Ukraine hits Russian airfield day after mass wave of strikes

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned Russia's massive wave of drone strikes against Ukraine on Friday.

Guterres "condemns the latest series of large-scale drone and missile attacks by the Russian Federation, reportedly the largest in over three years of war," a UN statement said.

"These strikes disrupted the power supply to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, once again underlining the ongoing risks to nuclear safety," he added, referring to Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which lies on the Dnieper river in southern Ukraine.

One person was killed and dozens injured on Friday.

"The Secretary-General is alarmed by this dangerous escalation and the growing number of civilian casualties. Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited under international law and must stop immediately," the statement said.

Guterres called for a "full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire."

Up to 10% of Ukrainian soldiers are thought to be from the LGBTQ+ community.

While tolerance is improving, Ukraine still does not guarantee legal equality.

Read the full story on Ukraine's LGBTQ+ soldiers.

Russia's troops are reportedly closing in on Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region, located near the Russian border.

In anticipation of the offensive, Ukrainian forces are building trenches, bunkers, and new strongholds.

The UK Defense Ministry's daily intelligence update said Russia had confirmed the death of Mikhail Gudkov, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy.

Gudkov was killed in a Ukrainian strike on March 28.

The update said Gudkov was the second senior Russian general to be killed this year, and the 16th since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.

"The loss of so many high-ranking officers is likely to have had the effect of undermining command and control in parts of the Russian Armed Forces," the UK Defense Ministry said. "This has likely contributed to Russian tactical and operational difficulties during the conflict."

The Russian strikes on Friday came after a call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin after which the US President said he was "very unhappy."

Trump later held a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday evening, which appeared to have a more positive result.

Trump told reporters on Air Force One that the call with Zelenskyy had been good.

"We spoke about opportunities in air defense and agreed that we will work together to strengthen protection of our skies," Zelenskyy said on social media after the call.

Regarding his call with Putin, Trump hinted at the possibility of further US sanctions against Russia.

"We talk about sanctions a lot," Trump said. "He understands that it may be coming."

Trump said he would quickly end the war after coming into office, initially showing a closeness to Putin that marked a dramatic change from the previous White House administration.

However, Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration with Putin. Whether this will translate to more support for Ukraine remains to be seen.

The Ukrainian military said on Saturday that it had hit the Borisoglebsk airfield in the Voronezh region.

According to Kyiv, the base contained Russian Sukhoi Su-34, Su-35S and Su-30SM military jets. They said they hit a glide bomb depot and training aircraft, as well as other machines.

This could not be independently verified.

"The defense forces continue to take all measures to undermine the ability of the Russian occupiers to attack civilian infrastructure and to force the Russian Federation to cease its armed aggression against Ukraine," the armed forces said in a post on Telegram.

Voronezh Governor Aleksandr Gusev reported that there was damage but did not say what had been hit. The Defense Ministry said 94 Ukrainian drones were shot down, 34 of which were over the Voronezh region.

Ukraine also reported further Russian drone strikes on Saturday morning. Military Governor Oleh Synegubov posted on Telegram that at least three people, including a 12-year-old boy, had been injured in the city of Chuhuiv.

Ukraine on Saturday morning was still reeling from Russia's massive wave of strikes early on Friday, with the Ukrainian air force saying 550 drones had been fired on Ukraine, calling it the largest wave of strikes since the war began.

One person was killed and dozens more were injured in the attack.

Russia then launched another wave of attacks on Friday night.

The strikes came after a call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart Donald Trump who expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of progress.