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The Russian news outlet Kommersant reported that two Russian fighter jets and two military helicopters had been shot down on Saturday close to the Ukrainian border. Kommersant said on its website that the Su-34 fighter-bomber, Su-35 fighter and two Mi-8 helicopters had made up a raiding party, and had been shot down almost simultaneously in an ambush in the Bryansk region, adjoining northeast Ukraine.

A 15-year-old girl was among two people killed and ten people were injured in a Russian shelling attack, Ukraines defence ministry said. The eastern city of Kostyantynivka was targeted by Smerch rocket launchers, it added.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy held talks in Italy with the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, President Sergio Mattarella and Pope Francis. The trip is Zelenskiys first to Italy since Russia invaded on 24 February last year.

Ukrainian forces have regained at least a kilometre of territory in Bakhmut amid a Russian withdrawal that reflects Moscows severe shortage of credible combat units, the UK Ministry of Defence has said in its latest intelligence briefing. It said elements of a Russian brigade withdrew in bad order from their positions on the southern flank of the eastern Ukrainian city, the scene of the wars longest battle. The brigade had been dogged with allegations of poor morale and limited combat effectiveness.

Zelenskiy will be received in Berlin on Sunday, German government sources told Reuters on Saturday, as the leader seeks to shore up support from key allies against Russias invasion. The Ukrainian leader last visited Germany for the Munich security council in February last year just before the war broke out.

The German government will provide further military equipment worth 2.7bn (2.4bn) to Ukraine in what would be the biggest Berlin has provided since Russias invasion. The package includes 20 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, 30 Leopard 1 tanks, 15 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, 200 reconnaissance drones, four additional Iris-T anti-aircraft systems including ammunition, additional artillery ammunition and more than 200 armoured combat and logistics vehicles, according to Der Spiegel.

Russian attacks injured three people in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, the citys mayor said. The strikes occurred early on Saturday, Oleksandr Sienkevych said on his Telegram channel. Russian forces targeted a local factory, also damaging nearby residential buildings, causing fires in three apartments and damaging an educational institution, he said.

Russian-installed officials in Luhansk have said missiles fired by Ukrainian forces injured six children and a Russian parliamentarian and damaged two disused factories in the eastern Ukrainian regions main city, about 100km (60 miles) behind the frontlines.

A Russian SU-34 warplane crashed in the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, Tass news agency reported, quoting emergency services, in the second such incident on Saturday after a helicopter was seemingly downed in the same region.

Two Russian pilots were killed when a Russian Mi-28 military helicopter crashed in the annexed peninsula of Crimea, Russian news agencies reported, citing the defence ministry. It said it believed the reason for Fridays crash was equipment failure, Tass reported.

An unidentified object that entered Polish airspace from the direction of Belarus was probably an observation balloon, the defence ministry said on Saturday on Twitter. A spokesperson for Polands territorial defence force told Reuters a search for the object was under way. Russian and Belarusian authorities were not immediately available for comment.

Russias defence ministry said on Saturday two industrial sites in the occupied city of Luhansk have been struck with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles supplied by Britain.

Zelenskiy has thanked the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, for the provision of long-range cruise missiles. The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, earlier confirmed it would send the Storm Shadow missiles, prompting a threat from the Kremlin of a military response.

Police in the Russian city of St Petersburg have created an anti-drone unit to detect unmanned drones after a suspected attack on the Kremlin last week. The unit was launched on Tuesday during the annual second world war Victory Day celebrations on St Petersburgs Palace Square, the citys interior ministry said.

South Africas foreign ministry has summoned the US ambassador over allegations he made that the country had provided arms and ammunition to Russia for its war in Ukraine. Reuben Brigety said on Thursday that South Africa had loaded weapons and ammunition on to a Russian vessel, which is under sanctions, at the Simons Town naval base near Cape Town in December last year and that the arms were then transported to Russia.

Russias defence ministry has said Ukrainian forces carried out offensive operations along the entire line of contact near Soledar, the ministrys official Zvezda news outlet reported. More than 1,000 troops and up to 40 tanks were used in Thursdays assault, it said on Friday, adding that the attacks were repulsed.

The UN nuclear watchdog chief, Rafael Grossi, plans to present an agreement with Russia and Ukraine on protecting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the UN security council this month, indicating a deal is close, four diplomats have told Reuters. Grossi has been trying for months to secure an agreement to reduce the risk of a catastrophic accident from shelling at the Russian-occupied nuclear power station, Europes biggest.

Rishi Sunak expressed disappointment at a decision to block Zelenskiys request to speak via video at Saturdays Eurovision grand final. The European Broadcasting Union, which produces the event, said the Ukrainian president had laudable intentions but rejected the request over fears it could politicise the event.

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Two Russian jets and two helicopters reportedly shot down as it happened - The Guardian