Zelensky says Ukrainian drones attacked Russia's Moscow regionRussia faced one of its biggest attacks of the year as at least 3,124 Ukrainian drones were intercepted and destroyed in the past week, the country’s defence minister said this morning.The biggest onslaught on Russia was on 13 May and 17 May, with 572 and 1,054 drones downed respectively, it said, confirming the siege on the country.At least four people were killed, and a dozen were injured, after a Ukrainian drone attack in Russia overnight, local officials said yesterday.Three people were killed in a strike on the Moscow region, and a fourth was killed in the Belgorod region bordering northeastern Ukraine, local authorities said.Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensk confirmed the attacks on social media site X, said, "Our ⁠responses to Russia’s prolongation of the war and its attacks on our cities ​and communities ⁠are entirely justified," Zelenskiy said.Later on Sunday, Zelensky said that Ukraine's "long-range sanctions have reached the Moscow region", referring to the latest drone attack."We are clearly telling the Russians: their state must end its war," he wrote in a post on Telegram.Russia attacks Ukraine's Odesa and Dnipro with drones and missiles overnightRussia ​attacked Ukraine overnight with drones and missiles, targeting the southern ⁠city of Odesa and Dnipro in the country's southeast, Ukrainian officials said this morning.In Odesa, a major Black Sea export port, drones hit residential buildings along with a school and a kindergarten, injuring a 11-year old boy and a 59-year old man, Serhiy Lysak, the head of the local military administration, said on Telegram.Separately, three people were injured after Russia hit the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro with ‌missiles, regional governor Oleksandr ​Hanzha said on ‌Telegram.Arpan Rai18 May 2026 04:39Briefing: What we know on the 1,544th day of the war in UkraineRussia says its air forces intercepted and destroyed at least 3,124 Ukrainian drones over the past week, as the country under one of its biggest attacks in the course of war with UkraineAt least 1,054 drones were destroyed, respectively, mostly over European ⁠Russia, its defence ministry saidIn Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s military response to Russia’s heaviest bombardment of his country was “entirely justified” and accused Moscow of prolonging the warAt least four people were killed, including three in the Moscow region, after Ukraine launched its biggest ‌overnight drone attack on ​the Russian ‌capital in ⁠more than a ⁠year, local officials said ‌on ​SundayArpan Rai18 May 2026 04:32Russia says it destroyed over 3,000 Ukrainian drones last weekRussia has intercepted and destroyed at least 3,124 Ukrainian drones over the past week, the RIA state news agency said, citing data from the defence ministry.RIA, after compiling ⁠the data, said the ​most ⁠drones were downed ‌on 13 May and 17 May ‌with 572 and ‌1,054 units destroyed, respectively, mostly over European ⁠Russia.At least four people were killed, including three in the Moscow region, after Ukraine launched its biggest ‌overnight drone attack on ​the Russian ‌capital in ⁠more than a ⁠year, local officials said ‌on ​Sunday.Arpan Rai18 May 2026 04:06In pictures: Ukraine and Russia prisoner of war swapReleased Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) embrace each other following a prisoner exchange (AFP via Getty Images)ssia and Ukraine exchanged 205 prisoners of war each on May 15, Moscow and Kyiv said, (AFP via Getty Images)US President Donald Trump announced a large swap would take place between the warring sides a week earlier (AFP via Getty Images)Rebecca Thomas18 May 2026 04:00US Treasury allows sanctions waiver on Russian seaborne oil to lapseThe Trump administration on Saturday allowed a sanctions waiver to lapse that had previously allowed countries, including India, to buy Russian seaborne oil after a month-long extension aimed at easing oil supply shortages and high prices due to Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz.U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had previously said he would not renew the general license allowing the purchase of Russian oil stored on tankers. As of early afternoon Washington time ⁠on Saturday, no renewal notice had ​been ⁠posted on the Treasury website. A Treasury spokesperson declined further comment.Two top Democratic U.S. senators, Jeanne Shaheen and Elizabeth ⁠Warren, on Friday urged the Trump administration against renewing the waiver, ​arguing ⁠that it was providing revenue to ‌Russia to aid its war in Ukraine, but there was no evidence it was bringing down fuel costs for American consumers.The prior extension was part of the ‌Trump administration's effort to control global energy prices that have shot higher during the Iran war.Rebecca Thomas18 May 2026 02:30The Ukrainian flag has been removed from outside Essex County Council's offices by the newly elected Reform UK administration, according to reports by the BBC. A second Union flag was instead put up in its place outside County Hall in Chelmsford on Friday.Council leader Peter Harris said in a statement to the BBC that it was a "proud moment".Harris said: "The replacement of the Ukraine flag does not diminish the support and generosity that Essex residents have shown the people of Ukraine since 2022, and I know this will continue."A spokesman said there would be discussions with the county's Ukrainian community before finding the flag a new home.Rebecca Thomas18 May 2026 01:30Pictures showing the aftermath of Russia’s strike in Kyiv that killed 24 people. Residents stand on a damaged balcony of their apartment and look at the site of a neighbouring apartment building where 24 residents were killed (REUTERS)Firefighters work at the site of an apartment building damaged during Russian missile and drone strike (via REUTERS)Emergency services working at the site of a damaged apartment building (via REUTERS)Rebecca Thomas17 May 2026 23:30Russia says prison population falls as convicts sent to fight Putin's war in UkraineRussia is witnessing a decrease in its population inside prison, with a drop of more than 180,000 people, in the past five years, the country’s prison chief said."If at the end of 2021 there were 465,000 (prisoners), then now there are 282,000," said Arkady Gostev, the head of Russia's penitentiary service.Around 85,000 of the current prison population is held in pre-trial detention, he told TASS state news agency.Gostev said the major decline in the prison population was partly driven by the army's recruitment drive, but also due to more suspended sentences and other forms of punishment handed out.Moscow has regularly relied on recruiting its prisoners in exchange for buying out their sentences and sent them on the Ukraine frontline, but experts flagged that their lack of military and battlefield knowledge made them vulnerable to killings.Rebecca Thomas17 May 2026 22:30The young woman killed in Russian strike that killed 24 people A young woman, Maryna Homeniuk, who died in the Russian strike on Ukraine, which killed 24 people, was a sensitive soul who took in abandoned animals, her friends told reporters. (Olesia Yukhnovych via AP)She died with her partner Yurii Orlov, who captained the Kyiv Floorball Club after playing hockey for teams in the Ukrainian capital.Rebecca Thomas17 May 2026 18:30Russia accuses Ukraine of targeting civiliansRussia's foreign ministry accused Kyiv of targeting civilians. "To the sound of Eurovision songs, the Kyiv regime, financed by the EU, carried out yet another mass terrorist attack," TASS news agency cited the ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.Both sides in the conflict deny deliberately targeting civilians. Russia Ukraine (Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev official telegram channel)Russia Ukraine Drone Attack (Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev official telegram channel)Rebecca Thomas17 May 2026 16:30