Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky to meet Starmer, Macron and Merz in No 10 today after Putin snubbed summit proposal

Russia’s Defence ⁠Ministry said on ⁠Sunday its ​air ⁠defences ⁠had ​downed ⁠500 ‌Ukrainian drones ‌in the ‌past ⁠24 hours, Interfax news agency reported.

Armenian authorities have arrested six candidates from a pro-Russian opposition party, state media reported, just a day before they were due to stand in general elections. No official reason was given for the Saturday detentions.

The candidates belong to the Strong Armenia party, led by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan. Mr Karapetyan is currently under house arrest himself, facing charges of calling for the overthrow of the government – accusations he dismisses as politically motivated.

These arrests occur as Armenia’s relationship with its traditional patron, Russia, has become a central electoral issue. Moscow recently imposed restrictions on Armenian exports, widely interpreted as a response to Yerevan’s warming ties with Western countries.

Russian forces ​deliberately struck a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel near Ukraine’s Chornobyl power plant, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, in an “extremely vile” attack that did ⁠not lead to a spike in radiation.

The strike significantly damaged a fuel-reception building metres away from where “large amounts of nuclear material” is stored, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said ⁠it had been briefed by ​Ukraine.

Kyiv’s ⁠state atomic agency Energoatom said no spent fuel had been stored in the building at ⁠the time of the attack. A resulting fire was extinguished, ​and ⁠no injuries were reported.

Russia ‌has not publicly commented on the alleged strike on the facility, which is located around 15 km (9 miles) ‌from the Chornobyl plant, the site ‌of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.

“An extremely critical infrastructure facility – and an extremely vile Russian strike,” Zelenskiy wrote on X, adding that Russia ⁠had used a Shahed attack drone.

“As of now, there are no readings exceeding normal background radiation levels. But there is certainly an increase in Russia’s brazenness, which long ago went off the charts.”

In a statement, the IAEA said a team would soon visit the site “to inspect ‌the impact”.

In February 2025, a Russian Shahed ​drone damaged a containment arch over the Chornobyl ‌reactor that was destroyed in ⁠the April 1986 explosion and meltdown. Russia, which regularly ⁠attacks Ukrainian cities and infrastructure with drones and missiles, denied responsibility.

Kyiv ‌and Moscow have ​also traded accusations of ‌attacking the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power ​Plant in southeastern Ukraine, Europe’s largest.

In Ukraine, one person was killed and three wounded overnight into Saturday in the Dnipropetrovsk region, as Russian forces struck three districts nearly 30 times with drones and artillery, regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said.

Vladimir Putin on Friday rejected a proposal by Mr Zelensky for face-to-face talks on the four-year-old war, claiming he saw “no point” in a meeting.

The so-called E3 group of nations meeting the Ukrainian leader are some of Kyiv’s staunchest allies, with the UK and France leading the “coalition of the willing” initiative to provide security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace process.

Armenians are going to the polls today in a key parliamentary election, faced with a choice between an incumbent government seeking to deepen its ties with the West and several opposition parties that are vocally pro-Russian.

Prime minister Nikol Pashinyan and his ruling Civil Contract party have advocated for a balanced foreign policy ensuring Armenia maintains good relations with the United States, Europe and Russia, as well as regional powers such as Turkey and Iran.

Trump has endorsed Pashinyan, while Russian officials have hit Armenian exports with a barrage of restrictions in recent weeks, and high-ranking officials, including Vladimir Putin, have made thinly veiled threats comparing Armenia’s path to that already taken by Ukraine.

Putin also has stressed that Armenia cannot join the EU and remain within the Eurasian Economic Union, a Russian-led customs bloc.

“Being in a customs union with the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union is impossible,” Putin said. “It’s simply impossible by definition.”

Other potential contenders include former President Robert Kocharyan, who leads the Hayastan bloc and has accused Pashinyan of “seriously undermining” relations with Russia, and the Prosperous Armenia Party led by pro-Russian business owner Gagik Tsarukyan.

Polls opened at 8am local time this morning, with first results expected this evening or early Monday morning.

Cycling’s world governing body (UCI) has lifted its blanket ban on Belarus and relaxed some restrictions on Russian junior riders, amending regulations it first adopted in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The UCI said the changes follow updated recommendations from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which lifted all restrictions on Belarusian athletes.

Belarusian national teams and athletes ⁠may enter UCI ‌events, including UCI World Cups and UCI World Championships, with all ‌restrictions on protocol matters, ‌symbols and emblems lifted.

Russian junior riders and their support staff are now ⁠exempt from the requirement to apply for Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) status to enter UCI International Calendar events.

Any reference to Russia is still prohibited on start lists, results sheets and television graphics. Russian national emblems and symbols on jerseys and ‌equipment continue to ⁠be prohibited. Riders holding AIN ⁠status are now authorised to compete together ‌in team events whose format ‌requires collective participation.

Residents of St Petersburg were told not to leave their homes after a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack targeted Russia’s second-largest city yesterday morning, underscoring Kyiv’s growing ability to hit deep inside Russia.

The attack came a day after Russian president Vladimir Putin refused an offer to meet his Ukrainian counterpart.

St Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov said three people sustained minor injuries in the attack. He advised residents not to go outside and warned of possible disruptions to mobile internet service, while regional governor Alexander Drozdenko said 141 drones were shot down over the surrounding Leningrad region in what he called an “unprecedented attack”.

Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences shot down 376 Ukrainian drones.

“Last night, our drones covered a distance of about 1,000 kilometers to the St. Petersburg region – to the enemy navy’s arsenals and a base in Kronstadt,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X, adding that drones also hit an oil depot in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region.

The renewed attack on St Petersburg is the latest embarrassing blow to Putin’s efforts to cast the conflict as a distant event that doesn’t affect Russian daily life.

A Ukrainian drone strike set ablaze an oil terminal in the city and hit a nearby naval base on Wednesday, hours before the opening of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin’s annual showcase for investment.

The Russian-installed management of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant said on Saturday that it had restored the Ferrosplavnaya-1 power line, which supplies electricity to the plant.”All systems and equipment at the ZNPP are operating normally,” the management said via its Telegram channel.

A temporary local ceasefire, brokered by the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was declared on Friday to allow repairs to the power line.

A few ‌hours after the incident was reported, the Russian state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom ‌accused Ukraine of deliberately violating ‌the ceasefire through a drone attack that left at least three people injured.

The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest with six reactors, was seized by Russian troops in the early weeks of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Each side has since accused the other of undertaking military actions to compromise nuclear safety. The plant generates no electricity, ​but needs external power to ensure ‌that nuclear fuel ⁠at the site does not ⁠overheat.

The latest ceasefire was the sixth negotiated since ‌late last ​year to carry out ‌repairs to the ​power lines.

Russian forces have attacked two civilian search and rescue vessels in Ukrainian waters, causing injuries, Ukrainian deputy prime minister Oleksiy Kuleba said yesterday.

The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest with six reactors, was seized by Russian troops in the early weeks of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Each side has since accused the other of undertaking military actions to compromise nuclear safety. The plant generates no electricity, ​but needs external power to ensure ‌that nuclear fuel ⁠at the site does not ⁠overheat.

The latest ceasefire was the sixth negotiated since ‌late last ​year to carry out ‌repairs to the ​power lines.