Russia launched a huge drone attack on eastern Ukraine overnight. Meanwhile, Beijing has responded to reports that a number of Chinese citizens have been caught fighting in the war. Follow the latest here – and submit a question for our Q&A with Michael Clarke today.
Wednesday 9 April 2025 11:26, UK
Security and defence analyst Michael Clarke is back today for his weekly Q&A.
He’ll be answering your questions on the Ukraine war, covering anything from the battlefield to peace talks – you decide.
Submit yours in the box above and he’ll get through as many as he can.
Overnight tit-for-tat attacks have become a central part of the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Moscow especially has launched near-nightly air raids since its invasion began.
See our 8.21am post for the latest on the Kremlin’s attacks.
Overnight, Ukraine launched a drone attack that disrupted flights early this morning in parts of southern Russia, according to the country’s officials.
The Russian defence ministry said in a post on Telegram that it had destroyed almost 160 Ukrainian drones.
There was no immediate report on injuries, and residents from 48 apartments in the southern Rostov region were said to have been evacuated.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Here are some of the latest images from Dnipro, which was targeted by a Russian drone attack overnight.
Locals in the central Ukrainian city seem used to the attacks from Moscow, going about their daily business by the sides of burnt-out and destroyed cars.
More to bring you on possibly the biggest news story surrounding the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours – Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s claims that two Chinese men were captured while fighting for Russia.
The Kremlin has, this morning, declined to comment on the Ukrainian leader’s remarks.
“I cannot comment on this information in any way,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
It is known that Russia has drafted in a significant number of North Korean soldiers already.
Beijing tries to downplay allegations of role in the war
This morning, we’ve also had a response from China in regards to the claims – see our 8.35am post.
We can bring you a bit more on that now.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian claimed Beijing had played a “constructive role in politically resolving the Ukraine crisis.”
In a daily news briefing, he seemed to hint that the two men had gone to Ukraine on their own initiative, trying to downplay any allegations that China was involved.
He said: “The Chinese government always asks Chinese citizens to stay away from conflict zones, avoid getting involved in any form of armed conflict, and especially refrain from participating in any party’s military operations.”
An official also said that claims a large number of Chinese nationals were fighting alongside Russia’s invading army were “totally unfounded”.
Ukraine’s army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi has said that drones are vital in his country’s fight against Russia.
Syrskyi, in a post on Telegram, outlined how the unmanned weapons were helping Kyiv’s war efforts.
He said Ukraine needed to keep increasing the number of and “combat capabilities” of their drones.
In the post Syrskyi said: “In March alone, more than 77,000 enemy targets were hit and destroyed with the help of drones of various types – this is 10% more than in February.”
Now to bring you some news from a report in Politico.
The outlet spoke to British Foreign Secretary David Lammy during a visit to the western Balkans last week.
They quoted the senior Labour minister as saying: “At this time, with war in Europe and seeing the long hand of Russian interference also in the region, you would be a fool if you took your eye off the western Balkans.”
All six members of the Balkan states are trying to become EU member states, but face challenges both domestically and from abroad.
“Right now they must move forward or they will continue to be Russia’s playground,” the outlet quoted an unnamed UK official as saying.
They added there was “quite a small window” in which the states needed to “stop sitting on the fence”.
In images released this morning by Ukraine’s 65th Mechanised Brigade, Ukrainian servicemen are shown firing a multiple launch rocket system based on a military vehicle in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has claimed once again this morning that Ukraine continues to strike Russian energy infrastructure on a daily basis.
Such attacks would be in violation of a US-brokered 30-day moratorium on strikes on energy infrastructure – something both Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of breaking.
The claims have not been independently verified.
More now from the Chinese foreign ministry statement on reports two Chinese citizens have been caught fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine (see previous post).
Employing slightly more combative language in response to the accusations from Kyiv, the ministry said the Ukrainian side should “correctly view China’s efforts and constructive role in the political settlement” of the conflict.
And, addressing Volodomyr Zelenskyy’s claims that there were “many more” Chinese citizens among Russia’s forces, the ministry said this statement was “baseless”.
Once again, we’ll bring you more detail on this as we get it, and updates on any further related developments and reactions.
We are just getting news of a response from China to Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement yesterday, in which he said two Chinese citizens had been captured fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president said the two were among six Chinese soldiers who were fighting against Kyiv’s forces, and that there were “many more Chinese citizens in the occupier’s units”.
China’s foreign ministry has now said in a statement that it is currently “verifying the situation” with Ukraine and that it has always asked its citizens to stay away from areas of armed conflict and not to get involved in armed conflict.
We’ll bring you more detail on this response as we get it.
Russian forces launched huge drone attacks on eastern Ukraine late yesterday, sparking fires and injuring at least 22 people, regional officials said.
In the Donetsk region, the focal point of the 1,000-km (600-mile) front line in the more than three-year-old war, a residential area came under attack in the city of Kramatorsk and local officials said three people, including a child, were injured.
The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 32 out of 55 drones launched by Russia overnight, and that another eight did not reach their targets, most likely because of electronic countermeasures.
It did not specify what happened to the remaining 15 drones.
The attack on Dnipro in southeastern Ukraine caused a fire, damaged houses and cars and injured 15 people, Serhiy Lysak, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, said.
Half of the injured were in hospital and one woman was in serious condition. Lysak said the attack damaged four high-rise residential buildings and 15 homes, along with an administrative building and infrastructure.
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, hit by drone attacks nearly every evening over the past week, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said there had been more than 20 strikes.
“This is our enemy’s new tactic to frighten the civilians. This (the attacked objects) is civilian infrastructure of the city, these are production enterprises, these are Kharkiv’s businessmen. Of course, they are scared,” Terekhov told journalists at one of the attacked sites.
Governor Oleh Syniehubov said four people were injured in the city, a frequent target of Russian assaults.
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