Ukraine’s military commander in charge of the country’s drone warfare program urged the US and NATO countries alike on Wednesday to learn from Kyiv’s use of the technology on the battlefield so in the future there are not “hard questions from your children [about] when [their] father will come back.

Russia launched 400 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as one ballistic missile, during the night, the Ukrainian air force said. The strikes targeted northeastern Kharkiv, which is Ukraine’s second-largest city, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, Vinnytsia in the west and Odesa in the south.

The large-scale, long-range attacks targeted energy infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X.

Officials have warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that a demographic crisis could mean the country he leads will be short millions of workers by the end of the decade.

President Donald Trump is downplaying the possibility of sending Ukraine long-range weapons as Kyiv awaits an injection of U.S. weaponry that it hopes will help it beat back an intensifying Russian air offensive.

Ukraine's parliament gave its initial approval on Wednesday to an extra $9.8 billion in budget spending for the army and defence this year as the war against Russia drags on with no end in sight.

In 2024, births in Russia fell to 1.22 million — the lowest level since 1999 — while deaths increased by 3.3% annually, to 1.82 million.

A retired Army officer who worked as a civilian Air Force employee has pleaded guilty to conspiring to share classified information about Russia's war with Ukraine.