Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky confirms new incursion into Putin’s Belgorod region for first time

“For the first time, a component made in India — a clock buffer from Aura Semiconductor — was found in a Russian weapon,” Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) said in a Telegram post yesterday.

This comes as the HUR said it has documented nearly 200 newly identified parts across six types of Russian weaponry.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine is ramping up drone production to the “maximum.”

Ukraine will increase production for the “full range of drones: from Mavics to long-range drones,” he said in his nightly address.

“We’re also expanding our domestic capacity to produce ground-based robotic systems. What we need is constant, stable growth in the production and supply of every necessary part of the unmanned component to our forces. And for this year, the outlook is promising,” Mr Zelensky added.

Kyiv has called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council today after last week’s Russian missile strike on the city of Kryvyi Rih that killed 20 civilians, Ukraine’s foreign minister said.

“A robust international response to Russian atrocities is critical. Such terror should never be normalised. We call for both strong condemnation and firm action,” Andrii Sybiha said on X.

At least 20 were killed and more than 70 were wounded in the Russian missile attack on Friday evening on Kryvyi Rih. The children were playing on swings and in a sandbox in a tree-lined park at the time. Bodies were strewn across the grass.

The UN Human Rights Office in Ukraine said it was the deadliest single verified strike harming children since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. It was also one of the deadliest attacks so far this year.

Russia’s air defence units intercepted and destroyed 23 Ukrainian drones overnight over the border Kursk and Belgorod regions, the Russian defence ministry said this morning.

It did not comment on the reported Ukrainian incursion inside the Belgorod region.

Russia launched 46 drones and an Iskander-M ballistic missile during an overnight attack, the Ukraine air force said this morning.

The air force shot down nine drones with another 31 drones not reaching their targets likely due to electronic warfare countermeasures, it said on Telegram.

It did not say what happened to the remaining six drones or the missile.

A Moscow court fined the Telegram platform 7 million roubles ($80,000) for refusing to remove content calling for saboteur attacks and participation in protests aiming to overthrow the Russian government, news agency Tass reported this morning.

“Telegram Messenger Inc., being the owner of an information resource, failed to remove information or channels containing calls for extremist activity,” Tass reported, citing court documents.

Some of the channels listed in the court documents called for participation in anti-government protests that aimed at overthrowing Russia’s government, as well as for attacks on railway transport with the aim of helping Ukrainian forces, Tass reported.

Telegram, a social media and instant messaging platform, has yet to comment on the fine.

Donald Trump has defended the US’s decision to not impose tariffs on Russia.

Mr Trump told reporters last night that Russia did not have tariffs imposed “because we’re not doing business, essentially, with Russia, because they’re at war.”

Almost no countries were spared from Mr Trump’s sweeping tariffs; even small, uninhabited islands in the Indian Ocean were included in the exhaustive list. But one country was notably missing: Russia.

An agreement between Russia and Ukraine to end the war is “getting sort of close”, US president Donald Trump said last night.

He also said he was disappointed in Russia for carrying out strikes on Ukraine.

“I’m not happy about what’s going on with the bombing because they’re bombing like crazy right now. They’re bombing — I don’t know what’s happening there. That’s not a good situation,” Mr Trump said.

Russia has mounted multiple attacks on villages around the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, senior Ukrainian military officials said.

Russian forces have for months been attempting to encircle Pokrovsk, a logistics hub, but Ukrainian resistance has slowed the Russian advances in the area, the Ukrainian military’s general staff said on their Telegram channel.

Geolocated footage tracked by The Institute for the Study of War showed Russian forces have marginally advanced south and southwest of the city.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukrainian troops are inside Russia’s Belgorod, in what is the second incursion into Russian territory since February 2022.

In August last year, Ukraine launched a shock incursion inside Russia’s Kursk oblast and has continued to hold onto territory there despite a major Russian counterattack.

These incursions are helping Ukraine to take fighting away from other parts of the frontline.

“Due to the entire Kursk operation, we have managed to reduce pressure on other frontline sectors, particularly in Donetsk region,” Mr Zelensky said.

“It is absolutely crucial to keep destroying Russian equipment and all logistics used by the occupiers.”

The president last month referred obliquely to “certain steps” undertaken by Ukraine’s military in Russia “a little below the Kursk region”, implicitly suggesting a presence in Belgorod.