TOP HEADLINES

• A Russian airstrike that hit a medical clinic in the eastern city of Dnipro killed at least one person and injured 15 more on Friday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced, after Ukraine shot down 10 missiles and over 20 drones in overnight attacks on the capital Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions. READ MORE BELOW

• The Ukraine conflict could last for "a very long time, most likely decades," according to former Russian president and prominent Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev. He added that negotiations with Ukraine were "impossible" as long as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in power, also warning that Moscow would be willing to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike if Kyiv gets nuclear weapons.

• The Kremlin said that Russia's security services knew what they were doing after a top Ukrainian intelligence official said President Vladimir Putin was number one on Kyiv's kill list.

• Moscow is moving ahead with a plan to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus, whose leader said the warheads were already on the move, in the Kremlin's first deployment of such weapons outside Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union. The U.S. denounced the plan, but said Washington saw no new signs that Russia was preparing to use the bombs.

• Japan is set to place additional sanctions on Russia after the Group of Seven (G7) summit the country hosted last week agreed to step up measures to punish Moscow, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno has announced.

• Russia's Wagner private army has started handing over its positions in Bakhmut to regular Russian troops, five days after declaring full control of the devastated strategic city.

• Ukraine said it had secured the release of 106 captured soldiers captured during fighting in the devastated eastern city in a prisoner exchange with Russia.

• A top U.S. general said Washington had long asked Ukraine not to use U.S. military equipment to carry out attacks inside Russian territory following Russian accusations that pro-Ukrainian militia used U.S. armored vehicles inside its borders.

• Russia's Foreign Ministry has summoned the ambassadors of Germany, Sweden and Denmark to protest over what it said was the "complete lack of results" in an investigation to identify who blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year.

IN DETAIL

Night of Russian airstrikes 

At least one person was killed and 15 wounded in a Russian missile strike on a clinic in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

In an online post under video footage of a badly damaged building with smoke pouring out of it, he said rescue efforts were under way.

"Russian terrorists once again confirm their status of fighters against everything humane and honest," Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

"A rocket attack on a clinic in the city of Dnipro. As of now, one person was killed and 15 were wounded. The shelling aftermath is being eliminated and the victims are being rescued."

Ukrainian officials said earlier on Friday that air defences had shot down 10 missiles and more than 20 drones launched by Russia in overnight attacks on the capital Kyiv, Dnipro and eastern regions.

Kyiv's air force said a total of 17 missiles and 31 drones had been launched in the attacks, which started at around 10:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Thursday and continued until 5:00 a.m. on Friday.

Several drones and several missiles hit targets in the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, officials added.

"It was a very difficult night. It was loud – the enemy launched a mass attack on the region with missiles and drones," Serhiy Lysak, the Dnipropetrovsk regional governor, said on the Telegram messaging app. "Dnipro has suffered."

Moscow has intensified missile and drone attacks on Ukraine this month, mainly attacking logistics and infrastructure facilities before an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Russia did not immediately comment on the reported air strikes but said Ukraine had struck two regions in southern Russia with a rocket and a drone.

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