Ukraine fends off ‘unprecedented’ air strikes and refuses cede land for peace

Ukraine said its military had shot down 29 of 30 missiles as Russia continued an “unprecedented” air assault on its neighbour, and Kyiv’s top diplomat told a Chinese envoy that his country would never accept any peace deal that involved ceding land to the Kremlin.

“A series of air attacks on Kyiv, unprecedented in its power, intensity and variety, continues,” the military administration of Ukraine’s capital said on Thursday morning after another night of explosions over the city, as its air defences brought down enemy missiles in the area.

One person was killed and two injured when debris from a downed missile hit an industrial site in the Black Sea region of Odesa, and an infrastructure facility was struck in the western province of Khmelnytskyi.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had “destroyed significant stocks of weapons and ammunition of the armed forces of Ukraine and prevented the deployment of reserves to areas of combat operations”.

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Ukraine says its western-supplied air defence systems have thwarted Russia’s powerful missiles in a series of intense duels this month, and claims to have shot down seven of the advanced Kinzhal (“Dagger”) rockets that Moscow says cannot be intercepted.

Moscow insists that its Kinzhals have not been brought down and claims that one destroyed a US-made Patriot air defence system in Kyiv. Unnamed US officials have said the system was lightly damaged but continues to operate.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security and defence council, said that for Russian president Vladimir Putin, Kyiv remained “a maniacal and unattainable goal”.

“The Kremlin needs those senseless and super-expensive attacks... on the capital to raise the degree of patriotic hysteria inside [Russia],” he added. “In Russia, a process of despair and disappointment with the authorities is developing against the background of the unsuccessful offensive and failures at the front.”

Russia’s military failed over winter and spring to take the whole of the Donbas area in eastern Ukraine and is now in retreat around the town of Bakhmut, a road and rail junction that has been levelled by months of heavy artillery fire followed by street fighting.

The Wagner mercenary group has led Russian efforts to seize Bakhmut, and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said on Thursday that his fighters were advancing in what remains of the city centre but were increasingly exposed on its flanks.

“Unfortunately, units of the Russian defence ministry have withdrawn up to 570 metres to the north of Bakhmut, exposing our flanks,” he said on social media. “I am appealing to the top leadership of the ministry of defence... Please do not give up the flanks.”

Ukraine’s military also said it was advancing on the flanks around Bakhmut, where it claims to have retaken 20sq km of territory in recent days.

China said its special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, had met top Ukrainian officials in Kyiv, as Beijing tries to position itself as a broker for a deal to end the fighting. He is also scheduled to visit Russia, Poland, Germany and France in the coming days.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry said the country’s top diplomat, Dmytro Kuleba, “stressed that Ukraine did not accept any proposals involving the loss of its territories or the freezing of the conflict”.

Ukraine and western allies are sceptical of China’s role because it has not condemned a Russian invasion that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions.

“There is no panacea for defusing the crisis. All parties need to do their part to build up trust and create conditions for ceasefire and peace talks,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.