TOP HEADLINES

• A Russian attack killed 25 civilians when missiles struck a railway station and a residential area in eastern Ukraine, officials in Kyiv have said, as the nation marked its Independence Day under heavy shelling. READ MORE BELOW

• Ukraine's air defence systems were triggered in nearly every region of the country yesterday, during the nations independence day. The General Staff said in its daily bulletin on the war that air and missile strikes on military and civilian targets had continued. 

• Fears are running high once more, as fighting intensifies near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in east Ukraine. Ongoing fighting near the city has heightened fears of a catastrophe. READ MORE BELOW

• Ukraine will never give up its fight for freedom from Russia's domination, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed in a speech delivered to the UN yesterday evening. He said Ukraine would recapture its annexed peninsula of Crimea from Russia by any means. 

• The UK will share technical expertise with Ukraine as part of a new package of support to help the country rebuild its infrastructure and transport network following Russia's invasion earlier this year. British experts will offer technical knowledge in airport, runway and port reconstruction.

• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has visited the training program for Ukrainian soldiers on the Gepard anti-aircraft tank in Putlos near Oldenburg. Following a perverse reaction from other European nations, Scholz will hope to show Germany's support for Ukraine through the supply of tanks in the next few weeks. 

• Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu stated that the slowing pace of Russia's military campaign in Ukraine was deliberate, and driven by the need to reduce civilian casualties. Ukraine's top military intelligence official said it was because of morale and physical fatigue.

IN DETAIL 

25 dead and more than 30 seriously injured

Russia's defense ministry has confirmed its forces hit a military train at Chaplyne railway station in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region. Officials in Kyiv have stated the strikes were aimed at residential areas. 

But Russia's defense ministry have said an Iskander missile had hit a military train at Chaplyne that was set to deliver arms to the frontline in the eastern Donbas region.

Moscow also said it had destroyed eight Ukrainian fighter planes in strikes against airbases in Ukraine's Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions. 

That would make the strike one of the heaviest losses for Ukraine's air force in recent weeks. Russia denies targeting civilians in what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

Fears over Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Europe's largest nuclear plant has been occupied by Russian forces with continued fighting nearby increasing fears of a catastrophe that could affect nearby towns in southern Ukraine or beyond.

The government in Kyiv alleges Russia is essentially holding the Soviet-era nuclear plant hostage, storing weapons there and launching attacks from around it, while Moscow accuses Ukraine of recklessly firing on the facility, which is located in the city of Enerhodar.

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt armed attacks on Ukraine and said the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, now controlled by Russian forces, must be demilitarized.

"Anybody who understands nuclear safety issues has been trembling for the last six months," said Mycle Schneider, an independent policy consultant and coordinator of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report.

Ukraine is unable to shut down its nuclear plants during the war as it is heavily reliant on them, with its 15 reactors at four stations providing about half of its electricity. 

Nevertheless, an ongoing conflict near a working atomic plant is  proving to unnerve many experts who fear that a damaged facility could lead to a disaster.