Russia-Ukraine war live: 10 missiles shot down over Kyiv; Russian strikes cause fire at grain store in Odesa | Russia

Ukraine’s birthrate has fallen by 28% since the start of the war, according to new data, with 38,324 fewer babies born in the country in the first six months of this year compared with 2021, before Russia invaded.

While birthrates have been declining by 7% per yer since 2015, according to Ukrainian data analytics company OpenDataBot, the drop from 2021 to 2023 is the largest since Ukraine gained independence in 1991. The next steepest drop was in 2015, in the aftermath of Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

This year, the website reports, an average of 16,000 babies were born a month, compared to as many as 23,000 babies born monthly before Russia’s full-scale invasion:

Russian drones attacked port and grain storage facilities in the south of Ukraine’s coastal Odesa region in the early hours of Wednesday, setting some of them on fire, regional governor Oleh Kiper wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

There have been no reports of casualties, he said. Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian agricultural and port infrastructure after refusing to extend the Black Sea grain deal which had allowed for exports of Ukrainian grain.

AFP: More than 10 Russian drones were downed during an overnight attack on Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said early on Wednesday.

“Groups of drones entered Kyiv simultaneously from several directions. However, all air targets – more than 10 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – were detected and destroyed in time by the forces and means of air defense,” said Sergiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration.

He said Russia had used a barrage of Iranian-made Shahed drones, with debris hitting several areas.

Kyiv’s mayor said previously on Wednesday that the attack on the capital had caused damage in multiple districts, including the busy Solomyansky, which hosts an international airport.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that no one was killed or wounded in the attack.

In Golosiivsky district, “parts of a drone fell on the playground” and a fire broke out in a non-residential building, the Kyiv city military administration said, adding that emergency services were on the scene.

The administration had earlier issued an alert for drone attacks and warned residents to stay in shelters.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.

More than 10 Russian drones were downed during an overnight attack on Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said early on Wednesday, as Russian drones also attacked port and grain storage facilities in Odesa region in the early hours of Wednesday, setting some of them on fire.

Elsewhere:

• Russian air defences shot down several drones targeting the Moscow region on Tuesday, the mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, with one hitting a tower that had also been struck on Sunday. The Russian defence ministry said two drones had been destroyed in the Odintsovo and Narofominsk districts near Moscow, and that a third was jammed and had crashed in the capital. The ministry blamed the attacks on Kyiv. No injuries were reported. Moscow’s Vnukovo airport was also temporarily shut and flights redirected.

• Russia also downed a drone in the Sevastopol district of Crimea, according to the local governor. Mikhail Razvozhaev wrote on Telegram: “A UAV was shot down in the Kara-Koba area. An explosion occurred on the ground. Grass and bushes caught fire. Fire brigades are already on site and have begun to put out the blaze.”

• The United States has been told that Russia is prepared to return to talks on a deal that had allowed the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, but “we haven’t seen any evidence of that yet,” the US envoy to the United Nations said on Tuesday.

• Poland said on Tuesday it was rushing troops to its eastern border after accusing Belarus, Russia’s closest ally, of violating its airspace with military helicopters. The Belarusian military denied any such violation and accused Nato member Poland, one of Ukraine’s most fervent backers in its conflict with Russia, of making up the accusation to justify a buildup of its troops.

• Ukraine and Poland meanwhile called in the ambassadors from each other’s countries on Tuesday as a dispute escalated after a foreign policy adviser to Poland’s president said Kyiv should show more appreciation for Warsaw’s support in its war with Russia. The adviser, Marcin Przydacz, also said the Polish government must defend the interests of the country’s farmers – a reference to a ban on imports of Ukrainian commodities which will expire next month.

• The mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, said at least three drones had hit populated areas, one destroying two floors of a dormitory. Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram early on Tuesday: “A fire broke out and emergency services are attending. Details on casualties are being clarified.”

• Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff of Russia’s armed forces, has visited troops in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, part of which is occupied by Russia and which it claims to have annexed. Gerasimov was one of the military figures repeatedly criticised by Yevgeny Prigozhin before the Wagner group’s aborted uprising.

• Ukraine thwarted an overnight attempt by a Russian saboteur group to cross its northern border, the interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said. Serhiy Naev, commander of the joint forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said four armed people attempted to cross the border but were repelled by Ukrainian fire.