Ukraine-Russia war: Latest updates

Good morning, and welcome to our overview of the war between Russia and Ukraine as it rolls into another week.

The big news of the weekend came from the Middle East as Iran launched a significant missile and drone attack on Israel. Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack and said Ukraine knows "very well the horror of similar attacks by Russia".

Meanwhile, a Kremlin-installed official in the southern Zaporizhzhia region said 16 people were killed in an attack on the occupied town of Tokmak, which Russia has blamed on Ukraine. Two  people were also killed in a separate shelling in the Russian-occupied Kherson region.

While our live coverage remains paused, we've zoomed out to give you the bigger picture of the war today.

The frontline

Concerns appear to be increasing that Ukraine's defences may be at risk of collapse in the face of a new Russian assault. 

Sources in numerous media outlets over the past couple of weeks have raised this fear as Ukraine is facing shortages of both manpower and ammunition, and appears outmanned and outgunned on the battlefield.

Western officials told Bloomberg the country is now at its most fragile moment since the war began. 

Ukraine's military chief said on Saturday that the battlefield situation in the east had "significantly worsened in recent days" and that Moscow had ramped up its assaults since Vladimir Putin extended his rule in the Russian presidential election.

Reports also suggest Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, could be among the targets for a renewed Russian assault. 

Kharkiv has faced intense bombardment from Russia in recent months, coming under fire from S-300 ballistic missiles and glide bombs, and was the target of repeated attacks last week. 

The city is not the most likely target of a fresh assault, media reports say, but Russian news outlets have raised the prospect. 

'Massive strikes' on energy infrastructure 

Overnight into Thursday saw a huge assault on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, with 40 missiles and 40 drones reportedly sent into the country by Russia. 

A thermal power plant just outside Kyiv was completely destroyed and went up in flames, while 200,000 residents in Kharkiv were left without power. 

Vladimir Putin later said he had been "obliged" to attack Ukraine's energy infrastructure after Kyiv conducted attacks on Russian oil refineries.

Attacks at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Russia accused Ukraine of attacking the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in a series of drone strikes over three days. 

The attacks at the Russian-occupied plant began on 7 April, with the roof of reactor 6 damaged. 

Ukraine has repeatedly denied involvement and said it would never target a nuclear facility, suggesting Russia was behind the attacks.

The UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, has warned the "reckless" attacks "significantly increase the risk of a major nuclear accident". 

It has not said who it believes is behind the attacks. 

Civilian casualties increase sharply

The UN recorded a dramatic increase in civilian casualties in Ukraine in the last month. 

At least 57 children were killed or injured in March - double the number in February - as Russian forces stepped up their attacks. 

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission said it had verified at least 604 civilians killed or injured in Ukraine in March, a 20% increase from the previous month. 

"The March increase in civilian casualties was mainly due to attacks by the Russian armed forces using missiles and loitering munitions across Ukraine and increased aerial bombardments near the frontline," the Rights Office said.

It followed warnings from Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine country could run out of air defence missiles if Russia keeps up its intense bombing campaign. 

On Saturday, Uk

At least 10 people, including children, have been killed by shelling in a Russian-occupied town in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region, a local Kremlin-installed official said.

International diplomacy

In a rare meeting between a head of state and a minister, Chinese President Xi Jinping met Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for talks on Monday. 

The pair met in the Chinese capital, where they pledged to strengthen communication. 

It was also a big week of diplomatic talks for the UK foreign secretary, who headed to Washington to appeal to Congress over the stalled multi-billion-dollar aid package for Ukraine. 

Lord Cameron made what was seen by some as an unusual trip to visit Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago - likely because Republicans blocking the aid bill in the House of Representatives are aligned with Mr Trump. 

The foreign secretary was tight-lipped about what was discussed afterwards, saying the pair had "discussed a range of important geopolitical subjects". 

While live coverage of the war remains paused, here's a quick round-up of the key updates: 

• Two people were killed by Ukrainian strikes on the Russian-held parts of Kherson, the Moscow-installed regional governor said;
• Russia's defence ministry said its air defence systems destroyed 10 Ukraine-launched drones over the Krasnodar region in southern Russia and five drones over the Black Sea overnight; 
  
• Ukraine similarly claimed to have downed 10 Russian drones;
• The death toll in Zaporizhzhia from yesterday's attack, which Russia blames on Ukraine, rose to 16;
• President Zelenskyy condemned last night's attack by Iran on Israel.

While we haven't been able to bring you live updates today, we have been keeping an eye on what's been happening in the Ukraine conflict. 

Here's a quick round-up of the key updates so far: 

At least 10 people, including children, have been killed by shelling in a Russian-occupied town in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region, a local Kremlin-installed official said.

A Ukrainian rocket also struck a machine-building plant in Russian-occupied Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, injuring three civilians, according to Moscow-based official Vladimir Rogov.

Meanwhile, Russia has claimed to have taken a village in Ukraine's Donetsk region. 

Russia's defence ministry said the capturing of Pervomaiske had improved its tactical position on the frontline. 

Ukraine's army chief has also warned the situation on the eastern front had deteriorated in recent days, with Moscow's forces intensifying its armoured assaults. 

Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said battles were still raging for control of a village west of the devastated Bakhmut - an area that has seen some of the bloodiest fighting throughout the war.

We'll be back tomorrow morning with more updates on the war in Ukraine.

Two Biden administration officials have revealed the extent of China's involvement in Russia's war on Ukraine.

The officials spoke to Reuters news agency and said China has massively increased its sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology to Moscow.

These items are important because Russia is using them to make tanks, aircraft, missiles and other weapons for the war.

They also said:

• About 90% of Russia's microelectronics came from China
• Nearly 70% of Russia's approximately $900m in machine tool imports in the last quarter of last year came from China
  
• Chinese and Russian entities have been working together to make drones in Russia
• China is helping Russia improve its satellite and other space-based capabilities for use in the war. This could increase the threat Russia poses across Europe

US President Joe Biden has previously raised concerns with Chinese President Xi Jinping about Beijing's indirect involvement in the war.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen returned this week from a visit to Beijing and said she had warned China that the Biden administration was prepared to sanction Chinese banks, companies and Beijing's leadership if they helped Russia's military in the war.

She has already been given the go-ahead from Mr Biden to sanction financial institutions that help Russia's military-industrial complex.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to travel to China for talks next month.

Russia, increasingly isolated economically and diplomatically, has become more reliant on China in recent months.

One official said Chinese materials are helping Moscow undertake its "most ambitious defence expansion since the Soviet era and on a faster timeline than we believed possible early on in this conflict".

"Our view is that one of the most game-changing moves available to us at this time to support Ukraine is to persuade the PRC (China) to stop helping Russia reconstitute its military industrial base. Russia would struggle to sustain its war effort without PRC input," the official said. 

Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu told Reuters that Beijing has not provided weapons to any party and that it is "not a producer of or party involved in the Ukraine crisis".

"We urge the US side to refrain from disparaging and scapegoating the normal relationship between China and Russia."

If Russia defeats Ukraine it will be a "turning point in history", former UK prime minister Boris Johnson says.

Writing in the Daily Mail, he criticised Western countries for not providing Ukraine with the weapons it needs to defeat Russia.

"Every week in which we fail to do the obvious — and give the Ukrainians the weapons they need — is a week in which Putin gets closer to his disgusting ambition, to torture a European country to death.

"Every day the pressure on the Ukrainians is growing — and yet the solution is within our grasp."

Mr Johnson, who visited Ukraine a number of times during his premiership, said: "A defeat for Ukraine would usher in a new era of fear in the whole Euro-Atlantic area, as Putin continues his drive to rebuild the Soviet empire: from the Baltics to Georgia to Moldova to Central Asia to the Arctic.

"It will be a terrifying moment for the people of Taiwan and the clearest possible signal to China that the West has lost the willpower to protect democracy.

"It will be a turning point in history, the moment when the West finally loses its post-war hegemony, the moment when borders everywhere are suddenly up for grabs and aggression is seen to pay — and all because of a failure to stand up for Ukraine."

Mr Johnson warned the world is "on a knife-edge, with a real risk that Western democracies are about to be humiliated, and autocracies emboldened around the world — because of our lassitude, our pathetic refusal to do what is necessary".

He said Ukraine is so short of shells that its troops sometimes have to wait under Russian bombardment because they can't fire back.

The shortage of air defences means Kharkiv, the second-largest city, is "in danger of being turned into another Mariupol", he added.

Ukrainians were able to intercept 90% of incoming strikes, he said, but now "we are starving them, for reasons I do not understand, of the protective shields they need".

Mr Johnson called on the US Congress to approve a $60bn military aid package earmarked for Ukraine and on the Germans to supply Taurus missiles.

The West - including Britain - needs to "snap out of our sleep-walk", he said, adding: "The simplest and most cost-effective way to defend freedom is to invest now in the defence of Ukraine."

Rescue workers in Ukraine have saved five puppies from under the debris of a destroyed building.

The non-residential building was on fire in the north-eastern city of Sumy, close to the border with Russia.

A video from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine showed the firefighters cuddling the squealing puppies and rinsing them off with water.

In a post of the emergency service's Telegram channel, officials said the "little ones" were not injured.

"This rescue story reminds us of the importance of human compassion and the willingness to help everyone, regardless of the circumstances," they added.

Ex-armed forces minister James Heappey has told Sky's defence and security editor Deborah Haynes the UK should consider sending its forces to Ukraine to train troops.  

On the Sky News Daily, host Tom Cheshire talks to her and Sky's military analyst Professor Michael Clarke about the interview with Mr Heappey, who stepped down from his role last month.  

They assess the bleak situation in Ukraine and why the conflict is at a critical stage. They also discuss how prepared the UK would be if it faced a war in the near future.

A former Ukrainian secret service employee has been injured in Moscow after a device under his car exploded.

Vasily Prozorov suffered leg injuries that are not considered life threatening after the device detonated as he tried to start his car, Radio Free Europe cited Russian media as saying.

According to RFE, Mr Prozorov worked for Ukraine's SBU until 2018.

The following year, he told media in Moscow that he had collaborated with Russia "for ideological reasons" from April 2014 until he left the SBU.

These photos show the damage to a thermal power plant in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine.

A massive missile and drone attack destroyed and damaged a number of power plants across Ukraine overnight, part of a renewed Russian campaign targeting energy infrastructure.

The Trypilska plant, which was the biggest energy supplier for the Kyiv, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions, was struck numerous times, destroying the transformer, turbines and generators.

Vladimir Putin said the attacks were a response to Ukrainian strikes that targeted Russian oil refineries.

In Kharkiv, there were at least 10 other strikes on energy infrastructure, resulting in damage like that seen in these photos.

Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said more than 200,000 people in the region were without power.

Herman Halushchenko, its energy minister, said it was a "large scale, enormous, missile attack that affected our energy sector very badly".