Ukraine-Russia war latest: Rubio and Witkoff meet European leaders in Paris for last ceasefire push

Ukraine’s prime minister Denis Shmyhal has condemned Russia’s “massive” drone attack on Dnipro, in which he said a 17-year-old girl was among the casualties. Officials have said three people were killed and 31 people injured.

The prime minister said: “Residential buildings, a medical educational institution and dormitories where students live have been damaged. The emergency services quickly extinguished the fire.”

Thanking the emergency services for their work, Mr Shmyhal said: “I am grateful to the defenders who are resisting russian air terror every day and every night. Only strong pressure can force the aggressor to make peace. We call on our partners to respond decisively to the daily shelling of Ukrainian cities and the killing of civilians.”

Two people were also killed in the nearby city of Nikopol in a Russian artillery attack, the regional governor said on Thursday.

The Kremlin has claimed that a meeting between the US, Ukraine and European countries in Paris is a chance for Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff to inform them of the current status of talks about the search for a peace settlement in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Vladimir Putin and Mr Witkoff – who has praised the Russian president as “super smart” and not “a bad guy” – had a long conversation last week.

“The United States is continuing to work in this direction with the Europeans and with the Ukrainians,” Mr Peskov said, claiming that Russia so far saw that European powers were focused on a continuation of the war which Moscow started in 2014 and intensified with its full-scale invasion in 2022.

he bustle of daily life in Ukraine’s Sumy makes it hard to believe that its people have faced a constant threat of death since Russia invaded their country three years ago.

Just days ago, Putin’s forces targeted the city centre in back-to-back missile strikes, killing 35 people and injuring over 100. It marked the deadliest attack on Ukrainian civilians this year.

Neighbours chatted in their apartment blocks, watching children play games in the courtyards. Pausing to look up, they would see the buzzing of attack drones and the familiar sounds of Ukrainian air defences before going back to their strange routine which is quickly becoming usual.

Sumy is only 18 miles from the border of Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian soldiers continue to hold on to the strip of territory they took in a surprise offensive last summer. Residents of the city say there has been an increase in attacks in recent weeks, but none as devastating as Sunday’s airstrike which targeted a busy intersection.

Samya Kullab and Yehor Konovalov report:

Moldova’s parliament has voted to hold parliamentary elections on 28 September – with 57 politicians supporting the motion and 32 abstaining.

Moldova’s president Maia Sandu – who was re-elected in November in a ballot marked by allegations of Russian interference – is seeking to take her country into the European Union and away from the influence of Moscow.

Two people have been killed and five others injured by Russian artillery fire against the Ukrainian city of Nikopol, the regional governor has said.

Serhii Lysak said two men – aged 56 and 61 – were killed in the heavy artillery fire, while four were in hospital in a serious condition.

The attacks sparked a fire, and damaged a shop, cafe, homes and cars, the Dnipropetrovsk governor said.

It comes hours after Mr Lysak said three people were killed and 31 injured in a Russian drone attack on Dnipro, some 70 miles to the north of Nikopol. Ukraine’s emergency services said 173 rescuers were called to assist in the aftermath of the attack.

British troops have successfully taken down multiple drones in a groundbreaking trial of a new directed energy weapon, marking a significant advancement in counter-drone technology.

The exercise, conducted at a testing facility in west Wales, represents the largest counter-drone swarm operation undertaken by the British Army, according to the Ministry of Defence.

The ministry has shared the below footage of the exercise:

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has arrived in Paris for what Washington had billed as talks with French officials on ending the war in Ukraine.

Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff – who has met with Vladimir Putin multiple times in recent months – is also due to attend the talks, but was not seen touching down alongside Mr Rubio in the French capital.

A delegation from Kyiv has also announced it will be visiting Paris on Thursday for talks with US, French, British and German officials. It did not specify whether Mr Rubio and Mr Witkoff were expected to attend those meetings.

Top Ukrainian officials have flown to Paris, where Europeans are assembling to plead Kyiv’s case to US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff.

The arrival of a Ukrainian delegation in Paris was not previously announced ahead of what Washington had described as planned talks between Mr Rubio, Mr Witkoff and French officials.

Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said his delegation – which also included Ukraine’s foreign minister and defence minister – would meet a US delegation as well as French, British and German officials, and would work on “important issues for the security of Ukraine and the whole of Europe”.

Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said: “The parties will discuss ways to achieve a complete ceasefire, the involvement of a multinational military contingent to guarantee sustainable peace, further development of Ukraine’s security architecture and ensuring the security of our country.”

Ukraine has inflicted 1,230 casualties upon Vladimir Putin’s forces in the past 24 hours, while also damaging 16 tanks, 54 armoured vehicles and 65 artillery systems, Kyiv’s military has said.

In its daily morning update, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces reported 125 combat clashes along the frontline over the previous day, with the heaviest fighting situated in the direction of the Donetsk city of Pokrovsk – which has been the key target of Russia’s offensive efforts for months.

According to Ukraine’s military, Russia carried out 94 air strikes, deployed more than 2,750 kamikaze drones and fired more than 6,600 artillery shells over the same period.

British troops have successfully taken down multiple drones in a groundbreaking trial of a new directed energy weapon, marking a significant advancement in counter-drone technology.

The exercise, conducted at a testing facility in west Wales, represents the largest counter-drone swarm operation undertaken by the British Army, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

This innovative weapon, developed within the UK, utilises invisible radio waves to disrupt and disable drone swarms, offering a potentially game-changing defence against increasingly sophisticated aerial threats. Further details about the technology remain scarce due to security concerns.

The weapon system demonstrator is a type of Radiofrequency Directed Energy Weapon (RF DEW) and has “proven capable of neutralising multiple targets simultaneously with near-instant effect”, the MoD said.