10/03/2026 – 20:58 GMT+1
US-brokered ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine were put on hold due to the growing escalation in the Middle East, which has drawn attention away from Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II.
Four people were killed and at least 16 others injured after a Russian aerial attack struck the centre of the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, the head of the Donetsk regional military administration Vadym Filashkin said on Tuesday.
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Russia also launched drones at three other Ukrainian cities overnight, wounding at least 17 people, emergency services reported.
In Dnipro in central Ukraine, 10 people were injured as a result of a Russian attack, which damaged a residential block, a city administrative building and private homes.
Out of the 137 drones launched by Russia, Ukraine’s air force said it downed 122.
Ukrainian missiles meanwhile struck the city of Bryansk in western Russia on Tuesday, killing at least six civilians and injuring 37, regional Governor Alexander Bogomaz said.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters the strike on Bryansk hit a plant involved in manufacturing control systems for Russian missiles.
Meanwhile, Russian and Ukrainian officials both claim to have made front line progress, with Ukraine saying it pushed Moscow’s forces back in some areas and the Kremlin insisting that it is making progress.
Speaking during a meeting with the Kremlin-appointed head of the region, Denis Pushilin, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Russian forces made gains in Ukraine’s Donbas region.
Putin said that about half a year ago, Ukraine controlled roughly 35% of the Donetsk region, whereas it currently only holds 15-17% of it.
Late Monday, Putin told US President Donald Trump that Russian forces are “advancing rather successfully” in Ukraine, the Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian military official told local media that the country’s forces have nearly retaken all territory in the southeastern industrial region of Dnipropetrovsk during a counteroffensive.
In the process, Ukrainian troops pushed Russian forces out of more than 400 square kilometres, according to Major General Oleksandr Komarenko.
Another official said that Ukrainian troops have broken through Russian defences and advanced more than 10 kilometres, claiming the gains were possible because Russian troops are poorly supplied and lack support.
Russia has launched near-daily attacks on civilian areas in Ukraine, while US-brokered peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow remain on hold as Washington’s attention is gripped by its military campaitn in Iran.
