With an acting defence minister in place and a new commander-in-chief in charge of the military, Ukraine's recent political crisis is over, right? The political fallout from President Volodymyr Zelensky's 15 July decision not to re-appoint Mykhailo Fedorov as defence minister, as part of a cabinet reshuffle, continues to reverberate about Kyiv and beyond, even as air raid sirens wail and Russian drones and missiles are intercepted overhead. Fedorov's mostly young supporters are still mounting daily street protests, demanding that Zelensky reinstate the popular young innovator widely credited with driving much of Ukraine's recent technological innovation. On Thursday, Fedorov said he had rejected Zelensky's offers of alternative posts in government, saying there were only three positions worth having to influence the course of the war: minister of defence, commander-in-chief of the military or president of Ukraine. If you don't have a ministry under you, you don't have a budget, ex-deputy defence minister Alina Frolova said, and you don't actually have the authority to do something. Fedorov's reference to the presidency did not go unnoticed.

At least 15 people have been killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine, with 10 dead in ballistic missile strikes just outside Kyiv, according to a national official. Writing on social media, Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed about 100 people had been injured in Kyiv, where emergency services are still at the scene, with five other people killed in the eastern city of Sloviansk. Meanwhile, an overnight Ukrainian strike killed six people and wounded 26 near the Russian city of Kirov, more than 1,000 km (600 miles) behind the front line. Ukraine also attacked the warehouses of Wildberries - Russia's biggest online retailer - in St Petersburg and the surrounding area, setting off huge fires. In the attacks near Kyiv, Russia also appeared to have targeted Defence Ministry adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov, aka Flash, and Lyuba Shypovych, who has been involved in developing technology for the Ukrainian army.

Ukraine's ousted defence minister insists on being reinstated Ukraine's ousted defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has refused to accept an alternative post in Volodymyr Zelensky's government, insisting he wants his job back. He thanked the president, but said there were only three positions in the state - in addition to soldiers on the battlefield - which determine the course of the war: president, defence minister and commander-in-chief. Zelensky said he had offered Fedorov several posts, including deputy prime minister. Last week's removal of Fedorov - who is praised for transforming the armed forces - triggered mass protests. Zelensky was later forced to sack commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, who conflicted with Fedorov.

But he was acclaimed for his reforms while serving as Ukraine's minister of digital transformation, and his new duties included logistics, budgets, reforms, anticorruption measures and deals to secure multibillion-dollar Western aid or loans. After his appointment in January, Fedorov provided Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a list of urgent problems and ways to solve them. He mentioned a "chaotic" management system, constant rotations of commanding officers, non-transparent distribution of arms and military equipment, bureaucracy, resistance to reforms from Commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii's General Staff of Armed Forces, decision-making based on loyalty and not data analysis, and "isolation" of effective commanders and proponents of reforms. Then on Wednesday, just seven months into his role, Fedorov was removed from his position by Zelenskyy. The changes that Fedorov was trying to bring about in Ukraine's military had angered Syrskii. But Fedorov's ouster appears to have angered Ukrainians even more -- potentially presenting Zelenskyy with a political challenge. Rallies, relatively large by wartime Ukraine's standards, have since erupted in Kyiv and key Ukrainian cities. "He's a young, smart, educated person who proved with his previous job that he really is a reformer and can make Ukraine a nation of the future," Taisiya, who rallied on Thursday in central Kyiv, told Al Jazeera.

Ukraine's president plans to use the Nato meeting in Turkey to urge Kyiv's allies to deliver the air defence systems it urgently needs to protect it from escalating Russian attacks. Volodymyr Zelensky's call for help rings with extra intensity after Russian missiles rained down on the Ukrainian capital twice in less than a week, crashing into blocks of flats and killing more than 50 civilians. The summit in Ankara will also be a chance for Zelensky to hold a crucial meeting with Donald Trump and press home his case that Russia's brutal attacks are a show of weakness, not strength, and that Vladimir Putin should be pressured into talks towards a dignified peace. The latest strikes on Ukraine come as it has been stepping up its own long-range drone attacks against Russia, hitting oil refineries and military targets there and causing significant fuel shortages and power cuts. To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Russian social media accounts are full of videos of people queuing for hours to buy petrol and fighting over what little they're allowed.

Image caption, Ukraine's military described St Petersburg's oil terminal as one of the largest in Russia A major oil terminal in Russia's second city of St Petersburg in the north-west was struck overnight by Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. He described it as key infrastructure that generates revenue for Russia's war. Ukraine also said a major Russian naval base in the region was hit. St Petersburg Governor Aleksandr Beglov said the city was under a massive drone attack, admitting the oil terminal was hit. Ukraine has recently intensified its long-range drone attacks on Russia's critical energy infrastructure, causing widespread fuel shortages.

Russia launched one of its heaviest attacks on Kyiv with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles, killing at least 18 people. Ukraine President Zelenskyy called air defense an absolute priority.

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Russian forces have launched a major drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv overnight, killing at least eight people, officials say. Several neighbourhoods were evacuated as strikes rocked buildings throughout the city, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia was preparing for a massive attack. Children were among the significant number of casualties, Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, said. The enemy is once again deliberately targeting residential areas and killing civilians, he said in the early hours of Thursday. On Thursday morning, daylight brought clearer images of a crater which appeared to be caused by the impact of explosions.

Is the war entering a new phase? Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukraine have killed at least eight people and wounded 34 others, Ukrainian authorities say, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the "horrific attacks". Zelenskyy said on Monday that at least five people were killed and 28 wounded in a Russian missile attack on Dnipro city, an industrial hub around 100 km (62 miles) from the front line, that is regularly targeted by Russian forces. He posted images of a building with shattered windows and a blurred photo of a body lying near a stairwell. "People have traumatic brain injuries, shrapnel wounds, fractures and blast trauma," he said.