Russia-Ukraine war live: Kyiv develops army of deep strike drones as Kremlin builds mega defensive line

A Ukrainian commander leading his country’s northern forces against the Russian invasion says he only found out he had been fired by Volodymyr Zelensky from reading news reports.

General Serhiy Nayev lost his job as part of a major reshuffle in Ukraine’s military.

“I learnt about my dismissal from the post of commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which I’d held since 2020, from the mass media,” General Nayev said on his official Telegram channel on Sunday.

“Those were difficult times. One of the most difficult periods in the history of Ukraine. And together with you, we walked this path with dignity,” the Lieutenant General said, as he expressed gratitude to Ukrainian soldiers for their service.

Ukraine will produce thousands of long-range drones capable of deep strikes into Russia in 2024 and already has up to 10 companies making drones that can reach Moscow and St Petersburg, Ukraine‘s digital minister said.

Mykhailo Fedorov spoke about the wartime drone industry he has championed in a interview in Kyiv in which he revealed new details about the sector, after a spate of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil facilities in recent weeks.

“The category of long-range kamikaze drones is growing, with a range of 300, 500, 700, and 1,000 kilometres. Two years ago, this category did not exist ... at all,” he told Reuters.

Fedorov, 33, has been at the heart of Ukraine‘s effort to nurture private military startups to innovate and build up the drone industry as the war goes into its third year and Ukraine seeks new ways to fight back against well dug-in Russian forces.

The Kremlin has said that Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system is neither certified for use in, nor officially supplied to, Russia, and therefore could not be used.

Ukraine, which has used Starlink for military communications throughout its conflict with Russia, said on Sunday that Russian troops were using Starlink in parts of Ukraine they control.

Elon Musk also denied selling Starlink to Russia.

Ukraine‘s air defence systems destroyed 14 out of 17 drones that Russia launched overnight and one Kh-59 cruise missile, Ukraine‘s Air Force have said.

The Air Force said on the Telegram messaging app that Russia also launched missiles from S-300 long-range surface-to-air missile systems, but it did not say how many or whether they hit any targets.

Oleh Synehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region in Ukraine‘s northeast, said late on Sunday that Russia attacked his region with missiles launched from the S-300 systems in Russia’s Belgorod region that borders Ukraine.

He said that according to preliminary information, there were no casualties, but the facades of some non-residential buildings were damaged.

Serhiy Lisak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said late on Sunday that Russia attacked the region’s city of Pavlohrad with drones. There were no casualties, but some parts of the city lost electricity.

Hello and welcome to our live blog of the war in Ukraine.