Ukraine: 4 killed in Russian raid in Dnipro. From London £500m for air defence

In the Synelnykove district, which was attacked by Russian forces on Wednesday, the death toll has risen to four. The head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, Oleksandr Hanzha, said this on Telegram, as reported by Ukrinform. "According to updated information, four people were killed and three wounded as a result of enemy attacks in the Synelnykove district," Hanzha wrote. As reported by Ukrinform, Russian troops attacked Synelnykove and Nikopol districts in the Dnipropetrovsk region, killing two people and wounding three.

On the other hand, Russian air defences tonight shot down 106 Ukrainian drones in several Russian regions, the Moscow Defence Ministry quoted by the Russian news agency Tass said. A missile attack caused a fire at a military installation in southern Russia overnight, forcing authorities to evacuate the population of a nearby village. This was reported by the regional governor. "Air defence units of the Russian Defence Ministry repelled a missile attack against the territory of the Volgograd region," Governor Andrei Botcharov said on Telegram. "A fire occurred as a result of falling debris on the territory of a Defence Ministry site near the village of Kotlouban," he added.

The UK meanwhile announced that it will urgently supply new missiles and air defence systems worth over £500 million to Ukraine to protect it from Putin's brutal attacks on energy sites and homes. The Defence Secretary today co-chaired the 33rd meeting of the Contact Group on the Defence of Ukraine at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The Defence Secretary confirms that the UK will for the first time provide £150 million to the Nato Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (Purl) initiative, which ensures the rapid delivery of air defence interceptors to defend Ukraine's skies.

The PURL initiative calls for NATO to coordinate the purchase of world-class defence equipment from the US for the defence of Ukraine. At the same time, the UK is set to supply an additional 1,000 light multirole missiles (LMMs), manufactured in Belfast, which will be critical in defending Ukrainian infrastructure and cities from increasing drone and missile attacks by Russia. This £390 million deal builds on the growing collaboration between UK and Ukrainian industry to transfer the production and support of Rapid Ranger launchers and command and control vehicles to Ukraine. In the coming months, the UK will also supply a further 1,200 air defence missiles and 200,000 artillery munitions to the defenders of Ukraine through the Air Defence Consortium