Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of carrying out “savage strikes” by using ballistic missiles and nearly 500 drones overnight on Ukrainian cities.

“Russia used 29 missiles, nearly half of them ballistic, and 480 drones, most of them “shaheds,” against Ukraine. They targeted energy infrastructure in Kyiv, the Khmelnytskyi and Chernivtsi regions, and the railway in the Zhytomyr region,” he said.

There must be a response from partners to these savage strikes against life, Zelensky said.

He also accused Russia of continuing to attack Ukrainian cities. “Russia has not abandoned its attempts to destroy Ukraine’s residential and critical infrastructure, and therefore support must continue,” he said.

The homegrown Ukrainian munitions have transformed Kyiv’s air defence as it faces hundreds of Shahed-type drones launched by Russia every night.

The drones, which come in both winged and copter forms, are piloted by humans who steer them towards their targets. They are equipped with advanced communications systems, allowing them to reach a high altitude, and can reach a speed of around 330km per hour before striking their target, officials say.

“It needs to be faster than Shahed, which flies 200km per hour, and this drone has to find, catch and destroy it,” Serhii Beskrestnov, a consultant to the Ukrainian military, told Politico last August.

Volodymyr Zelensky has been in contact with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, and the UAE president Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, about the use of Ukraine’s anti-drone technology.

A Russian missile strike killed at ⁠least seven people, including two ⁠children, ​in Ukraine’s city ⁠of Kharkiv, ⁠regional governor ​Oleh Syniehubov ‌said ⁠this morning.

Syniehubov ‌said the missile damaged a ⁠five-storey residential building in one of the districts of Kharkiv. Rescue workers ‌are ​on site ‌to ⁠clear

Russia is providing Iran with targeting information that includes locations of US warships and aircraft in the Middle East, the Washington Post reported, citing three officials familiar with the intelligence.

The extent of Russia’s support to Iran was not entirely clear but the Iranian military’s own ability to locate US forces has been degraded since the US and Israel launched strikes against Tehran last week, the Post reported.

The war has since escalated, triggering retaliatory strikes by Iran, and ensnared its neighbours as it seeks to impose a high cost on the US, Israel and their allies.

The US military has identified six reserve soldiers killed in Kuwait when a drone slammed into a US military facility in Port Shuaiba. Trump and other senior officials have warned the conflict will likely result in more US military deaths.

A White House spokesperson did not directly comment on the alleged Russian support to Iran.

“The Iranian regime is being absolutely crushed. Their ballistic missile retaliation is decreasing every day, their navy is being wiped out, their production capacity is being demolished, and proxies are hardly putting up a fight,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said.

Russia was in dialogue with representatives of Iran’s leadership, the Kremlin said on Friday. It declined to provide details when asked by reporters whether Moscow was helping Tehran.

The UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar are among the nations in the region that use sophisticated US-made air defences to intercept the relatively cheaply made, mass-produced drones fired by Iran.

With the conflict now in its seventh day, the US has turned to Ukraine, a country that shoots down Shahed-type drones fired by Russia every night, for assistance in defending its assets in the Middle East.

An American anti-drone system proven to work against Russian drones in Ukraine will soon be sent to the Middle East to bolster US defences against Iranian drones, two US officials said.

The system that is being sent, known as Merops, flies drones against drones. It is small enough to fit in the back of a midsize pickup truck, can identify drones and close in on them, using artificial intelligence to navigate when satellite and electronic communications are jammed.

Drones are hard to pinpoint on radar systems calibrated for spotting high-speed missiles and can be mistaken for birds or planes. The Merops system is designed to spot them and take them down. Crucially, the system also is cheaper than firing a missile that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars at a drone that costs less than $50,000.

While the US has used Patriot and THAAD missile systems to take down Iranian missiles successfully, there are limited effective anti-drone defences now in the Middle East, according to a US defense official, one of two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.

The US response to countering Iran’s Shahed drones has been “disappointing,” the other US official said, particularly because the drones fired by Iran are a much more basic version of the same drone that Russia is continuously refining and updating in its war in Ukraine.

At least four people were killed and 10 others were injured in Ukraine’s Kharkiv after Russia attacked Ukrainian cities with ballistic missiles and drones overnight, officials said.

Ukrainian officials also sounded a countrywide air raid alert in the early hours around 3am local time to caution locals across Ukraine against incoming Russian projectiles.

Kharkiv oblast governor Oleh Syniehubov said the region was targeted overnight and fires were reported as a result of a ballistic missile attack.

The attack killed four civilians and injured 10, including two children, the State Emergency Service said.

Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said the victims were found by the rescue services after a ballistic missile struck a multi-story residential building in Kharkiv’s Kyivskyi district, causing heavy destruction and a fire.

“A direct hit by a ballistic missile on a multi-story building in the Kyivskyi district has been confirmed. There is significant damage, a fire, and people may be trapped under the rubble,” Terekhov said.

Explosions were first reported in Kyiv around 1.30am local time, reported the Kyiv Independent, followed by more blasts reported around 1.40am local time.

Kyiv mayor Vitalii Klitschko asked people in Kyiv to take cover. “Air defence forces are operating in the capital. Stay in shelters,” he said.

At least four people were killed and 10 others were injured in Ukraine’s Kharkiv after Russia attacked Ukrainian cities with ballistic missiles and drones overnight, officials said.

Ukrainian officials also sounded a countrywide air raid alert in the early hours around 3am local time to caution locals across Ukraine against incoming Russian projectiles.

Kharkiv oblast governor Oleh Syniehubov said the region was targeted overnight and fires were reported as a result of a ballistic missile attack.

The attack killed four civilians and injured 10, including two children, the State Emergency Service said.

Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said the victims were found by the rescue services after a ballistic missile struck a multi-story residential building in Kharkiv’s Kyivskyi district, causing heavy destruction and a fire.

“A direct hit by a ballistic missile on a multi-story building in the Kyivskyi district has been confirmed. There is significant damage, a fire, and people may be trapped under the rubble,” Terekhov said.

Explosions were first reported in Kyiv around 1.30am local time, reported the Kyiv Independent, followed by more blasts reported around 1.40am local time.

Kyiv mayor Vitalii Klitschko asked people in Kyiv to take cover. “Air defence forces are operating in the capital. Stay in shelters,” he said.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said ⁠it summoned Hungary’s acting ⁠charge ​d’affaires ⁠in Kyiv ⁠over the detention ​of ⁠Ukrainian nationals ‌in Budapest.

A ministry ‌statement said ‌Ukraine reserves ⁠the right to respond, including via sanctions and other restrictive ‌measures against ​those ‌involved ⁠in “unlawful” actions.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that he had visited the eastern front line on Friday.

Zelensky gave awards to troops defending the positions near Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka, cities in the eastern Donetsk region where Russia has concentrated its forces. Moscow was preparing for a spring offensive there, he said.

“It is important not only from the point of view of defending our state on the battlefield, but it is also very important geopolitically,” Zelensky told soldiers from the 28th separate mechanised brigade in a video posted on his Telegram channel.

“The stronger we are in the eastern direction, the stronger we are in the talks process,” he said.

Under pressure from US president Donald Trump’s administration, Ukraine and Russia held several rounds of talks trying to find a diplomatic solution on how to end the war, now in its fifth year.