Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,239

Fighting

A Russian air raid on a shopping centre and market in Dobropillia, eastern Ukraine, killed at least two people, wounded 22 others and caused widespread damage on Wednesday, the regional governor, Vadym Filashkin, said. Filashkin said the building was struck by a 500kg (1,100-pound) bomb at 5:20pm (14:20 GMT).

Russia launched 400 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as one ballistic missile, on Wednesday night, the Ukrainian air force said. The strikes targeted the northeastern city of Kharkiv, the central city of Kryvyi Rih, Vinnytsia in the west, and Odesa in the south.

A Ukrainian drone killed one person and injured six others in the Russian city of Belgorod, and injured one person in a village northeast of the city, the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said.

A Ukrainian drone attack injured one person in Russia’s western Smolensk region, the regional governor, Vasily Anokhin, said.

Russian forces shot down three Ukrainian drones flying towards Moscow early on Thursday, the capital’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Telegram. Sobyanin made no mention of casualties or damage.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its air defence units destroyed 48 Ukrainian drones in a three-and-a-half-hour period ending at 11:30pm (20:30 GMT).

Weaponry

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that his country would seek to produce at least half of its weaponry at home within six months of his new government. “The production volumes are truly large, but we need more,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa said his country had no plans to transfer United States-purchased Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine in response to a reporter’s question at the White House.

Diplomacy, politics and aid

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday in London for talks that are expected to focus heavily on the war in Ukraine. The two leaders are expected to sign a wide-ranging friendship treaty that will include a mutual assistance clause that a German government official, quoted by the Reuters news agency, described as “highly significant” in light of Russia’s invasion.

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed the establishment of a fund of up to 100 billion euros ($115bn), as part of what EU budget commissioner Piotr Serafin described as a “long-term commitment to Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction”.