• 8:31 a.m.: Russia 'terrorizes Ukraine' with night attacks, says Volodymyr Zelensky

Moscow "continues to terrorize Ukraine" and has launched 36 drones at its neighbor, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram. "None of them has achieved their goal," he said, thanking the country's air defense.

  • 8:15 a.m.: FSB says it has arrested Ukrainian "saboteurs" targeting nuclear power plants

Ukrainian "saboteurs" who were planning attacks to disrupt the operation of Russian nuclear power plants have been arrested in Russia, the Russian Security Service (FSB) has announced.

"A sabotage group of the Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service (...) tried to blow up about thirty power lines of the Leningrad and Kalinin nuclear power plants" in early May, to cause "the shutdown of nuclear reactors," said the FSB in a statement, quoted by Russian news agencies, adding that it had arrested two Ukrainians in connection with these attacks.

  • 7:53 a.m.: Six drones shot down overnight, Crimean governor says

Six drones were shot down in the night from Wednesday to Thursday in Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia, said the local governor installed by Moscow, Sergei Aksionov.

"During the past night, six drones were shot down or blocked... in different districts of Crimea," Sergei Aksionov wrote on Telegram. The incident "did not cause any casualties or injuries," he said.

This announcement comes a few days after a spectacular attack by groups from Ukraine on Russian territory.

The incursion, which took place on Monday in several localities in the Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, was claimed by Russian armed groups based in the neighboring country saying they wanted to overthrow Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Belgorod region has since been targeted by "numerous" drone attacks, according to local authorities.

Attacks and sabotage have been multiplying in Russia lately, at a time when Kiev says it is completing its preparations to launch an offensive to retake the territories occupied by Moscow.

  • 4:41 a.m.: Ukrainian military says it has repelled a new Russian drone attack on Kiev

The military administration of Kiev assured Thursday that the air defense of the capital had fully repelled a new "massive" attack of Russian drones on the city, "the twelfth" in May.

Russia "again attacked Kiev from the air," the head of Kiev's civil and military administration, Serhiy Popko, wrote on Telegram, adding that the air alert on the city lasted more than three hours. "According to preliminary information," Shahed-type drones were at work during the "massive" attack, he said.

"The guardian angels of Ukraine did not give the aggressor a chance. All air targets flying towards Kiev have been destroyed by our air defense," he said.

The previous air attack on the city was four days ago, said Serhiy Popko, who counted twelve offensives on the capital in May.

Overnight, air alerts were also issued in other localities, including Kharkiv (east) and Chernivtsi (west), authorities said.

  • The essentials of the day of May 24

The governor of Belgorod Oblast says "numerous" night drone attacks have been reported in the region.

The France and the European Union reaffirmed their determination to support Ukraine "in the long term" in the face of a Chinese envoy sent to Europe to discuss a political settlement of the conflict.

With AFP and Reuters

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