It’s day 575 of the war in Ukraine. Russia launched a barrage of missile strikes on five Ukrainian regions overnight, injuring 18 people.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had intercepted 19 drones over annexed Crimea, and downed three more over three Russian regions.
Poland has announced it is ending all arms supplies to Ukraine amid heightened tensions over Ukraine’s agricultural exports.
Novaya-Europe’s news roundup will brief you on the main developments overnight.
Russian military launches more strikes against Ukraine
Russian missiles struck the Ukrainian capital Kyiv overnight, city administration head Serhiy Popko reported on Thursday, adding that the city’s air defence had intercepted over 20 airborne objects.
Missile debris fell to the ground in several districts of Kyiv, with seven people reportedly injured in the city’s Darnytsky district.
Air-raid sirens sounded for over two hours during the night in Kyiv, Popko said, adding that they had sounded for over 1,000 hours in total, or “a month and a half of constant air-raid sirens”, since the war began.
Elsewhere in the country, five people were injured in the city of Cherkasy in central Ukraine after debris landed on a hotel, regional administration head Ihor Taburets reported on Thursday, noting that at least one person was still trapped under the rubble.
At least five missile strikes rocked Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv in the early hours of Thursday morning, according to the city’s mayor Ihor Terekhov, who said that two people had been injured.
In the western Lviv region, Russian missile strikes targeted an industrial area, causing damage and a fire, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said on Thursday. In the Kyiv region, fallen debris injured two people and caused a fire at an industrial facility.
Two people were killed and four more injured overnight when the city of Kherson was shelled, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported. The regional prosecutor later reported that three had died in the attack.
Ukraine’s Rivne region also reported overnight missile strikes.
Russia downs 19 Ukrainian drones over Crimea
Russian air defence systems intercepted 19 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and annexed Crimea overnight, Russia’s Defence Ministry reported on Thursday, adding that three more drones had been downed over Russia’s Kursk, Belgorod and Oryol regions.
Poland halts arms supplies to Ukraine amid increased tensions
Poland has suspended its arms supplies to Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in comments reported by the Dziennik national newspaper on Wednesday.
“I understand that Ukraine is defending itself against Russia’s brutal attack, but as I have already said, we must protect our own country. We are no longer supplying arms to Ukraine because right now we are arming Poland,” Morawiecki said.
The Polish government’s decision would not be putting Ukraine’s security at risk, Morawiecki inisted, stressing that the Polish military base in Rzeszów, the main hub for US and NATO weapon transfers to Ukraine, would “continue to serve its purpose”.
The move comes amid tensions between Poland and Ukraine following Warsaw’s unilateral ban on Ukrainian agricultural produce, which it said threatened the livelihoods of Polish farmers.
The move caused consternation in Kyiv and prompted the Ukrainian authorities to file a complaint with the World Trade Organisation. In response, Poland threatened to extend the ban and to end social benefits for Ukrainian refugees in Poland from next year.