Ukraine-Russia war live: Kyiv foils latest drone and missile attacks by Putin’s forces as Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant hit again

Ukraine and Britain have signed a framework agreement to cooperate in the defence and arms production sector, officials said in Kyiv, part of a wartime effort to build up Ukraine’s domestic weapons industry by working with allies.

The document was signed at a military industry conference in Kyiv that was attended by about 30 British defence companies who visited to discuss potential joint ventures with Ukrainian weapons and defence producers.

“It is the first intergovernmental agreement on cooperation,” Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ukraine’s Minister for Strategic Industries, told reporters after the signing ceremony.

“Today British companies are working with Ukrainian companies and looking for opportunities to produce more weapons jointly.”

Greg Hands, UK Minister for Trade Policy, said he hoped the agreement would bring gains for Ukraine on the battlefield and also benefit its battered economy in the longer term.

Kyiv has downed dozens of Putin’s drones and two guided missiles as Ukraine was accused of hitting a Russian-controlled nuclear power plant.

The Ukrainian Air Force claimed 14 out of 17 attack drones launched by Moscow were downed and two of several guided missiles targeting Odesa and Mykolaiv were destroyed.

Energy infrastructure in Mykolaiv was damaged as a result of the attack, disrupting power supply for several hours. There were no casualties in the attacks, the military said.

A wider war in Europe is “no longer a fantasty” and the continent should prepare for war with Russia, the EU’s top diplomat warned.

“Russia threatens Europe,” both through its ongoing war in Ukraine and hybrid attacks on EU member states, Josep Borrell said.

“War is certainly looming around us,” said Mr Borrell. “A high-intensity, conventional war in Europe is no longer a fantasy.”

Volodymyr Zelensky invited US presidential candidate Donald Trump to Ukraine, saying he was open to hearing his proposal for ending the war.

The Ukrainian president, however, was sceptical about suggestions involving giving up the captured region to Russia, saying such a deal would pave the way for more Russian conquest in the future.

“If the deal is that we just give up our territories, and that’s the idea behind it, then it’s a very primitive idea,” Mr Zelensky told The Politico.

“I need very strong arguments. I don’t need a fantastic idea, I need a real idea, because people’s lives are at stake.”

Russians in the city of Orsk gathered in a rare protest Monday calling for compensation following the collapse of a dam and subsequent flooding in the Orenburg region near the border with Kazakhstan.

Protests are an unusual sight in Russia where authorities have consistently cracked down on any form of dissent following President Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine. Hundreds of people gathered in front of the administrative building in Orsk Monday, Russian state news agency Tass said, while videos shared on Russian social media channels showed people chanting “Putin, help us,” and “shame.”