Russia says China ties are strong as Cameron asks Trump to support Ukraine – war live

Three people were killed in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine‘s southern Kherson region by Ukrainian shelling on Monday, the Russian-installed regional head Vladimir Saldo has claimed.

Six northern Europe countries bordering the North Sea said Tuesday that they have signed an agreement to work together to protect underwater infrastructure in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean from an increased risk of sabotage.

The Danish Ministry for Climate, Energy and Utilities called the North Sea a hub for critical infrastructure that connects Europe through electricity cables, gas pipes and telecommunications connections and is an important source of renewable energy.

Ukraine‘s military spy agency GUR struck a main production facility of a Russian aviation factory in Russia’s Voronezh region, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters.

Russia’s defence ministry said earlier on Tuesday that two drones were downed over the region.

The source said the 711th aviation repair plant in the town of Borisoglebsk was hit. It did not provide any details of the scale of the damage.

The town is at least 350 kilometres away from the Ukrainian government-held side of the front line in the northeast.

Reuters could not independently verify the accounts.

Kyiv has recently stepped up attacks deep in Russia’s territory, targeting military facilities and energy infrastructure that helps Moscow’s war effort. It mostly uses various types of long-range domestically produced drones.

An extraordinary meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors called by Russia to discuss attacks on the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine is due to be held on Thursday, three diplomats said on Tuesday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has yet to announce a date for the meeting. The Board’s rules state that any country on it, including Russia, can call a meeting. Russia’s ambassador to the IAEA said on Monday that Russia had done so.

The foreign secretary is visiting the former US president despite previously calling him “divisive, stupid and wrong”. It was the first meeting between a senior British minister and the former Republican president since he left office in 2021.

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.”

China supports the holding of a timely conference between Russia and Ukraine, which will recognise equal participation of all parties and discuss all peace proposals on an equal footing, the Chinese foreign ministry quoted Foreign Minister Wang Yi as saying on Tuesday.

Wang made the remarks in a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Beijing, ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a press briefing.

Below are some of the latest photos from Ukraine

A Ukraine-launched, anti-ship Neptune missile was destroyed over the Black Sea, and four drones were downed over the Belgorod and Voronezh regions, the Russian Ministry of Defence has claimed.

“Duty air defence systems destroyed four Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the territories of the Belgorod (2 UAVs) and Voronezh (2 UAVs) regions, and (the Neptune) Ukrainian missile was destroyed over the Black Sea off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.