Russia Ukraine war latest: Putin’s home fortified with air defence systems amid growing threat from Kyiv’s drones

Successful Ukrainian strikes deep inside enemy territory have forced Russia to beef up defences around Vladimir Putin’s home outside St Petersburg.

Satellite imagery collected on 6 May shows Russian forces have concentrated at least seven Pantsir-1 medium-range air defence systems around Russian president Vladimir Putin’s residence in Valdai, Leningrad oblast, according to the US-based think tank The Institute for the Study of War.

The images were first shared by the Russian service of Radio Liberty showing the bulky air defence system in a compound on the leader’s residence amid lush forest.

The drone strikes, which have successfully hit Russian air bases, have forced the Russian military command to prioritise limited air defence assets to cover what it deems high-value targets, the ISW said. The move could be futile as Ukrainian drones can still bypass the air defence coverage to strike from uncovered directions, experts told ISW.

“Such ‘focal’ air defence coverage (static coverage of a singular target) is meaningless at scale because it allows Ukrainian drones to bypass Russian air defence coverage and strike from uncovered directions,” said Ruslan Pukhov, the head of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies and a member of a Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) civilian advisory board.

It added that the Russian military apparently lacks the required conventional air defence systems to protect all critical facilities within western Russia and has even struggled to cover important potential targets in reportedly well-defended areas within Russia.

Top EU officials will boycott informal meetings hosted by Hungary while the country has the EU’s rotating presidency, after Hungary’s pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Orban held a series of rogue meetings with foreign leaders about Ukraine that angered European partners.

The highly unusual decision to have the European Commission president and other top officials of the body boycott the meetings was made ‘’in light of recent developments marking the start of the Hungarian (EU) presidency,” commission spokesperson Eric Mamer posted Monday on X.

China and Russia have begun live-fire naval exercises in the South China Sea, and have deployed at least three vessels each for the three-day exercises despite mounting criticism of Beijing from Nato.

Last week, China was slammed by Nato for being “decisive enabler” of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The exercises will see the two countries engage in live-fire training, reconnaissance and early warning drills, search and rescue, and air defence, according to a state-run Chinese publication yesterday evening, which quoted the Chinese military’s South Sea Fleet.

Military official Wang Guangzheng told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV that “the China-Russia joint patrol has promoted the deepening and practical cooperation between the two in multiple directions and fields”.

“And [it has] effectively enhanced the ability of the two sides to jointly respond to maritime security threats.”

The participating vessels set off from a naval port in Zhanjiang in southern China’s Guangdong province on Monday, the report added, citing a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy statement.

The report did not specify where in the contested waterway the drills would take place. The drills follow the completion of a separate joint naval patrol in the north Pacific, other state media said.

China claims control over almost the entire South China Sea, including the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippines maintains a rusty warship that it deliberately grounded in 1999 to reinforce its maritime claims and which has been central to a recent standoff between the two countries.

On some evenings, Ukrainian mother Margaryta Zakharchuk wanders around her neighbourhood in the sweltering heat waiting for the electricity to come back on so she can take the lift to her 12th-floor apartment.

“We walk around outside until 10 o’clock so we don’t need to climb up with two kids,” she said.

Zakharchuk, 43, is among the millions of Ukrainians struggling amid a record heat wave compounded by regular power cuts that make household appliances like air conditioning units and refrigerators useless.

The chief of Russia’s general staff, Valery Gerasimov, thanked Russian forces for capturing the village of Urozhaine in Ukraine‘s eastern Donetsk region, Russia’s defence ministry said.

Officials in Kyiv have still neither confirmed nor denied reports that Russia has captured the village, which first fell to Russian forces shortly after the onset of the 2022 invasion and was liberated by Ukraine last year.

The Russian defence ministry first claimed the capture of Urozhaine on Sunday and its latest account said Gerasimov had heard a report from a commander of the “east” group of forces.

“Summing up the report, the chief of staff noted the success of the ‘east’ group in liberating the locality of Urozhaine and set new tasks for further activity,” the ministry said in a statement. The report gave no further details.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces made no mention of Urozhaine in its late evening report, but reported fighting in two areas further north in Donetsk region.

However, Ukrainian war bloggers posted what they described as a Russian video showing Moscow’s forces planting a flag atop the Urozhaine administration building.

One Ukrainian military blog, Realna Viyna (Real War), said Ukrainian forces had pulled out of Urozhaine and the village of Krynky in southern Kherson region weeks ago.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson has claimed that Donald Trump “will be strong and decisive” in his support of Ukraine and in “defending democracy”.

The Conservative ex-premier was in Washington this week to attend the Republican National Conference in Milwaukee, where Mr Trump was named the party’s official candidate in the upcoming US presidential elections.

“Great to meet President Trump who is on top form after the shameful attempt on his life. We discussed Ukraine and I have no doubt that he will be strong and decisive in supporting that country and defending democracy,” he said.

After a photograph circulated showing him giving a speech to a near-empty room at the conference on Tuesday, Mr Johnson later shared an image of himself meeting with Mr Trump, just days after the ex-president survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.

Speaking on Monday, Mr Zelensky welcomed the package, without saying exactly how many jets it will be made up of.

The accession of Ukraine to Nato would be a declaration of war against Moscow, Vladimir Putin’s close aide and former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said. He warned that only “prudence” on behalf of the alliance could prevent the planet being shattered into pieces.

Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and a leading voice among the Kremlin’s hawks, told the news outlet Argumenty I Fakty that Ukraine’s membership would go beyond a direct threat to Moscow’s security.

“This, in essence, would be a declaration of war – albeit with a delay,” he said in remarks published on Wednesday.

“The actions that Russia’s opponents have been taking against us for years, expanding the alliance… take Nato to the point of no return.”

Medvedev claimed Russia did not threaten Nato but would respond to the alliance’s attempts to advance its interests.

“The more such attempts there are, the harsher our answers will become,” Medvedev said. “Whether this will shatter the entire planet into pieces depends solely on the prudence of (Nato) side.”

His threat comes after the leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation pledged at their summit last week to support Ukraine on an “irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including Nato membership,” but left open when that membership could happen.

He also reiterated Moscow’s line that the appointment of Mark Rutte as the head of Nato will not change the alliance’s stance.

“For Russia, nothing will change, since key decisions are made not by Nato member countries, but by one state – the United States,” Medvedev said.

Ukraine‘s parliament voted on Tuesday to scrap taxes and duties on imports of energy equipment as the country battles a severe energy crisis due to Russian bombardments.

Over the past three months, Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities have left millions facing extended blackouts as well as a lack of water and air conditioning during the summer heat.

The parliament approved two laws to cancel customs duties and value-added tax on imports of equipment for electric generators, wind and solar generation, and powerful accumulators, said Danyo Hetmantsev, a senior lawmaker.

Russia has stepped up its aerial attacks on the Ukrainian power sector since March, knocking out the bulk of thermal and hydropower generation. Ukraine has since lost about half of its available generation capacity.

Another lawmaker, Dmytro Razumkov, hailed the move as “the right step” and urged his colleagues to consider more legislative changes to extend preferential import rules to generators, inverters, power banks, and other equipment until June 2026.

“It is no longer possible to imagine life and work without generators and charging stations,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.

“In autumn and winter, demand for them will only increase, along with prices. So we have to act now.”

On some evenings, Ukrainian mother Margaryta Zakharchuk wanders around her neighbourhood in the sweltering heat waiting for the electricity to come back on so she can take the lift to her 12th-floor apartment.

“We walk around outside until 10 o’clock so we don’t need to climb up with two kids,” she said.

Zakharchuk, 43, is among the millions of Ukrainians struggling amid a record heat wave compounded by regular power cuts that make household appliances like air conditioning units and refrigerators useless.