Watch: Russian strike on Odesa transport facility injures 10 as firefighters battle blazeRussian strike on Odesa transport facility injures 10 as firefighters battle blaze
Alex Croft5 August 2026 08:21
War of attrition hits new phase, says Zelensky’s aide
Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s president on defence technology development, said the war of attrition has entered a new phase.
“The enemy is attacking everything indiscriminately — retail warehouses, food storage facilities, logistics hubs, enterprises, building materials warehouses,” he said on Facebook.
One of the companies that came under heavy fire overnight was the Epicentr, one of Ukraine’s largest retail and construction chains.
It said in a statement on Facebook that “in minutes, Russian missiles destroyed what the company had built over decades.”
One employee was killed and three others were wounded. Russia hit two of the company’s key logistics hubs.
A direct hit also destroyed the production floor of its ceramic tile factory, forcing the company to halt manufacturing there and shift production abroad, with full recovery expected to take up to two years, the company said.
Epicentr also voiced support for other Ukrainian businesses damaged in the attack, saying it understood “how many years of work, effort, faith and daily responsibility stand behind every enterprise.”
Arpan Rai5 August 2026 08:01
North Korea sends missile unit to Russia as Putin tries to exploit Ukraine weakness
A North Korean missile unit has been sent to Russia, set to be equipped with 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers for strikes against Ukraine.
Russia has fired scores of North Korean ballistic missiles at Ukraine since late 2023, but the deployment of North Korean missile forces would be an expansion of the already extensive military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang.
Andrii Cherniak of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence said Russia planned to base the missile unit of around 90 North Korean personnel in the western Russian region of Voronezh, within its 112th Missile Brigade.
Ukraine is very short of high-end air defences and Russia has tried to exploit this by using more ballistic missiles, which are particularly hard to shoot down.
Arpan Rai5 August 2026 07:38
14 killed as Russia strikes Kyiv region to avenge attacks on warehouses
Russian strikes around Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv killed fourteen people, injured 27 and damaged warehouses overnight, emergency service officials said on the Telegram messaging app.
Air raid alerts lasted for more than an hour across the capital of 3 million, where the military administration said seven sites were pummelled in an assault that began after midnight.
Authorities said one person died, 24 were injured and buildings damaged in several areas of Kyiv.
“There may still be people under the rubble,” mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram after rescuers pulled two people from the ruins of a warehouse near the city centre that was destroyed in the attack.
“Search and rescue operations are proceeding.” An ambulance driver was among the 24 injured, four of them still in critical condition, he added.
Arpan Rai5 August 2026 06:57
US presses on with Ukraine Patriot missile talks, sources say, despite Trump’s doubts
The US is pressing ahead with talks on allowing Ukraine to make Patriot interceptor missiles, which Kyiv urgently wants to defend against Russian attacks, even after president Donald Trump cast doubt on such a deal, four sources familiar with the discussions said.
The discussions include an option for Ukraine to build some components for final assembly elsewhere in Europe, the sources added. Kyiv has been seeking more PAC-3s, the newest type of Patriot missile and one of the few weapons capable of downing the ballistic missiles Russia has been launching into Ukraine in growing numbers.
During a meeting with Zelenskiy in Ankara, Turkey, last month, Trump said the US would grant Ukraine a license to manufacture PAC-3s in a boost for Kyiv.
But last week, Trump appeared to reverse course after what two of the sources described as a challenging meeting with Zelensky at the White House.
He told reporters that the US had not agreed to letting Ukraine build Patriot missiles and the US must be “very careful about letting somebody build them.”
Washington’s envoy to Nato, Matthew Whitaker, is now leading the push to reach an agreement and traveled to Kyiv last month to discuss the issue and assess options with Ukrainian officials and weapons industry executives, the four sources said.
“No order was given to halt the discussions,” one of the sources said, adding that talks continued with US arms makers, military officials and others.
Arpan Rai5 August 2026 06:41
Russia says it hit logistic hubs in Kyiv and nearby region
Russia has hit logistic hubs and supply centres in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv and the surrounding region, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram, claiming that those were used for military purposes.
It has also hit three cargo vessels near the Black Sea port of Odesa, it said.
Firefighters work at a site of a Russian missile strike in Kyiv region (Reuters)
Arpan Rai5 August 2026 06:10
North Korean missile unit deploys in Russia for Ukraine war, Kyiv says
A North Korean missile unit has begun deploying to western Russia and could be equipped with 120 ballistic missiles and six launchers for strikes against Ukraine, an official at Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said.
Andrii Cherniak of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence said Russia planned to base the missile unit of around 90 North Korean personnel in the western Russian region of Voronezh, within its 112th Missile Brigade.
Pyongyang has already sent a new batch of 40 KN-23 and KN-24 missiles and personnel to Russia, but the configuration of the deployment and total number of missiles will be finalised at top-level talks next month, he said.
Russia expects the deployment to involve 120 North Korean ballistic missiles and six launchers, he said. It is not clear what precise role the North Koreans would play in Russian missile operations.
The deployment described by Cherniak appears to coincide with Russia last week firing its first two North Korean missiles at Ukraine since last August.
Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a Philadelphia-based think tank, said the North Korean resources were a significant threat for Kyiv.
Arpan Rai5 August 2026 06:00
In photos: Smoke shrouds Kyiv as major attack rips through Ukraine capital
Fire and smoke rises from a warehouse destroyed during massive Russian ballistic missile and drone strikes on the outskirts of Kyiv (AFP/Getty)
A damaged logistics hub of the Ukrainian online retailer, Rozetka, after it was struck during a night of Russian missile and drone attacks in the Kyiv region (Reuters)
Smoke rises in the city during a Russian missile strike in Kyiv (Reuters)
Smoke rises in the sky at a site of a Russian missile strike in Kyiv (Reuters)
Arpan Rai5 August 2026 05:47
Death toll rises in Kyiv as 14 killed in Russian ballistic missiles attack
Russian strikes killed fourteen people, injured another 27 and damaged a number of warehouses in the region surrounding Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv overnight, the emergency service said in a Telegram post.
Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with waves of ballistic missiles in the early hours today, triggering fires in a 20-storey apartment block and other buildings, the city’s mayor said.
Smoke rising from a warehouse destroyed during massive Russian ballistic missile and drone strikes next to a residential building on the outskirts of Kyiv (AFP/Getty)
Arpan Rai5 August 2026 05:36
Mayor says 184 drones targeted Moscow area yesterday
A total of 184 Ukrainian drones targeted Moscow and the surrounding area throughout the day on Tuesday, the city’s mayor said.
Sergei Sobyanin, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said that count was registered between 8.30am to 10pm.
Most of the drones had been intercepted some distance from the capital, he said, with 18 destroyed on approach to the city.
Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow have become a common occurrence in recent months. On rare occasions, drones have damaged buildings in the city.
Arpan Rai5 August 2026 05:09