MEZIESBLOG

A Ukrainian civilian was killed in an early-morning air attack on the southern Kherson region, its governor has said.

At around 7.20am, Russia dropped a bomb on a residential area of the city of Beryslav, Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram.

“It hit a house. Unfortunately, a 42-year-old man was fatally wounded.”

Kyiv drove Russian forces out of part of the region last November after several months of occupation, but Russian troops have continued shelling the regional capital and areas around it from across the Dnipro River.

Mr Produkin said that over the past 24 hours Russian forces had carried out 35 aerial attacks on the region.

Earlier this week, local authorities ruled on the mandatory evacuation of families with children from the three districts of the Kherson region due to the ongoing bomb attacks, saying 802 children and their families from 23 settlements must be evacuated.

Ukraine to ramp up drone output, minister says

Ukraine hopes to produce tens of thousands of drones each month by the end of the year despite the challenge posed by Russian attacks, the minister for strategic industries has said.

Drones have played a key role in the 20-month-old conflict and have been used in huge numbers by both sides for surveillance and attack.

Speaking at a NATO Industry Forum in Stockholm, Oleksandr Kamyshin said: “By the end of this year, it would be dozens of thousands a month.

“And that’s something we grow even faster than conventional warfare ammunition and warfare weapons.”

Facing depleted Western weapons warehouses as the war drags on, he said Ukraine wants to boost local production of military equipment and munitions.