility in overnight missile strike

15:43 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian forces carried out an overnight missile strike on Ukraine‘s southern Odesa region, damaging port infrastructure, Ukrainian authorities said early on Saturday.

Governor Oleh Kiper said four people were wounded in the strike, which hit a boarding house and a portside grain facility. He did not specify where the attack took place.

Ukraine‘s military said the strike involved supersonic Onyx missiles fired from Russian-occupied Crimea.

Russian forces have carried out regular missile and drone strikes on port infrastructure in recent weeks, making it difficult for major grain producer Ukraine to export its products.

Moscow quit a deal in mid-July that had enabled Black Sea grain shipments and helped combat a global food crisis.

Car bomb kills official in Russian-held Ukrainian town -governor

14:42 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A party official in the Russian-held town of Nova Kakhovka in Ukraine‘s Kherson province was killed by a car bomb on Saturday, the provincial governor said.

Vladimir Malov, executive secretary of the town branch of Russia‘s governing United Russia party, died in hospital, Vladimir Saldo said in a post on his Telegram channel.

He said it had been a “terrorist attack”, meaning one orchestrated by Ukraine. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.

Officials seen as supporting Russian rule in the parts of Ukraine that Moscow claims to have annexed since its full-scale invasion in February last year have often been targeted in assassination attempts, many of them fatal.

In July, Russia said it had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to kill Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-backed head of unilaterally annexed Crimea, arresting an agent before he could blow up Aksyonov’s car.

Ukraine voices support for Israel’s ‘right to defend itself'

14:08 , Andy Gregory

Ukraine’s foreign ministry has voiced its support for Israel’s “right to defend itself and its people” as Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israel and stormed across the heavily fortified border from Gaza.

The ministry said it “strongly condemns the ongoing terrorist attacks against Israel, including rocket attacks against the civilian population in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv”.

IDF says it is striking targets in Gaza

14:07 , Andy Gregory

The Israel Defence Forces have said they are striking targets in Gaza, as Al Jazeera cites medical sources claiming that scores of Palestinians have been killed.

Rishi Sunak says Russia's attack on Ukrainian supermarket shows Putin's 'barbarity'

13:39 , Andy Gregory

12:45 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Footage from inside Kharkiv apartment captures aftermath of deadly strike

Russian defence minister inspects nuclear missiles entering service soon

12:16 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Defence minister Sergei Shoigu has inspected the manufacture of Sarmat, Russia‘s new silo-based intercontinental ballistic nuclear missile system, due to enter service shortly, his ministry said on Saturday.

Shoigu essentially repeated comments by President Vladimir Putin that the missiles were being made combat-ready, but the timing of the statement added to an intensification of Russia‘s nuclear rhetoric in its standoff with the West over the war in Ukraine.

“Re-equipping the Strategic Missile Forces with this system, which will become the basis of Russia‘s ground-based strategic nuclear forces, is a priority in ensuring the country’s defence capability,” Shoigu was quoted as saying.

On Thursday, Putin said Russia had successfully tested the Burevestnik, a nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable cruise missile with a potential range of many thousands of miles.

And after Putin declined to rule out the possibility that Russia could carry out explosive nuclear weapons tests for the first time in more than three decades, officials on Friday promptly said Moscow would take steps to revoke its ratification of the global Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Russia‘s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which it calls a “special military operation”, prompted the West to send billions of dollars of weapons to Ukraine, and Finland and Sweden to seek to join the U.S.-led NATO alliance.

In response, Moscow has suspended its participation in the New START treaty, the last remaining pact limiting the size of the Russian and U.S. nuclear arsenals, and hinted at a possible use of nuclear weapons if it feels sufficiently threatened.

Russia plans to reverse global nuclear test ban, announces envoy

11:56 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia plans to withdraw its ratification of the 1996 treaty that prohibited the testing of nuclear weapons, the country’s envoy to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation [CTBTO] said on Friday.

“Disturbed” by the move, the US denounced it as endangering “the global norm” against nuclear test blasts.

The announcement by Mikhail Ulyanov on Friday added new fuel to tensions between Russia and the United States over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and arms control disputes between the world’s largest nuclear weapons powers.

Russia plans to revoke global nuclear test ban, announces envoy

‘You can still smell the blood’: Inside the village where more than 50 were killed by a Russian missile

11:10 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Many woke up dazed in the Ukraine’s Hroza on Friday – with the village in the northeast of the country having lost a sixth of its residents in the devastation caused by a Russian missile strike the previous day.

Ihor Klymenko, minister of internal affairs of Ukraine, said the village only had 330 residents – and that at least 52 had been killed in the assault. He added that every family had at least one person they knew at the wake for Ukrainian soldier Andrii Kozyr inside the cafe (and grocery shop) that was wrecked by the missile.

That wake followed a funeral that had been an attempt to rebury a father who had been killed in Russian-occupied territory last year. Now candles mark the spot where the lives of those mourners were lost.

The Ukrainian village where 50 were killed in a Russian missile strike

In pictures: Bereaved Ukrainians grieve for killed family members in deadly Hroza strike

10:31 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The strike in Ukraine’s northeastern village of Hroza left hundreds grieving as they lost family members. The photos below show just a few of the bereaved.

Scale of deadly Russian strike in Kharkiv village shown in drone footage

10:02 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Scale of deadly Russian strike in Kharkiv village shown in drone footage

Russian journalist detained in Cyprus has left island

09:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A Russian journalist detained in Cyprus for allegedly being a threat to national security has left the island, Cypriot media said on Saturday.

The journalist’s detention on Thursday in Nicosia sparked a rare crisis in relations between Russia and Cyprus, with the Cypriot ambassador summoned to the foreign ministry in Moscow for an explanation.

Russian news outlets have identified the journalist as Alexander Gasyuk, who worked in Cyprus for state-run newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta. He was quoted as telling TASS that he was manhandled by Cypriot police and that he was told his residence permit was being revoked because he was allegedly a security threat.

Russia‘s Foreign Ministry said any suggestion of inappropriate activities by the journalist were “absolutely far-fetched”.

Cypriot state broadcaster CyBC reported that Gasyuk had left Cyprus late Friday. His family had also left, it reported.

Cyprus has been tight lipped over the incident, other than to say authorities were taking all appropriate measures to protect national security. A foreign ministry spokesperson declined further comment when approached by Reuters on Saturday.

It was unclear how long Gasyuk worked in Cyprus.

Based on his most recent dispatches, he covered an independence day parade in Nicosia on Oct 1 which focused on Russian-made tanks being on display, celebrations by a number of Russians living in Cyprus of annexation of territories in Ukraine and an interview with Russia‘s ambassador to the island.

Cyprus and Russia have close cultural and business links, but those have cooled significantly since the war in Ukraine. Nicosia has followed its EU partners in imposing wide-ranging sanctions on Moscow.

One civilian killed in Ukrainian shelling of Russia's Belgorod region - governor

09:07 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The governor of Russia‘s Belgorod region said on Saturday that one civilian had been killed in the village of Urazovo, near the Ukrainian border, as a result of Ukrainian shelling.

Russian air defence systems downed three Ukrainian missiles over the region, he said earlier.

Attacks on regions of Russia adjoining Ukraine have become an almost daily occurrence in the last few months.

Kyiv does not typically claim responsibility for attacks on targets inside Russia.

Russia plans to reverse global nuclear test ban, announces envoy

08:40 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia plans to withdraw its ratification of the 1996 treaty that prohibited the testing of nuclear weapons, the country’s envoy to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation [CTBTO] said on Friday.

“Disturbed” by the move, the US denounced it as endangering “the global norm” against nuclear test blasts.

The announcement by Mikhail Ulyanov on Friday added new fuel to tensions between Russia and the United States over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and arms control disputes between the world’s largest nuclear weapons powers.

Russia plans to revoke global nuclear test ban, announces envoy

Ukraine village reels after deadly missile strike: ‘Everything was burning’

08:24 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Every family in Ukraine’s northeastern village of Hroza was affected after a missile strike killed 52 people on Thursday, obliterating a sixth of the local population, say locals.

However, it may take several months before DNA analysis can identify the majority of the remains. For now, the names are scrawled on cardboard or white plastic squares, and strings mark the boundaries of the fresh graves.

Dozens of people gathered in the local cafe for a meal to honour Andrii Kozyr, a soldier who died in the war against Russia, with almost every household in the village sending someone to mourn the native son.

Ukraine village reels after deadly missile strike

Ukraine gains ground in counteroffensive near Bakhmut

07:56 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian forces have continued counteroffensive operations near Bakhmut and advanced in western Zaporizhia Oblast on October 6, according to the Institute for the Study of War’s latest report.

Ukrainian military sources reported a successful offensive south of Bakhmut near Andriivka.

US expels two Putin diplomats

06:59 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Biden administration has ordered two Russian diplomats be expelled from the United States in retaliation for the expulsion of two American diplomats from Moscow last month.

The State Department said it had taken the action in response to Russia’s declaring the pair persona non grata because of contacts with a Russian national who had once worked for the now-closed US consulate in Russia’s far-eastern city of Vladivostok and was arrested this year.

“The department will not tolerate the Russian government’s pattern of harassment of our diplomats,” spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

“Unacceptable actions against our embassy personnel in Moscow will have consequences.”

The expulsions come at a time of animosity between Washington and Moscow over the war in Ukraine and as diplomatic relations have plummeted to their worst level since the Cold War.

The Ukraine village where more than 50 were killed by Russian missile

06:30 , Namita Singh

A sixth of the residents of Hroza, in the northeastern Kharkiv region, are dead. Maira Butt speaks to some of those who now have to deal with the pain and grief.

The Ukrainian village where 50 were killed in a Russian missile strike

Precision missile strike on cafe hostike soldier’s wake decimates Ukrainian village

06:00 , Namita Singh

The cafe had been closed throughout the war but reopened especially for a dead soldier’s wake, and almost every household in the village sent someone to mourn the native son.

When the gathering to honour Andrii Kozyr was struck by a precision missile that Ukrainian officials said was fired by Russia, almost every household in Hroza in eastern Ukraine lost someone. The cafe was obliterated. Entire families perished in an instant. In all, 52 people died out of a population of 300. Many villagers now suspect that a local may have tipped off Russian forces.

On Friday, a day after the strike, an earth mover extended the graveyard to make room for them all.

Among the dead were a couple who left behind four children, the village leader and three generations of the soldier’s family, including his wife, mother and son, who also fought for Ukraine and had requested leave to attend the funeral held shortly before wake.

Report:

Precision missile strike on cafe hosting soldier's wake decimates Ukrainian village

Russian ex-TV journalist sentenced in absentia

05:45 , Jane Dalton

Reminder: A court in Moscow has handed a former state TV journalist an 8-year prison term in absentia for protesting against Russia’s war in Ukraine:

Former Russian state TV journalist gets 8 1/2-year sentence in absentia for Ukraine war criticism

Drone attack near Moscow thwarted by Russian defence forces, reports Tass

05:20 , Namita Singh

Russian air defence forces reportedly took down a Ukrainian drone near Moscow causing no damage or injuries early today, according to Russian state-owned news agency Tass.

The attack repelled over the Istra district northwest of the capital, was allegedly an attempt by Ukraine to target Russian facilities, Tass reported, citing Russia’s defense ministry.

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said preliminary reports showed no casualties or damage but that “emergencies services are working at the scene”.

Flight operations resumed at Moscow’s Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo airports after being suspended temporarily.

The alleged attack on Russia follows Russian air strikes on Ukraine yesterday that Ukrainian officials said killed a 10-year-old boy and his grandmother in Kharkiv and damaged grain and port infrastructure in the Odesa region. A day earlier, Ukrainian officials said dozens were killed in the village of Hroza in northeastern Ukraine during a gathering to mourn a fallen Ukrainian soldier.

Flags at grave of fallen soldier

04:30 , Jane Dalton

We repelled attack on Sevastopol, says Russian chief

03:15 , Jane Dalton

Russian anti-aircraft units repelled on Friday what appears to have been an attempt to attack on Sevastopol from the sea, the Crimean port’s Russian-installed governor said.

“Anti-aircraft systems have been in action,” governor Mikhail Razvozhayev wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “Preliminary indications are that an air attack from the sea has been thwarted.”

Drone footage shows scale of strike in village

02:05 , Jane Dalton

Scale of deadly Russian strike in Kharkiv village shown in drone footage

Destruction in Kharkiv

Saturday 7 October 2023 00:55 , Jane Dalton

A dramatic picture captures the moment black smoke billows into the sky and the ground is covered in debris after the latest deadly attack in Kharkiv:

‘We were meant to be dead'

Friday 6 October 2023 23:46 , Jane Dalton

“We were meant to be there. We were meant to be dead,” says a woman who had been due at the wake where more than 50 people were killed.

Maira Butt speaks to some of those who now have to deal with the pain and grief:

The Ukrainian village where 50 were killed in a Russian missile strike

Footage captures aftermath of strike that killed boy, 10

Friday 6 October 2023 22:35 , Jane Dalton

Footage from inside Kharkiv apartment captures aftermath of deadly strike

US set to announce more weapons for Ukraine

Friday 6 October 2023 21:30 , Jane Dalton

The Biden administration is expected to announce a new weapons package for Ukraine next week as the Pentagon continues to use up funds discovered due to a multi-billion-dollar accounting error, US officials said.

Mr Biden has been asking Congress to approve another $24 billion related to Ukraine.

The composition of the next round of weapons aid is still being formulated and is set to be unveiled on Wednesday at the 16th meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Brussels where security assistance will be a key topic, the officials said.

It was expected to have a value of around $200 million and could include similar ammunition and ground vehicles that have been in recent aid packages.

Mr Biden has vowed to replenish stocks of arms sent to Ukraine. The true cost of shipping weapons is measured when the replacement is purchased.

Only civilians, no military targets at scene of deadly attack

Friday 6 October 2023 20:30 , Jane Dalton

A village where a Russian missile killed at least least 52 civilians in one of the deadliest attacks in the war had no military targets, according to a police chief investigator.

Sergey Bolvinov, Kharkiv’s regional police investigator, told CNN: “Not a single military object, not a single military vehicle. All the dead and wounded people are civilians.”

Defence minister Rustem Umerov said: “The terrorists deliberately carried out the attack during lunchtime, to ensure a maximum number of casualties.

“There were no military targets. This is a heinous crime intended to scare Ukrainians.”

Analysis: Why two of the EU’s biggest political headaches aren’t going away

Friday 6 October 2023 19:45 , Jane Dalton

The EU and Kyiv have a lot of work to do to make Ukraine’s accession to the bloc work:

Why two of the EU’s biggest political headaches aren’t going away any time soon

Recap: Ukraine says gains made in intense fighting in east

Friday 6 October 2023 19:12 , Jane Dalton

Ukrainian forces have advanced in the eastern part of the war-hit nation where officials said Vladimir Putin has deployed over 110,000 troops, but Kyiv officials reported pressure further north:

Ukraine says gains made in intense fighting in east despite Russia’s aerial dominance

Nuclear-test-ban body: ‘Concerning’ if Russia considered quitting treaty

Friday 6 October 2023 18:40 , Jane Dalton

The head of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) said that for Russia to consider pulling out of the treaty would be “concerning” after Moscow indicated it was moving towards revoking its ratification.

“The Russian Federation has consistently reaffirmed its strong support of the CTBT since its very inception,” CTBTO chief Robert Floyd said in a statement.

“It would be concerning and deeply unfortunate if any State Signatory were to reconsider its ratification of the CTBT.”

Analysis: Cracks are starting to show in Europe’s support of Kyiv

Friday 6 October 2023 18:08 , Jane Dalton

It is not the United States that has turned out to be the weakest link but Slovakia, and it could be followed by Poland, writes Mary Dejevsky:

Are the cracks beginning to show in Europe’s support of Ukraine? | Mary Dejevsky

In pictures: The aftermath in Hroza

Friday 6 October 2023 17:32 , Jane Dalton

Hand grenade fragments ‘found in bodies’

Friday 6 October 2023 17:04 , Jane Dalton

And here are Mr Putin’s claims:

Hand grenade fragments were found in the bodies of victims in Prigozhin's plane crash, Putin says

Russian commentators mock Putin’s Prigozhin ‘hand grenades’ claim

Friday 6 October 2023 16:52 , Jane Dalton

Russian patriotic bloggers have poured scorn on president Vladimir Putin’s intimation that mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane was blown up with hand grenades, while those on board were high on cocaine and alcohol.

The private jet on which Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg crashed north of Moscow killing all 10 people on board on August 23, including Dmitry Utkin, co-founder of the mercenary Wagner group, four bodyguards and a crew of three.

Mr Putin said on Thursday fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of the dead and that investigators had ruled out any external impact on the plane such as a missile.

However, he said investigators had been wrong not to have carried out alcohol and drug blood tests, given that 5kg of cocaine had been found by the Federal Security Service at Wagner premises in St Petersburg earlier this year.

Wagner communications channels were silent, but some supporters and patriotic bloggers expressed disbelief.

The Children of the Arbat pro-war Telegram channel posted: “So a short summary: the most combat-ready unit in the history of modern Russia was commanded by alcoholics and junkies who, being professional military men, did not know how to handle hand grenades?”

In pictures: Aftermath of Russian air attack on Kharkiv

Friday 6 October 2023 16:07 , Tara Cobham

Russia scrambles fighter jet to escort US patrol plane over Norwegian Sea

Friday 6 October 2023 15:30 , Tara Cobham

Russia scrambled a MiG-31 fighter jet on Friday to escort a US Navy P-8A Poseidon patrol plane approaching its airspace over the Norwegian Sea, the Russian Defence Ministry said.

Ukraine freezes assets of three Russian tycoons, say prosecutors

Friday 6 October 2023 15:00 , Tara Cobham

A Ukrainian court has frozen the Ukrainian assets of three Russian businessmen over their alleged support for Russia's war in Ukraine, prosecutors and the security service said on Friday.

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said assets owned by Mikhail Fridman, Pyotr Aven and Andrey Kosogov had been frozen. They were considered part of President Vladimir Putin's close circle and contributed to "large-scale financing of the Russian Federation's armed aggression", it said.

The three businessmen did not immediately comment on the moves and comments by the SBU and prosecutors.

"At the request of prosecutors... assets of 20 Ukrainian companies totalling over 17 billion hryvnias ($464.48 million)were frozen," the Prosecutor General's Office said on the Telegram messaging app.

It said the frozen assets included securities and corporate rights of mobile phone operators, a mineral water producer, financial and insurance companies.

"The beneficial owners of the companies are three Russian oligarchs who own one of the largest Russian financial and investment consortia," it said.

Watch: Scale of deadly Russian strike in Kharkiv village

Friday 6 October 2023 14:28 , Tara Cobham

Turkish ship not damaged in Black Sea explosion, says maritime authority

Friday 6 October 2023 14:00 , Tara Cobham

A Turkish-flagged general cargo ship that was sailing on Thursday in the Black Sea en route to Ukraine's Izmail port did not sustain damage from an explosion, Turkey's maritime authority and the ship's captain told Reuters on Friday.

"An explosion occurred 15-20 meters behind the Kafkametler ship en route to Izmail port from Batumi port while it was cruising off the coast of Romania/Sulina (port)," the authority said.

The ship continued sailing to its destination to deliver its cargo following checks and there was no evidence that the explosion was caused by a mine, it added.

Maritime sources said on Thursday that the vessel had hit a sea mine and sustained minor damage, although the crew was safe.

The vessel's Istanbul-based operator Kafkametler Maritime said the vessel was currently on its way to Izmail port and ship congestion in the Danube channel meant it was moving slower. The company added that the crew were safe and the vessel did not need any maintenance.

The vessel's captain said separately in a statement that while the cause of the blast was not clear, the explosion appeared to have been caused by a bottom mine in the Black Sea.

What are Russia’s Iskander missiles?

Friday 6 October 2023 13:30 , Tara Cobham

Ukrainian officials have said a number of Russian Iskander ballistic missiles have struck the northeastern Kharkiv region in the last 24 hours.

A 10-year-old boy and his grandmother were killed in the city of Kharkiv itself , officials said on Friday morning, after a strike on Thursday afternoon in the same region killed at least 52 civilians in the village of Hroza. That attack was one of the deadliest attacks in the war in months.

Officials said preliminary information indicated the Kremlin's forces used two Iskander missiles in the attack on Friday, the same as in the previous day's strike. A number of people, including young children, were injured in both attacks, Kyiv said.

Tom Watling reports:

What are Russian Iskander missiles?

Every family in Hroza affected by missile attack, says Interior Minister

Friday 6 October 2023 13:00 , Tara Cobham

People from every family and household in Ukraine's north-eastern village of Hroza have been affected by a Russian missile attack that killed 52 people on Thursday, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko has said.

The missile slammed into a cafe and grocery store during a gathering to mourn a fallen Ukrainian soldier, Ukrainian officials said.

"From every family, from every household, there were people present at this commemoration. This is a terrible tragedy," Klymenko told Ukrainian television.

He said the strike was clearly targeted and that Ukrainian security services had launched an investigation into the matter.

Kremlin says no final report yet on cause of Prigozhin plane crash

Friday 6 October 2023 12:30 , Tara Cobham

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that investigators had not yet produced a final report on the cause of the plane crash that killed Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in August.

On Thursday President Vladimir Putin said fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of the victims.

New Russian strikes on Ukraine also hit port facilities

Friday 6 October 2023 12:00 , Tara Cobham

Russia unleashed new air strikes on Ukraine early on Friday, killing a 10-year-old boy and his grandmother in the city of Kharkiv and damaging grain and port infrastructure in the Odesa region in the south, Ukrainian officials said.

The drone strikes targeted Odesa and Mykolaiv regions in the south, Dnipropetrovsk region in the southeast, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions in the centre and also Kharkiv region in the northeast, the air force said on the Telegram messaging app.

One drone attack damaged a grain silo in the Izmail district of the Odesa region, regional governor Oleh Kiper said. Nine trucks caught fire at the site but the fire was put out quickly.

"The air alert in Odesa lasted for three-and-a-half hours," Kiper said. "The enemy once again targeted the border and port infrastructure of the Izmail district."

The Ukrainian military said that operations at an international ferry checkpoint 'Orlivka' on the border with Romania were suspended and vehicles were rerouted following the drone attacks.

‘You can still smell the blood’: The village where more than 50 people were killed

Friday 6 October 2023 21:38 , Jane Dalton

“We were meant to be there. We were meant to be dead,” says one woman who had been due at the funeral service targeted by a Russian missile.

Maira Butt speaks to some of those who now have to deal with the pain and grief:

The Ukrainian village where 50 were killed in a Russian missile strike

Sunak says attack on Ukrainian supermarket shows Putin’s ‘barbarity’

Friday 6 October 2023 11:30 , Tara Cobham

Rishi Sunak has said Russia’s attack on a Ukrainiansupermarket, which has killed 49 people, including a six-year-old boy, shows Putin’s ‘barbarity’

The Russian strike targeted a supermarket in eastern Ukraine in the village of Hroza.

Speaking on Sky News, Mr Sunak said: “It just illustrates Russia’s barbarity and President Putin can say all he likes.

“There is one person responsible for all of this illegal unprovoked war and it is him and he should stop. That’s why the UK has been steadfast in supporting Ukraine and will continue to do so.”

Lucy Leeson reports:

Rishi Sunak says Russia’s attack on Ukrainian supermarket shows Putin’s ‘barbarity’

UN rights chief deploys field team to probe Russian attack on Hroza

Friday 6 October 2023 11:00 , Tara Cobham

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Friday deployed a field team to probe the Russian attack on the Ukrainian village of Hroza that left at least 52 people dead.

"The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, who saw for himself the horrific impact of such strikes, is profoundly shocked and condemns these killings," OHCHR spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell  told reporters in Geneva.

"He has deployed a field team to the site to speak to survivors and gather more information."