Ukraine-Russia war live updates: Kyiv ‘destroys military helicopter’ in latest long-range drone strike

Foreign secretary David Lammy has spoken out after Russia’s latest bombardment of Ukraine.

“Yet again, Putin is attacking cities, homes, and civilians”, he said on X. “These are not military targets but barbaric acts. Among those killed were members of the State Emergency Services who were working tirelessly to save and protect lives.”

Hardline Russian nationalist tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev has said there is benefit from the Musk-Trump feud, as it distracts Moscow from the war in Ukraine.

“We can just be glad that they won’t have time for us,” said Malofeyev, who said it was now “the best time to strike back” against Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked about the clash, said it was an internal matter for the US, though he was confident that Trump would handle it.

Russia is prepared to offer political asylum to tech billionaires Elon Musk after his public feud with US president Donald Trump, a Moscow official has said.

Dmitry Novikov, deputy chair of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told state-run news agency TASS on Friday: “I think Musk is playing a completely different game, that he won’t need political asylum, although if he did, Russia could certainly provide it.”

The Russian military has said in a statement that it had used long-range weapons to strike Ukraine.

“In response to terrorist acts by the Kyiv regime, the Russian Armed Forces carried out a massive strike overnight with long-range air, sea and land-based precision weapons,” the Ministry of Defence said.

It said the strike had targeted “Ukrainian design bureaus, enterprises for the production and repair of weapons and military equipment, assembly workshops for strike drones, flight training centres, and Ukrainian armed forces weapons and military equipment depots.”

“The objective of the strike was achieved. All designated targets were hit.”

Some U.S. lawmakers do not understand the scale of Russia’s rearmament campaign, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday, a day after he held talks with U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House.

“I met with some senators on Capitol Hill and told them to please look at the rearmament Russia is doing,” Merz told a business conference in Berlin.

“They clearly have no idea what is happening there right now,” he said, without identifying the senators.