MOSCOW/KYIV/WARSAW/MINSK - Russian air defenses shot down 660 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia Today (RT) reported Friday, while Kyiv authorities reported a Russian ballistic missile attack overnight.
"During the night, air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed 660 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles," the RT reported, citing a Russian Defense Ministry statement.
The statement said the drones were shot down over the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Oryol, Kaluga, Lipetsk, Rostov, Voronezh, Tula, Ryazan, Astrakhan regions, as well as the Moscow region, Crimea, and the Black and Azov seas.
On Thursday night local time, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, wrote on Telegram that Ukraine's capital came under a Russian ballistic missile attack, urging residents to take cover.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, meanwhile, wrote on Telegram that the air defense systems were operating and urged residents to stay in shelters.
On Thursday, the Ukraine Recovery Conference opened in Poland's Baltic port city of Gdansk, with participants pledging billions of euros in reconstruction support.
Co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine, the two-day conference is expected to produce more than 160 agreements worth over 10 billion euros ($11.36 billion), Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
She also announced that Ukraine signed a $3.39-billion agreement between Ukraine and the World Bank.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the disbursement of the first 3.2-billion-euro tranche of a 90-billion-euro EU loan package to support Ukraine's defense, energy resilience and state budget.
Svyrydenko attended the conference on behalf of President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose absence came amid a diplomatic dispute between the two neighboring countries over wartime history.
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Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Teofil Bartoszewski, however, said the dispute would not affect bilateral trade or Poland's military and humanitarian support for Ukraine.
On the sidelines of the conference, Polish energy giant Orlen and Ukraine's Naftogaz signed two agreements to expand LNG trade and strengthen Ukraine's energy security.
'Not to drag Belarus into war'
During a meeting with Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, on Thursday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he had recently met with Zelensky's representatives, during which he cautioned against any actions that could draw Belarus into the ongoing conflict.
"Our position is peace-loving," Lukashenko said.
Lukashenko stressed his country's neutral stance, saying that Belarus does not want to fight Ukraine, especially with Ukrainian troops near the border.
He called for peaceful negotiations and warned against escalation, saying that Belarus values peace and does not seek confrontation, but will defend itself if needed.
