Ukraine-Russia war live: Moscow launches massive daytime attack with over 200 drones across Ukraine

At least 800 Russian drones have been launched towards Ukrainian territory since midnight, Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on social media on Wednesday afternoon.

Zelensky said that Moscow was “clearly trying to disrupt the overall political atmosphere and draw attention to its evil” with the attacks to coincide with Donald Trump’s visit to China.

“Our warriors are defending Ukraine, but Russia’s obvious aim is to overload air defense systems and inflict as much grief and pain as possible specifically during these days,” he said.

“It is important that the world does not remain silent about this. It is important that Russia’s true intentions are made clear to leaders and countries. It is important to apply real pressure on the Russian aggressor so that this terror is brought to an end.”

Russia’s leader is showing increasing signs of weakness, while Ukraine is growing in confidence as the war turns Kyiv’s way, writes world affairs editor Sam Kiley.

Russia’s repeated airspace breaches of countries ⁠on the eastern flank underline ⁠the ​urgent need to ⁠consolidate Nato’s ⁠air defences ​against missiles ⁠and drones, ‌eastern flank leaders said in ‌a joint ‌statement.

The statement ⁠also said that expanding the transatlantic defence industrial base by boosting production ‌capacities, strengthening ​supply chains ‌and ⁠efficient multinational procurement ⁠was necessary ‌to ​address ‌security challenges.

The German defense ministry is not ⁠concerned about the increased presence ⁠of ​Russian warships ⁠in the Baltic ⁠Sea, a ​spokesperson ⁠said.

This is “nothing out of ‌the ordinary”, ‌said the spokesperson in ⁠Berlin, adding that nothing suggest that Russia’s actions there are not in ‌accordance with ​international ‌maritime ⁠law.

Debris from a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire this morning at a gas processing plant in Russia’s southern Astrakhan region, the local governor said.

“All enemy aircraft ⁠were either shot down ​or ⁠neutralised by electronic ‌warfare systems,” Igor Babushkin wrote on ‌Telegram.

“The debris caused ‌a fire,” he said.

Babushkin said there were no casualties or injuries and that the fire was expected to be extinguished within a few hours.

The plant ‌is located near ​the Caspian ‌Sea, some ⁠1,675km (1,040 miles) ⁠from the Ukrainian ‌border.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said Russia would welcome further US mediation efforts and claimed that the Russian president Vladimir Putin was prepared to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in person once the peace process was finalised.

“And for that finalisation, in order to put a full stop to it, a great ‌deal of preparatory work still needs to be done,” he said, adding ​that the conflict could end as soon as Kyiv and Zelensky “take the necessary ‌decision”.

Peskov also repeated claims from Putin on the war coming to an end and said a certain amount of trilateral work with Ukraine and the United States had been done towards winding down the war, now in its fifth year.

“This accumulated groundwork in terms of the peace process allows us to say that the completion is indeed approaching,” Peskov told reporters, though he added ⁠it was difficult to provide specific details at the current time.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that many positive things were being said ⁠about the enormous potential of US-Russia relations, but that in reality “nothing is happening”.

“The sanctions imposed under him ⁠have remained in force. Moreover, the Trump administration has adopted ‌its own initiatives ​in order to punish ‌Russia’s economy,” he said this morning.

Lavrov said that “good words” about ​cooperation ⁠on technology, energy and ‌other projects had so far come to nothing, but that Moscow appreciated Trump’s initiation of dialogue ‌with Moscow.

“However, nothing is happening in real life,” said Lavrov.

Lavrov added that the dialogue with Moscow that did occur was in the same vein as that under former US president Joe Biden.

“Aside from this regular dialogue – which ‌is normal in relations between people and ​countries – everything else follows the pattern initiated ‌by President Biden,” ⁠Lavrov said.