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An air-raid warning was issued in the east of Ukraine and in Kyiv Oblast, and an air target was spotted in the sky over Kyiv Oblast on the evening of 19 April.

Source: alerts.in.ua; Kyiv Oblast Military Administration on Telegram; Andrii Yermak,

Head of the Presidents Office, on Telegram

Quote from Kyiv Oblast Military Administration: "Residents of Kyiv Oblast! An air target has been detected in the sky. Air defence forces are on alert.

Stay in shelters and observe information silence: do not film or post anything online."

Details: The air-raid warning has also been issued in Sumy, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk oblasts and Crimea.

The sound of sirens means the threat of missile and air strikes. At this time, it is necessary to take cover.

Even before the air-raid warning was issued, Kyiv residents saw a bright flash in the sky. What exactly it was is currently unknown.

Andrii Yermak, Head of the Presidents Office, reported that the air defence worked in the city of Dnipro and several Shahed drones were shot down.

At the same time, Yermak called on everyone "not to worry about UFOs" because "it is an operation of air defence"; but later he changed this message and asked everyone to wait for information from the Air Force.

At 23:01, the all-clear was given in the city of Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast. Meanwhile, Kharkiv Oblast has been added to the air-alert map.

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Air-raid warning issued in part of Ukraine, air target spotted over Kyiv Oblast -

14 April 2023

At least 11 people - including a two-year-old child - have been killed in Russian shelling of Slovyansk in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said around 21 others had been wounded in the attack on a residential district of the city.

Gov Kyrylenko added that several more were missing, warning that they could be trapped beneath the rubble.

In a post to social media, President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned what he called a brutal and evil attack.

"The evil state once again demonstrates its essence," he wrote on Telegram. "Just killing people in broad daylight. Ruining, destroying all life."

Officials confirmed that one of those killed was a two-year-old child. A senior adviser to Mr Zelensky said the child had been pulled alive from the rubble, but died in an ambulance while being taken to hospital.

Gov Kyrylenko said five houses and five blocks of flats were hit in the strike, while businesses and shops were also damaged in the blasts, which took place at around 18:00 local time (16:00 BST).

He added that the strike had likely been carried out using repurposed S-300 missiles. The system was originally designed as a surface-to-air defence system, but Russia has increasingly used it to strike ground targets in Ukraine as the war has progressed and Moscow's stores of munitions have been depleted.

Reporters from the AFP news agency witnessed rescue workers digging for survivors at the scene of one of the blasts, as black smoke billowed from another building across the street.

They added that the street, which included a playground, was littered with debris that included torn pages from school books and children's drawings.

Earlier, Andriy Yermak - the head of Mr Zelensky's private office - said seven explosions had been heard in the city, some of which took place near a school.

While Ukraine still controls Slovyansk, the city lies just 27 miles (45km) north-west of Bakhmut, which has been the centre of an extensive Russian assault for several months.

Russia has been trying to capture the city since last summer, and on Friday defence officials in Moscow said mercenaries from the Wagner group were continuing to attack the city.

Russian airborne troops were "providing support to assault squads and halting the enemy's attempts to deliver ammunition to the city and bring in reserves," the statement added.

Ukraine insists that it will continue to defend Bakhmut, which military analysists say has limited strategic value. But Russia is believed to have suffered extremely high casualties trying to capture the city.

An analysis of open sources conducted by the BBC's Russian service established the identities of at least 20,451 Russian soldiers killed since the war began. Some 1,820 of those deaths came in the last two weeks, the analysis found.

Read this article:
Ukraine war: Civilians killed in Russian strike on Ukraine homes - BBC

The FBI wants to question a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard in connection with the leak of highly classified military documents on the Ukraine war, according to a report. The guardsman has been identified by the New York Times as 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, who reportedly oversaw an online group where about 20 to 30 people shared their love of guns, racist memes and video games.

Ukraines armed forces have said Russian troops are attempting to surround the embattled city of Bakhmut from the north and the south. Every day in Bakhmut area, the enemy makes 40 to 50 offensive and assault attempts, launches more than 500 strikes using the entire range of available weapons, said Brig Gen Oleksiy Hromov, deputy chief of the Ukrainian armed forces general staffs main operational department.

Russias defence ministry claimed its troops had already surrounded Bakhmut, but Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Russias Wagner mercenary group, said it was too early to say. Prigozhin, whose forces have spearheaded much of the fighting for the embattled city, was responding to a statement by the Russian defence ministry that said Moscows forces were blocking Ukrainian forces from getting in or out of Bakhmut.

Germany has approved a request by Poland to export five old German MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, officials in Berlin have said.

The Kremlin has denied a report that Vladimir Putin personally approved the arrest of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter imprisoned in Russia. According to a Bloomberg report, which cited unnamed sources, the Russian president had personally endorsed Gershkovichs arrest for espionage. Russias deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, has suggested Moscow may be willing to discuss a potential prisoner swap for Gershkovich after his trial.

Ukraines foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has said his country would not change its demand that Russia must withdraw its forces from all of Ukraine including Crimea. Kyiv categorically disagrees with the idea that Crimea is somehow special and should not be returned to Ukraine, as any other part of our territory, Kuleba said in an address to the Black Sea security conference.

Two civilians have been killed and two others were wounded by Russian artillery and aerial attacks in Kherson region in southern Ukraine, the local governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said.

Norways foreign ministry has said it has decided to expel 15 Russian embassy officials in Oslo. The Russians declared persona non grata are not regular diplomats, but intelligence officers under diplomatic cover. Their activities are a threat to Norwegian interests, Norwegian foreign minister Anniken Huitfeldt said. Russias foreign ministry said it would respond to Norways expulsion of its 15 diplomats.

Swedish prosecutors said they had charged a 52-year-old man with illegally possessing and spreading secret and sensitive information about a large number of military installations. I consider this a gross crime as it concerns a large number of installations that are significant for Swedens ability to defend itself in the case of war, senior prosecutor Lars Hedvall said in a statement.

Serbia never sold weapons or ammunition to Ukraine or Russia, president Aleksandar Vui has insisted, following a leaked secret Pentagon report that said Serbia had pledged to send arms to Kyiv or had sent them already. Vui said he was quite certain that Serbian ammunition would appear on one side or the other in the battlefield in Ukraine, after having been exported to Turkey, Spain or the Czech Republic.

Russias prosecutor general said it had opened an investigation into a video showing Russian soldiers apparently beheading a Ukrainian prisoner of war lying on the ground. It comes a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged international leaders to act, saying the world could not ignore the evil footage, which circulated on Telegram, Twitter and other social media channels, causing revulsion among Ukrainians.

Authorities are working to identify the identity of a Ukrainian prisoner of war whose beheading video emerged on Wednesday, Ukraines deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said. The Guardian has not independently verified the origins and veracity of the two videos, but Ukrainian authorities are treating them as genuine.

Energoatom, Ukraines nuclear power company, has claimed that a Russian mine exploded near one of the reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP). Europes largest nuclear power station has been occupied by Russian forces since March 2022, with both Ukraine and Russia claiming that the other side has shelled the plant, risking a nuclear incident.

Alexei Navalny, Russias most prominent opposition leader, has a mystery ailment in jail that could be some sort of slow-acting poison, and has lost 8kg in weight in just over two weeks, his spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, has said. We do not exclude that at this very time Alexei Navalny is being slowly poisoned, being killed slowly so that it attracts less attention, Yarmysh said in a post on Twitter. He is being held in a punishment cell with acute pain without medical help, she said.

Key members of a Ukrainian state orchestra were refused visas to play a series of concerts in the UK this month in a catastrophe that the promoter says cost it more than 100,000 (88,000).

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Russia-Ukraine war live: US air national guardsman suspected of leaking secret documents to be arrested - The Guardian

KYIV, Ukraine - Ihors comrades were eager to show us something special. A cone, the remnants of a Russian X-101 missile that didnt make it to its final destination. The 23-year-old clean-shaven specialist grinned slightly, on his shoulder a soviet era Man-portable air-defense system (MANPAD). Ihor is the 1stPresidential Brigade MANPAD specialist.

After months of training, he was called in December for his first combat mission around Kyiv. When alerts sounded, indicating that a Russian missile or drone was inbound, his squad rushed into position.

When he spotted the missile in flight, Ihor fired the first shot he would ever fire in combat.There was a loud sizzle of a round leaving the MANPAD, followed by cheers from his fellow guardians of the sky.

"At first, I didn't understand anything, then I realized that this is my first rocket hit, and I was very happy." He told us through an interpreter.

Ukrainian air defense members watch the skies to defend against Russian missile and drone attacks. (Fox News)

INSIDE THE MASSIVE OPERATION TO TRAIN THOUSANDS OF UKRAINE TROOPS AHEAD OF SPRING COUNTEROFFENSIVE

That X-101 is a personal trophy to him, but it also serves as a reminder to the squad of how important every little shot can be to preventing destruction of infrastructure, to protecting civilian lives. The Brigade has operated since 2014 when bitterness between Russian and Ukrainian loyalists boiled over to a civil conflict in the Donbas region.

Since the beginning of Russias full scale invasion, theyve operated around Kyiv, taking part in the defense of city in the early days of the battles of Irpin, Bucha and Moschun. Under the command of the National Guard of Ukraine, they are on shift at all times, ready to jump into action as soon as the air raid sirens sound. They use a mix of Soviet and Western-provided technology, including Javelins, Stingers and MLAWS.

Mykhailo, is a gunner for the brigade. Originally from Luhansk, he has been a guardsman since 2014 and operates the ZU-23 barreled auto-cannon, a soviet era anti-air gun.The big gun is jury-rigged on the back of a flatbed truck. Mobility is an absolute necessity when they try to intercept the path of inbound warheads that can come from any direction.

"Currently, this weapon is effective for shooting down shaheeds, kamikaze drones. UAV kamikaze Shaheeds." But there are limits, he told us. The old weapon will not be effective against helicopters or other Russian aircraft that dont fly close enough to be in range of the old Soviet gun. "These are outdated weapons, and we need something more modern and more technological"

A member of the Ukrainian force dedicated to defending the country's skies from Russian attacks. (Fox News)

WAIT IN LINE: RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER LEFT WAITING FOR VISA TO ENTER US AHEAD OF UN MEETING

To call the weapons "outdated" may only be scratching the surface. The ZU-23 he operates was made in the 1960s, and the MANPAD that Ihor uses is almost three times his age.

Leaked documents earlier this week from the Pentagon indicated that in late February, the Ukrainian air defense systems were set to begin running out by Mid-May. Ukraine relies heavily on these Soviet-era guns in their arsenal, and without them Russia would have an advantage on Ukrainian frontline positions and civilian targets

"The number of means that arrived from the West is not sufficient, and the number of rockets is certainly not sufficient. That is why we emphasize today that we need the missiles and air defense systems themselves, in order to replace the Soviet-made air defense systems," Said Col Yuriy Ignat, a spokesperson with the Ukraine Air Command "After all, [if] these systems are destroyed and fail, we do not have spare parts, because all this equipment is produced in Russia, just like missiles. Therefore, the only way out for us is the transition to NATO standards and weapons samples."

The U.S. has, since the end of February, seemed to recognize this weakness. The Biden administration last week authorized $2.6 billion in military assistance, which included air-defense munitions and systems such as National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), three air surveillance radars and 30mm and 23mm anti-aircraft ammunition. Ukrainian troops have also completed training on the PATRIOT Missile Battery earlier this year.

A member of Ukraine's 1stPresidential Brigade looking to the sky. (Fox News)

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But Ukraine has still not received any indication as to whether it will be provided with the prized goal of Western combat aircraft like the F-16, which would be a significant upgrade over their Mig-29 fighters. One Ukrainian combat pilot who spoke with Fox News with the call sign "Moon Fish" says the Mig-29s are just a stopgap.

"We are running low on the spare parts, on the armament, on the missiles. And overall, yes, it is a great boost. It is a great possibility to fill the gaps filled with fuel, fill up, from the losses. Together with that, It does not provide us with any sort of new capabilities that we desire."

Despite old equipment, the 1stPresidential Brigade does not lack a sense of purpose. They know when the attack is launched, the mobile air defense volunteers are all that stands between a deadly inbound warhead and the people of Ukraine. "It all depends on the gunner," says Mikhailo.

Bohdan Glushko contributed to this report.

See more here:
Every shot counts: the mobile air defense protecting Ukraine's skies at a moment's notice - Fox News

BERLIN, April 13 (Reuters) - Germany has approved Poland's request to export five old MiG-29 fighter jets to bolster Ukraine's air power against the Russian invasion, the German defence ministry said on Thursday.

Poland's defence ministry did not immediately comment.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the request had arrived Thursday, and that Berlin's same-day approval showed that Germany could be relied upon.

Germany inherited 24 MiG-29 jets from the East German GDR during reunification in 1990. At the time, the aircraft were seen as among the most advanced fighter jets in the world.

In 2004, Berlin passed on 22 of the aircraft to Poland. Of the remaining two jets, one was destroyed in a crash and one is on show at a museum.

Poland needs Berlin's consent to send its remaining jets to a third country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said during a visit to Warsaw last week that Poland would help form a coalition of Western powers to supply warplanes to Kyiv.

Ukraine, which hopes to launch a counteroffensive in the coming weeks or months, wants to secure fighter jets to defend against air strikes.

Western countries have so far been reluctant to send advanced fighter jets such as F-16's to Kyiv, but some countries have stepped in to send old MiG-29 jets that Ukraine already uses.

Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Matthias Williams, Andrey Sychev and Anna Woldarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Matthias Williams and Mike Harrison

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Germany allows Poland to export old fighter jets to Ukraine - Reuters