Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s forces bombard Zelensky’s hometown for second night in drone attack

As the drumbeat of war continues across the Middle East, with clashes in multiple countries raising fears of a wider conflict, the mercenaries of Russia’s Wagner Group are once again getting back to action.

Ukraine‘s air defences downed nine of 14 Russian drones in an overnight attack that hit energy infrastructure in the city of Kryvyi Rih, the air force and regional officials said on Saturday.

It is the second drone attack in two days on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said energy facilities were hit, resulting in electricity cut-offs for thousands of people.

In some districts water supplies and heating were also disrupted as temperatures hovered just below freezing. Hospitals were switched to generators for electricity supplies, he said.

The air force said in a statement that the Iranian-made Shahed drones were shot down over four Ukrainian regions in the centre and south of the country.

Our world affairs editor Kim Sengupta reports:

As the drumbeat of war continues across the Middle East, with clashes in multiple countries raising fears of a wider conflict, the mercenaries of Russia’s Wagner Group are once again getting back to action.

Eight months after Wagner’s march on Moscow ultimately failed; six months after Yevgeny Prigozhin and his senior commanders were blown out of the sky in Vladimir Putin’s retribution, the fighters are being recalled to arms with the Kremlin’s blessing.

The snowy fastness of Ukraine has been replaced by the sand and savanna of Africa. There is a new banner to fight under – Africa Corps, a name echoing Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s German Afrika Korps which took part in the momentous campaign against British and allied forces in Libya in the Second World War.

The Hamas attack on Israel three months ago has led to combat across land, air and sea around the region, with carnage continuing in Gaza and missile strikes and targeted assassinations in the Gulf, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and even Pakistan.

In this increasingly incendiary scenario, the former Wagner Group is consolidating its presence in Libya and Sudan, part of a highly volatile region, as well as reinforcing in African states where it has replaced departed Western forces.

If Donald Trump is elected president of the United States, Poland may have to decide whether it wishes to “lead a coalition of European states who would want to defeat Russia in Ukraine”, an analyst has said.

Writing on X/Twitter, Phillips P OBrien – professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrew’s – said: “Watch Poland very closely, particularly if the US doesn’t approve aid and then elects Trump.

“Poland will have to decide then whether it’s up to it to lead a coalition of European states who would want to defeat Russia in Ukraine. And they have the military that could do it

“People don’t always realise that the US, while helping Ukraine, has also restrained Nato states in Central/Eastern Europe who are committed to Russian defeat. If the US abandons Ukraine and goes Trump, those states will now decide what’s in their interest vis a vis Russia.”

The Ukrainian Air Force claims to have damaged at least three Russian military aircraft at an airfield in occupied Crimea, according to the Kyiv Independent.

The attack on the airfield Sevastopol on Wednesday was carried out using Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles, a source previously claimed to Ukrainska Pravda. Russia claimed to have shot down all of the missiles.

Lithuania has delivered thousands of rounds of ammunition for anti-tank grenade launchers to Ukraine, its ministry of defence has said.

“Our commitment to support Ukraine is not just solidarity, it’s an investment in Europe’s security,” the ministry said.

“If you’re a journalist and the government wants to kill you – you’re doing it right.”

Those are the chilling words of broadcaster Irina Babloyan, who, until Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, hosted Russia’s most popular morning radio show.

But stalked by the Federal Security Service (FSB) and taken off the air within days of the war starting, the journalist felt compelled to leave Moscow for her own safety.

Little did she realise, like so many of Putin’s critics, she would also suffer symptoms of suspected poisoning that left her skin “burning all the time”.

Read more in this report:

Vladimir Putin today described his war in Ukraine as a battle for Russia’s survival as he campaigned for re-election next month, in a ballot he is all but certain to win.

Speaking at a meeting with arms industries workers in the city of Tula south of Moscow, Putin claimed the vast majority of Russians support his course of action. “If the public hadn’t felt that way, nothing would have happened,” he said. “We are doing what people expect us to do.”

He again argued that sending troops into Ukraine was necessary to protect Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine and stop what he described as attempts by Washington and its Nato allies to encroach on Moscow’s vital security interests. Ukraine and its Western allies have denounced it as an unprovoked act of aggression.

“If we hadn’t protected our people … we would have turned into a weak country lacking self-sufficiency that no one cares for,” he said. “They would have patronizingly patted us on the shoulder and given us rotten potatoes as humanitarian assistance while thinking how to chip away pieces from us.”

Greece’s annual Agrotica trade fair traditionally gives farmers a chance see the latest equipment and agricultural innovations. This year, the event is a focal point for their long-standing frustrations.

Tractors lined up Friday around the conference center hosting the event in the northern city of Thessaloniki to underline their determination to escalate protests over rising production costs by blocking highways.

In recent months, similar protests have swept Europe as farmers on the continent take their grievances over inflation, foreign competition and the costs of combating climate change to the streets.

National leaders, seeking to calm the essential sector of their economies after the turmoil caused by the pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine, are racing to offer financial concessions in the months before elections for the European Union parliament in June.

Derek Gatopoulos and Costas Kantouris have more in this report: