Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky warns of missile shortage as he says Putin will benefit from ‘long war’ in Iran

Following Russia’s invasion on Ukraine four years ago, the demand for civilian firearms training in Finland has risen sharply, with much of the interest being female.

The Independent’s Annabel Grossman meets the women who are learning shooting and survival skills in the face of a hostile neighbour:

Russian attacks killed four people in southeastern Ukraine on Saturday, officials have said.

Authorities confirmed that a man and woman were killed after a house was killed in Zaporizhzhia.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, officials said two people died in an area southeast of the main regional centre, and another five people were injured in attacks at multiple places.

Power was also cut to much of the northern region of Chernihiv.

US-UK tensions are weakening NATO, President Zelensky has suggested.

The Ukraine president urged Donald Trump to meet with Keir Starmer to ensure a strong NATO is “ready to defend”.

In an interview on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she asked: “Do you believe that President Trump and his actions have made the world more dangerous?”

Zelensky replied: “I believe that any split in NATO will weaken both sides. I would really like President Trump to meet with Starmer, with the main countries so that they have a common position. We want to be allies with that kind of NATO, a strong NATO where everyone respects one another and is ready to defend.

“I can’t tell Trump what to do. Keir is a smart and very cool partner. Absolutely, we know there are emotions in everyone at different times. I think that Keir, he’s in touch with President Trump. He can meet with him and reload the relationship again. It happens. I don’t see a big problem. To be honest. I do not see a big challenge.

“Your history is stronger than the emotions of two or three people. Your history is simply stronger.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned of missile shortage as he says Putin will benefit from a “long war” in Iran.

“For Putin, a long war in Iran is a plus,” as resources deplete, he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

”In addition to energy prices, it means the depletion of US reserves and the depletion of air defence manufacturers. So we have a depletion of resources.

“So it is beneficial for Putin that the resources do not go to Ukraine, against whom he has directed his army, and he’s fighting with he needs to weaken us. And this is a long process. The Middle East is one of the ways to do that.”

He said the US produces around 60 to 65 Patriot missiles a month, which equates to roughly 600 to 700 a year. In the first day of the Middle East war, 103 missiles were used, he warned.

He said there will be “definitely” be a deficit and the question is now “when will all the stockpiles in the Middle East be exhausted”.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said trilateral talks over the war in Ukraine are “constantly postponed” due to the war in Iran.

Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he said: “I have a very bad feeling about the impact of this war on the situation in Ukraine, and the focus on America is more on the Middle East than on Ukraine.

“Unfortunately, therefore, you see that our diplomatic meetings, trilateral meetings are constantly postponed. There is one reason, war in Iran.”

Russia has captured a village in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, according to unverified reports.

Russian forces have taken control of the village Potapivka, state-run RIA news agency claimed on Sunday, citing the Russian Defence Ministry.

Reuters news agency said they could not independently verify the battlefield report.

Russian air defences thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Ufa in Bashkortostan region, regional governor Radiy Khabirov said.

Ukrainian drones were shot down near the city’s oil refineries, Khabirov said, without naming the facilities.

Debris triggered a brief fire at a building under construction in one of the city’s districts.

Bashkortostan, located in the Ural Mountains, has been repeatedly targeted by Ukraine. Its capital, Ufa, lies about 1,400km (870 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border.

Reuters pieced together that a David Jones travelled to Ukraine with a well-known associate of Banksy’s in late 2022 — just before the artist’s work began appearing on buildings that had been bombed by Russia.

Banksy later confirmed that he’d created seven murals in the war zone, including one of a child flipping over a grown man who is wearing a black belt.

In recent years, Ukraine’s domestic drone interceptor market has burgeoned, producing some key players who tout their products at international arms shows.

But it’s on the front line where small teams have become laboratories of rapid military innovation – grassroots technology born of battlefield necessity that now draw international interest.