Russia launches massive missile attack on Ukraine as Nato defence ministers meet in Brussels – Europe live | Europe

A missile strike on the Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukraine border on Thursday killed six people, including a child, and injured 18 others, a Russian official said. It was the latest in exchanges of long-range missile and rocket fire in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Hours earlier, Russia fired two dozen cruise and ballistic missiles at a broad area of Ukraine, hitting multiple regions after a midnight strike in Ukraine’s northeast killed five people in an apartment building, authorities said.

Five of the 18 people injured in Belgorod, a city of about 340,000 people, were children, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. Tass news agency reported that 15 people were hospitalized.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, said in a post on Telegram that 5 people were killed and 18 injured in a Ukrainian missile attack.

France and Ukraine will sign a bilateral agreement on security commitments tomorrow, the Elysee has announced, Reuters reported.

The agreement was expected to be finalised in Ukraine, but the French president, Emmanuel Macron, had postponed his trip.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is set to visit France and Germany.

Lisa O’Carroll

The World Bank, the European Commission, and the United Nations have increased their estimates for the total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine to $486 billion (€452.8 billion) over the next decade, up from $411 billion (€383 billion) estimated one year ago.

In a joint statement they said:

In 2024 alone, Ukrainian authorities estimate the country will need around $15 billion (€14 billion) for immediate reconstruction and recovery priorities at both the national and community level, with a particular focus on supporting and mobilising the private sector alongside restoration of housing, soft infrastructure and services, energy, and transport.

The figures highlight the urgency of the EU’s commitment to deliver €50bn in a new Ukraine facility to find schools, housing, pensions and health services at an emergency leaders meeting last month.

Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s prime minister, said:

We see that the needs for reconstruction have continued to grow over the past year.

The main resource for Ukraine’s recovery should be the confiscation of Russian assets frozen in the West. We need to start this process already this year.

Concurrently, the Ukrainian government is creating conditions to attract private investments, which will accelerate the reconstruction process and transform our country on its path to the EU.

Boris Pistorius, the German defence minister, underscored when arriving at the Nato defence ministers’ meeting this morning the “75 years of the transatlantic security partnership on the basis of mutual trust.”

Germany, he said, along with along with 17 other Nato allies, “will reach the agreed 2% target this year.”

He added:

Our aim must be to be the backbone of conventional deterrence and defence in Europe with other partners.

Grant Shapps, the British defence secretary, said that the UK will co-lead a major drone capability coalition with Latvia for Ukraine.

I’m proud to announce that the UK and Latvia will co-lead an international coalition to build Ukraine’s vital drone capabilities.

Together, we will give Ukraine the capabilities it needs to defend itself and win this war, to ensure that Putin fails in his illegal and barbaric ambitions.

Senior US official warns of security threat amid reports of Russian nuclear capability in space

Julian Borger

The head of the House intelligence committee, Mike Turner, has called for the Biden administration to declassify information on what he called a “serious national security threat”, which was later reported to involve Russian plans to deploy nuclear weapons in space.

In his statement, Turner, an Ohio Republican, gave no details about the supposed security threat.

Talking to reporters at the White House later on Wednesday, the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, expressed surprise at Turner’s statement saying he was due to meet the “gang of eight” (congressional leaders with special security clearance for classified briefings) on Thursday. But Sullivan did not give any details of the planned meeting.

ABC News and the New York Times cited unnamed sources as saying that the security threat Turner was referring to involved Russia’s potential deployment of a nuclear anti-satellite weapon in space.

The New York Times said US allies had also been briefed on the intelligence, which was not deemed to represent an urgent threat, as the alleged Russian capability was still in development.

Read the full story here.

Arriving at today’s meeting of defence ministers, the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, told reporters that “supporting Ukraine is not charity” and that helping Kyiv “is an investment in our own security.”

He said ministers will discuss their support to Ukraine and strengthening the alliance’s deterrence and defence.

He added:

And to do both, we need to invest more, and we are on the right track. Because we now have historic numbers when it comes to defence investments. Last year, we saw an 11% real increase in defence spending across Europe and Canada. This year, we expect 18 Allies to meet the target of spending 2% of GDP on defence. And European Allies together spend 280 billion US dollars on defence. And this is 2% of their combined GDP.

But we still have a way to go. Because at our summit in Vilnius last year, all allies promised to spend 2% of GDP on defence, and 2% is a minimum.

Addressing today’s session with Ukraine’s representatives, Stoltenberg said:

We will address how to sustain our support to Ukraine. We see that our support is making a difference on the battlefield every day. Just yesterday, the Ukrainians were able to strike successfully a Russian naval ship, and this demonstrates the skills and the competence of Ukrainian armed forces, also in conducting deep strikes behind the Russian lines.

He also stressed that Nato allies need to boost production of ammunition.

To ensure that Ukraine gets the weapons, the supplies, the ammunitions they need, we need to ramp up production. And NATO allies have, just over the last months – since we agreed the defence investment plan – agreed and signed contracts for 10 billion euros, for more orders from different parts of the transatlantic defence industry.

Russia launches massive missile attack on Ukraine

Shaun Walker

Air alert warnings sounded across Ukraine overnight as Russia launched a massive missile attack on the country. Ukrainian authorities reported the take-off of several Tu-95 strategic bombers in the early hours of Thursday morning, with explosions heard soon after.

In Dnipro, a series loud explosions were audible shortly after 6am in the centre of the city. There were also reports of explosions in Zaporizhzhia, the capital Kyiv and the western city of Lviv. Andriy Sadoviy, the mayor of Lviv, said ten Russian missiles had been aimed at the Lviv region.

In Zaporizhzhia, close to the front line with Russian forces, there were reports of a damaged apartment building. There was no information immediately available about casualties.

Good morning and welcome back to the Europe blog.

Today we will be delving into the Nato defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels, which will include a session of the Nato-Ukraine Council.

We will also keep you updated on all the latest in Ukraine.