Ukraine war latest: Putin blitzes city near border, killing seven - with Poland activating air defences (2024)

The Swiss government has said it will notlift its protection status for Ukrainian refugees fleeingRussia's invasion before 4 March 2026, as the situation intheir country is not expected to change in the foreseeablefuture.

Switzerland granted Ukrainian refugees protection status"S," which grants temporary protection to those in need as longas they are exposed to serious general danger, in March 2022.

Russian airstrikes hit energy facilities and critical infrastructure in nine Ukrainian regions over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.

Energy facilities in the western region of Lviv, Sumy and Kharkiv in the northeast, Donetsk in the east, east-central Dnipropetrovsk, and Mykolaiv in the south were attacked, the energy ministry said on Telegram.

The ministry did not provide additional details on the scale of recent damage to the energy grid.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has cut power at a nuclear output afterRussian attacks damaged the country's electricity transmission system, nuclear firm Energoatom said today.

It said output was reduced after "hostile shelling of infrastructure" and "significant fluctuations in the parameters of the grid".

Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been subjected to increased Russian missile and drone attacks in recent months.

Officials have said the country has lost about half of its generating capacity and now relies mainly on energy generated by three nuclear power plants.

A fourth plant, and Europe's biggest, Zaporizhzhia NPP, was occupied by Russia at the beginning of the war and is currently not in operation.

It comes as Russia said it was taking measures to protect its nuclear power plants' security to thwart possible military attacks.

Energy minister Sergei Tsivilev said that Russian nuclear power plants are vulnerable to such attacks, while Russia is also protecting Europe from the consequences of such attacks.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he wanted to "express his gratitude to Ireland" after signing a co-operation deal with the Irish prime minister Simon Harris in Kyiv.

Mr Harris announced earlier that Ireland would provide a€43m (£36m) funding package for Ukraine (see 8.56am post).

The deal includes work on demining Ukraine, which Mr Zelenskyy said will save Ukrainians and improve the resilience of Europe.

He added that the deal also includes work on cyber security.

The taoiseach also expressed Ireland's full support for the Ukrainian bid for EU membership while also discussing continued humanitarian assistance.

Following the bilateral meeting, Mr Zelenskyy told a press conference that he thanked Ireland for its support of work on returning abducted Ukrainian children to the country.

"Ireland's participation in the reconstruction of Ukraine will be a substantial support for our people and our countries and our European way of life.

"I thank the people of Ireland, I know that after the beginning of the invasion of Russia of our land, you've accepted and really have warmly welcomed more than 100,000 citizens of Ukraine."

Mr Zelenskyy said he also "really valued" that Mr Harris' trip came amid severe attacks on Ukraine.

"We value that while Ireland is military neutral, Ireland does not stay neutral morally.

"We are grateful to you, Mr Taoiseach, and to the people of Ireland for very specific and clear and principled support and a position countering Russian terror."

Mr Harris, who earlier laid a wreath to honour Ukraine's war dead at Maidan Square, told reporters: "The people of Ireland stand with the people of Ukraine."

Three people have been killed and five were injured in Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk on Wednesday, Denis Pushilin, the Russian-appointed head of the region, said.

The city was hit by Ukrainian artillery fire, Mr Pushilin added.

One more person was injured in a Ukrainian drone attack in another district of the city.

An update on our last post about the mass reshuffle in Ukraine's cabinet.

The parliament accepted the resignations of a deputy prime minister, thestrategic industries minister and two other ministers, lawmakers said.

The session was over for the day and the resignation of theforeign minister, the highest-profile casualty so far of the reshuffle, had not been considered.

Mr Zelenskyy said earlier than Ukraine needs "new energy, and that includes in diplomacy" while commenting on the reshuffle.

He also added that he couldn't announce any replacements yet because he didn't know whether the candidates would accept his invitation to join the government.

Ukraine's parliament has startedvoting on major ministerial dismissals announced yesterday.

The parliament failed to sack the head of the state propertyfund, Vitaliy Koval, in the first vote, lawmakers said.

It comes as the country's foreign minister, DmytroKuleba, resigned earlier this morning (see 6.56am post) - the highest-profile casualty sofar of a major government reshuffle ordered by PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy.

Mr Kuleba, 43, did not give a reason for stepping down.

Mr Zelenskyy indicated last week that a reshuffle was imminent, in what has been cast as the start of a government "reset" ahead of the cold autumn and winter seasons.

Residents in Lviv are waking up to significant destruction after an overnight attack on the western city.

One woman has described how she was forced to leave the shelter she was hiding in because "everything was on fire". She also struggled to find another shelter because "smoke [was] covering everything".

Another man said Russia was trying to "destroy and intimidate us" by hitting residential areas.

Watch the full video below...

Vladimir Putin has returned from his controversial trip to Mongolia and is visiting the eastern city of Vladivostok today.

He met the Chinese vice president Han Zheng at the Eastern Economic Forum before speaking with Russian Pacific fleet commander Admiral Viktor Liina, at the naval base of the Russian Pacific Fleet's Primorye Flotilla.

Ukraine had called for Mongolia to arrest Putinon an international warrant for alleged war crimes stemming from Moscow's invasion in 2022.

Instead, Mr Putin received a warm welcome from the nation - a member of the International Criminal Court, which issued the warrant in March 2023.

More on the Russian strikes on the western city of Lviv overnight.

We reported earlier that at least seven people had died including three children (see 7.08am post).

Among those killed were a nine-year-old and a 14-year-old, regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi said on Telegram. A medical worker is also believed to have died.

The city's mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, said that four of the victims were related.

Yevheniya Bazylevych is the only surviving member of his family after the strike killed his wife and three young daughters, including Yaryna, 21, who worked in the mayor's office.

Ukraine's interior minister, IhorKlymenko, said the attack had injured around 40 people.

More than 70 buildings, including schools, homes and clinics, were also damaged.

At least seven local architectural monuments in Lviv were affected. All were located in the city's historic area and UNESCO buffer zone, which aims to protect World Heritage property.

Meanwhile, five people were injured in the city of Kryvyi Rih - President Zelenskyy's hometown. A 10-year-old was among the injured,Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak said.

We've no update on casualties from Kyiv, but we'll bring you more as we get it.

Military analyst Simon Diggens has said the latest strikes on Ukraine show Vladimir Putin is "making a point that his offensive in the east has not been stalled by what has happened in the Kursk offensive".

Watch the full analysis below...