Ukraine-Russia war – live: Kyiv repels major Russian drone attack as Putin’s forces hit by ‘mouse fever’

A video posted on social media showed a giant orange flame going skyward in the night after a drone hit a block of flats in Kyiv’s Solomyanskyi district.

The city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko also said drone fragments had set fire to a house under construction in Darnytskyi district on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River that runs through the city.

He said there were no injuries. Pictures posted online showed construction materials strewn about the site.

Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, reported fragments from a downed drone had struck an apartment building in a third area - Holosiivskyi district - also south of the city centre.

Popko posted pictures showing smashed windows and heavy damage to apartments.

Russian drones targeted the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, early on Friday, injuring two people and damaging property in the city in Moscow’s latest overnight drone strike against Ukraine.

It was the sixth such attack on the capital this month and part of a larger drone swarm that targeted parts of central, southern and western Ukraine, the country’s air force said.

Ukrainian air defences shot down 24 out of 28 attack drones, it said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said a drone had hit a block of flats in the Solomyanskyi district, south of the city centre, triggering a fire on the upper floors that was quickly brought under control.

Emergency services also said several apartments were damaged on the 24th, 25th and 26th storeys of the building. Two people were injured, including one being treated in hospital.

The incident occurred a few hundred metres from a maternity hospital.

The European Union on Thursday paid the final portion of a multibillion-euro support package to Ukraine to help keep its war-ravaged economy afloat this year, leaving the country without a financial lifeline from Europe as of next month.

The EU has sent 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) each month in 2023 to ensure macroeconomic stability and rebuild critical infrastructure destroyed in the war. It’s also helping to pay wages and pensions, keep hospitals and schools running, and provide shelter for people forced from their homes.

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Vladimir Putin will be going up against an anti-war journalist in the Russian presidental election in March next year.

Former TV journalist Yekaterina Duntsova, 40, has submitted her documents to the Central Election Commission in Moscow to begin the formal process of entering the running for the election.

On being asked whether Russian authorities will allow her candidature against Putin, Ms Duntsova said: “Why are we talking about permission if this is my right according to the law and I have that possibility and have the necessary qualities to put myself forward?

“We are just moving according to the formula prescribed by federal law, and for that we don’t need anyone’s permission,” she said.

Now a regional legislator, Ms Duntsova is calling for peace in Ukraine and campaigning on her plank of a “humane Russia that is peaceful, friendly and ready to cooperate with everyone on the principle of respect”.

She asked Russians to support her fight against the incumbent leader and said: “I feel a sense of accomplishment. We’ve done everything that we needed to do. We’ve made this step, and I think it should inspire people who support us.

“I hope that I’ll at least be registered as a candidate. But, of course, collecting signatures is a huge job and I hope that people will be actively taking part,” she added.

Agency Reuters is reporting from Moscow that Russia has established “comprehensive” defence cooperation with North Korea as well as announcing continued strategic partnerships with India and China.

The agency states that defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited North Korea in July and Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in September.

The United States and its allies have voiced concern that Kim could provide weapons and ammunition to Russia to help replace stocks used in its war in Ukraine, and South Korean lawmakers said Russia had helped Pyongyang launch a reconnaissance satellite a month ago.

“The course towards developing a comprehensive strategic partnership with China and India continues. Active, comprehensive cooperation has been established with the DPRK,” Gerasimov said in a year-end address, using an official abbreviation for North Korea.

Vladimir Putin’s soldiers in eastern Ukraine’s Kupiansk are reportedly falling sick because of a “mouse fever” outbreak – a viral disease that has left the invading Russian troops severely unwell.

The outbreak of the so-called “mouse fever” has been recorded in many units of the Russian forces in the Kupiansk direction, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence’s main directorate of intelligence said on its official Telegram channel.

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Sir Keir Starmer has been speaking about the threat of Russia as he visited British troops positioned close tot he border in Estonia.

He said the UK and its allies “need to be prepared, we need to deter” in response to Moscow’s actions.

The Labour leader added: “I think we have to be mindful of that threat from Russia to Europe, to ourselves in the UK and the interference that goes on.”

He said there was a “real and constant threat from Russia, measured in years, and measured back home in the UK as well”.

Sir Keir was accompanied by shadow defence secretary John Healey as they praised British troops for helping protect Nato’s eastern flank.

Ukrainian President Zelensky has expressed his condolences after a gunman opened fire at a university in central Prague.

Mr Zelensky said: “Shocking reports of tragic events in Prague. Innocent people were killed and injured. My sincere condolences to the families of the victims. I wish those injured a speedy recovery.”

Ukraine is having to increase domestic borrowing due to a lack of foreign support in 2024, the country’s finance minister has said.

It comes as both the US and EU are struggling to agree on further aid packages for Ukraine, with the US failing to pass their aid bill before their Christmas break.

“Unfortunately, in January and February, the decisions taken by the partners are not enough so that we can cope on our own. That’s why we have a Plan B mechanism in force now,” the Interfax news agency cited Serhiy Marchenko as saying.