Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky pleas to Trump over missile interceptors after Kyiv attack

A Russian soldier in Crimea opened fire and killed four people – one colleague and three civilians – in an apparent random gun rampage.

The soldier first opened fire on his colleagues, killing one and wounding another.

An official said the solider then turned his weapon on civilians, killing three, in the village of Khmelnytske.

According to the BBC, the victims were two men, aged 71 and 59, and a 64-year-old woman.

Three other people were wounded, said Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of the Sevastopol region. He said the attacker had been arrested.

The gentle splash of breaking waves on a resort beach and the laughter of children having innocent fun gives way to the screech and crack of an explosion. Seven people dead – three of them are children.

This was the scene on Monday in the Russian Black Sea town of Gelendzhik where, even if every adult killed and all 40 of those injured were wide-eyed fans of Vladimir Putin and part of his war machine, the children were innocent.

It was the sort of attack that, if carried out by Russia against Ukraine, would have sparked international outrage and allegations of war crimes by targeting civilian areas.

“What happened today was a deliberate attack by the Kyiv regime on the civilian population, which has no connection whatsoever to military infrastructure,” Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of southern Krasnodar region, which includes the resort, said in a statement on Telegram.

Ukraine does not have a policy of attacking civilian targets.

But as Kyiv steps up its war inside the Russian Federation, there have been, and will be, more civilian deaths.

Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed new UK defence secretary Wes Streeting to Kyiv for the first time.

Mr Streeting was chosen for the role by Britain’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham, replacing John Healey, who is now chancellor of the exchequer.

“It was a pleasure to welcome @wesstreeting to Kyiv for the first time,” he said. “We appreciate that his visit comes right after yet another Russian attack on our people. I briefed the Secretary on the consequences of this onslaught against life and on our needs, as Russia seeks to significantly ramp up its ballistic missile production ahead of winter.”

A blazer has erupted at a research building belonging to Russian space agency Roscosmos in Korolyov outside Moscow, the state-run Tass news agency is reporting.

The Moscow space agency’s lead research institute is the Central Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering, situated in Korolyov.

The cause of the fire has not yet been confirmed – we’re working to bring you more.

Russia has said that seven people, including three children, were killed and 40 injured on a Crimea beach after a Ukrainian drone smashed into a busy holiday resort.

Another 40 people were injured after a drone crashed into the beach near the Black Sea town of Gelendzhik on Monday, in what Moscow claimed was a deliberate attack. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility and there is currently no evidence to suggest civilians were targeted.

It comes as Kyiv drives up its long-range attacks in Moscow, seeking to ramp up the pressure on Vladimir Putin to bring an end to his four-and-a-half year war.

French president Emmanuel Macron has condemned Russia’s latest attacks on Kyiv, vowing that the EU will step up their pressure on Moscow via sanctions.

“In Kyiv and its region, Russia has once again chosen to target civilians. This policy of terror, carried out with missiles and drones, is unacceptable,” he wrote on X.

At least 17 people were killed in Moscow’s latest overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital.

He added: “Each new attack reinforces an obvious truth: Russia must pay the price for its aggression and answer for its crimes. Alongside Ukraine, we will not yield to either fatigue or intimidation.”

We’re hearing reports from Russian news outlet Kommersant, which says that the head of a Russian drone factory was wounded and his driver killed when their car exploded in the Yekaterinburg region.

A source in the emergency service told state news agency Tass that Vladimir Tkachuk, the head of the Uraldronzavod company, was in intensive care and medics were fighting for his life.

Supplies of air defence missiles to Ukraine are three times less than in 2025, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian president urged politicians in allied countries to approve more deliveries.

“This concerns not only this summer period, but every period of the first half of 2026,” Mr Zelensky said on X following a deadly Russian strike on Kyiv, during which Ukraine did not manage to intercept any incoming missiles.

“Our partners do have the missiles. It is important that the necessary political decisions on supplies and the acceleration of production processes are ultimately made – including decisions on localization in Ukraine.”