President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Russia would be prepared to talk to Ukraine, the United States and Europe about the future of Ukraine if they wanted to, but that Moscow would defend its national interests.

Frontline Ukrainian troops face shortages of artillery shells and have scaled back some military operations because of a shortfall of foreign assistance, a senior army general told Reuters.

Ukraine said yesterday that it had repelled two Russian missile and 20 drone attacks overnight, as Moscow reported downing 33 drones fired from Ukraine.

A volley of Russian missiles wounded dozens of people and damaged a children’s hospital yesterday in the worst attack on Kyiv in months, officials said, as Ukraine pleads for Western military aid.

Ukraine's foreign minister warned European Union leaders Monday that if they fail to agree to open membership talks with Kyiv at their summit this week it will have "devastating consequences".

Kyiv yesterday said that Russia had launched more than a dozen cruise missiles at Ukraine overnight in Moscow’s latest aerial barrage that left two dead and several wounded.

Russia launched a major drone attack on southern, central and eastern Ukrainian regions, damaging privately-owned and commercial buildings as well as infrastructure, Kyiv officials said yesterday.

Ukraine said yesterday that two people had been killed by Russian shelling in the southern city of Kherson, the latest fatalities in months of persistent shelling by Moscow’s forces.

Ukraine’s air force said yesterday that it shot down 18 out of 23 Iranian-made Shahed drones and one missile that Russia fired at its territory overnight.

One person was killed, 10 were wounded and four appeared to be trapped under rubble following overnight Russian missile attacks in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Ukrainian interior minister Ihor Klymenko and regional officials said yesterday.

Ukraine said yesterday it had downed 74 out of 75 Russian drones overnight, in what it said was the biggest such attack since the start of the invasion.

A third wave of Russian forces is attacking the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka and systematically shelling the centre of the industrial hub, its Ukrainian head said yesterday.

In a heated shelter near the eastern front line, Ukrainian serviceman, Dmytro, looked on as a mouse sniffed the air and then scuttled behind plastic sheeting insulating the walls and ceiling.

The Ukrainian army yesterday said it pushed Russian forces back “three to eight kilometres” from the banks of Dnipro river, which if confirmed would be the first meaningful advance by Kyiv’s forces months into a disappointing counteroffensive.

Ukraine said yesterday a blast triggered by “local resistance movements” in the Moscow-controlled Ukrainian city of Melitopol the previous day killed Russian military officers at a headquarters of the occupation authorities.

A missile targeted Kyiv yesterday, ending nearly two months of relative calm in the Ukrainian capital, while frontline regions fended off waves of drone attacks overnight.

Russian forces are fighting to surround the war-battered frontline town of Avdiivka and capture a strategically-located factory nearby, a Ukrainian military spokesman said yesterday.

Russia launched a massive drone attack early yesterday, hitting critical infrastructure in the west and south of Ukraine and destroying private houses and commercial buildings in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, officials said.

Russia has shelled more than 100 settlements over the last 24 hours -- more than in any single day so far this year, Ukraine said yesterday.

Russian forces shot down 36 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula overnight, Moscow’s Defence Ministry said yesterday.