Russia launches overnight attack killing at least 7 in Ukraine amid Nato talks

Russian overnight strikes on Ukraine killed at least seven people, while Kyiv said it had launched attacks on several Russian oil tankers, marking another escalation in the conflict just hours before a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Nato summit.

Explosions rocked Kyiv shortly after midnight, with a powerful blast heard even before the city's air raid sirens were activated, a rare failure in the warning system that alarmed residents. Several more explosions followed, according to AFP journalists in the capital.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed and warehouses caught fire after a missile strike. The latest attack comes amid a wave of Russian missile and drone assaults on the Ukrainian capital that have killed more than 50 people this month.

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At the NATO summit in Ankara, Zelenskyy renewed his appeal to allies for additional ammunition for US-made Patriot air defence systems, which are considered Ukraine's most effective defence against Russia's ballistic missiles.

Elsewhere, a Russian-guided bomb attack killed a mother and daughter in the southern Mykolaiv region, according to regional military chief Vitaliy Kim. Officials also reported two deaths each in the northeastern Kharkiv region and the southern frontline Kherson region.

Ukraine, meanwhile, said it continued striking targets deep inside Russia. The governor of Russia's Saratov region said one person was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack.

Kyiv has also intensified attacks on Russia's so-called "shadow fleet"—ageing oil tankers used to transport Russian crude despite Western sanctions. The commander of Ukraine's drone forces claimed that 21 Russian vessels operating in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov had been hit over the past 72 hours.