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.

Pentagon officials are weighing whether to disperse U.S. military bases in the Gulf after Iranian missile and drone attacks exposed vulnerabilities at major Middle East installations.

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? Kyiv came under a ballistic missile and drone attack overnight, with at least two people killed and 11 injured after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of an impending "massive" attack by Russia. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, writing on the Telegram messaging platform, said the roof of a hotel was on fire early on Thursday morning. "Kyiv is under attack from ballistic missiles and UAVs," Klitschko wrote, using the acronym for unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones. Klitschko later said that 11 people were injured, with others trapped in a damaged nine-storey residential building, and the roof of another high-rise apartment building on fire.

Smoke rises during a Russian missile strike on Kyiv on Thursday. Kyiv - Russian missile and drone strikes rocked Kyiv early on Thursday, setting off fires and wounding at least five people, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Moscow was preparing a "massive attack." Russia has routinely launched waves of missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, during its more than four-year invasion, which has become Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II. The attack came after the Ukrainian air force warned that ballistic missiles were headed toward the capital and followed Zelenskyy cutting short a visit to Dublin Wednesday, citing intelligence reports of an impending Russian strike. Journalists in central and eastern Kyiv heard more than a dozen explosions and saw residents -- some with children and pets -- rushing into metro stations being used as shelters. "Kyiv is under attack from ballistic missiles and UAVs," Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram, adding that blasts could be heard across the city.

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Birds' nests of fiber-optic cables show war's impact on Ukraine Yana Hrynko, senior researcher of The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, shows a bird's nest made with fragments of optic fiber, which was found by a Ukrainian service member on the front line and then passed to the museum in Kyiv on June 23. Kyiv - Woven from fiber-optic cable and grass, a small bird's nest found near the front line of the war in Ukraine shows how the more than 4-year-old conflict is reshaping the natural environment, researchers say. Areas along the 1,200-kilometer front line are covered with ultrathin fiber-optic cables, which are used by Ukrainian and Russian troops to guide aerial attack drones to make them impervious to electronic jamming. The cables, which can stretch for 20 km, lie tangled in trees and scattered across fields and on the rooftops of towns in Ukraine's frontline regions, glistening in the sunlight like giant spider webs. Birds have begun repurposing the discarded cables to weave their nests, says Yana Hrynko, a senior researcher at Kyiv's War Museum, cautiously examining two delicate nests the armed forces sent to the museum from the front line. "Objects such as bird nests with fragments of optic fiber demonstrate the change in the nature of war," said Hrynko.

Taiwan's debate over drone procurement is being closely watched because the successful use of unmanned systems by Ukraine and Iran have underscored the ways in which the technology can be used to defend territory against larger adversaries. Taiwan's main opposition party has outlined plans to develop the drone industry just days after stalling a similar proposal from Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's government, amid a debate on unmanned systems with crucial implications for the island's defense. The Kuomintang will submit legislation that could allocate 240 billion New Taiwan dollars (U.S.$7.5 billion) over six years for government procurement and industrial development of unmanned systems, KMT lawmaker Lin Pei-hsiang said during a briefing on Tuesday. Taiwan's debate over drone procurement is being closely watched because the successful use of unmanned systems by Ukraine and Iran have underscored the ways in which the technology can be used to defend territory against larger adversaries. The People's Republic of China has threatened to use force to push its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan, even though it has never controlled the self-governing democracy. Unlike the Cabinet's proposal, which would provide upfront authorization for NT$210 billion for drone procurement over multiple years, the KMT's legislation would fund the program through the annual budget process.

In Russia, the impact of Ukraine's missile and drone strikes on energy infrastructure from Moscow to the Black Sea and beyond has long been evident. Drivers in the Russia-annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea banned from filling their tanks so priority can be given to military vehicles. But such is the gravity of the situation it has now been explicitly acknowledged by President Vladimir Putin for the first time. Over the weekend, Russia's president discussed the crisis with senior officials and oil executives. And in public remarks, he was unusually frank. You're well aware that problems persist for both motorists and businesses, he told the meeting.