Russia-Ukraine war LIVE | Air raid alerts briefly ring out across Ukraine

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the international community to put concrete “security guarantees” in place for Ukraine and its neighbour Moldova to give the countries enduring protection against Russia.

His plea at the start of a summit of 47 European leaders in Moldova came as officials confirmed that an 11-year-old girl, her mother and another woman had been killed in a Russian missile strike on Kyiv early on Thursday, reports Guardian.

The Ukrainian president said he would also be speaking on Thursday to “partner countries” about putting in place a “potential air jets coalition” and a coalition providing Patriot missiles.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Russia’s defence ministry, border guards, emergency services and local authorities were constantly reporting to President Vladimir Putin on the situation in the Belgorod region, state-owned news agency Tass reported.

The Belgorod region, which neighbours Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, has been under heavy shelling in recent days, with claims and denials that there has been an incursion by Russian anti-Kremlin partisans today.

"I reported to the president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on the situation at the border. It was decided that schoolchildren from the Shebekino district will not take exams. Now a mechanism is being worked out that will allow children from the Shebekino district to enter universities without exams," Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post. 

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is the first of up to 47 leaders to arrive at the European Political Community summit on in Moldova. Zelensky is welcomed to Mimi Castle in Bulboaca by Moldova's President Maia Sandu for a meeting designed as a show of European diplomatic force against Russia.

Ukraine’s ministry of defence has just issued this statement about the earlier attack on the capital, saying:

Last night, the Russians attacked Kyiv with seven Iskander-M ballistic missiles and three Iskander-K cruise missiles. All missiles were shot down. Unfortunately, fragments of the destroyed missiles hit an apartment building and a pediatric hospital. Three civilians, including a child, were killed, and 10 were injured.

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday said he would traveling to Turkey to discuss Sweden’s Nato membership wth President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Reuters news agency reported

“I spoke with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan earlier this week and I will also travel to Ankara in the near future to continue to address how we can ensure the fastest possible accession of Sweden,” he said during a two-day meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Oslo.

Sweden and Finland intitiated the process of attempting to join the alliance in May 2022, three months after Russia staged its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Though Finland joined in April 2023, Hungary and Turkey are yet to ratify Swedish entry.

Turkey claims that Sweden’s Kurdish population harbours people that it considers to be terrorists, while Hungary has expressed concern that government ministers in Sweden have criticised Hungary’s record on human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

Fighters from Russia’s Chechnya region have likely been ordered to join the Ukrainar in a week, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington, DC-based think tank, said in its latest report on Thursday.

It comes after Russia’s Belgorod region announced the evacuation of children amid ongoing cross-border attacks from Ukraine.

The report staes Russian military commanders had likely ordered the Chechens into battle following the withdrawal of Wagner Group mercenary forces from the destroyed city of Bakhmut.

The attack on Thursday started around 3:00 am local time (0000 GMT), in which two children were killed and 10 others were injured, stated officials.

"Among the three dead in the Desnyansky district, there were two children (aged 5-6 and 12-13)," wrote the Kyiv City Military Administration on Telegram.

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