Sergei Sobyanin says there were no serious injuries after drones hit two non-residential buildings in centre of Russian capital
Hello and welcome back to our continuing live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine – this is Adam Fulton.
Drones hit two non-residential buildings in Moscow around 4am (0100 GMT) on Monday, Moscow mayor’s said.
Russia attacked the Ukrainian port city of Odesa again and kept up a barrage that has damaged critical port infrastructure in the country’s south, Ukrainian officials said. At least one person was killed and 22 wounded in the strike early on Sunday. The city on the Black Sea has come under repeated attack since Moscow last week pulled out of an agreement allowing the export of Ukrainian grain.
Four children were among the wounded in the Odesa blasts, which severely damaged the historic Transfiguration Cathedral, a landmark Orthodox cathedral in the city, said Odesa’s regional governor, Oleh Kiper. The cathedral’s archdeacon, Andrii Palchuk, rued the “enormous” destruction of the church, which he said was caused by a direct hit from a Russian missile.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, said Ukraine’s counteroffensive “has failed” as he hosted Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, his close ally, for talks in St Petersburg. “There is no counteroffensive,” Russian news agencies quoted Lukashenko as saying on Sunday, to which Putin replied: “It exists, but it has failed.” Ukraine began its counteroffensive last month but has so far made only small gains.
Lukashenko claimed Minsk was “controlling” the situation with fighters from the Wagner mercenary group and restricting them to staying in the centre of the country. Belarus is hosting Wagner fighters on its territory after brokering a deal after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin ended a short-lived uprising last month in exchange for safe passage to exile in Belarus.
