Ukrainian president says his country’s incursion still going to ‘plan’, as Russian forces make rapid advances

Russia says its forces have recaptured 10 settlements after it launched a counteroffensive in the Kursk region to push out Ukrainian troops who stormed across the border five weeks ago.

With fierce fighting continuing, Russia’s defence ministry listed the names of 10 settlements it said it had retaken, in a significant blow to Kyiv. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, acknowledged a Russian counteroffensive had begun.

President carries out biggest government shake-up since start of war as deadly attacks continue

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has resigned as part of a wide-ranging government reshuffle designed to give what Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called “new strength” to the embattled country.

Kuleba’s departure, announced in a handwritten note, came as Russia continued its relentless air barrage. At least seven people died and 53 were injured in a missile strike in the western city of Lviv.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy says more than 206 people injured as unconfirmed reports say strike targeted military ceremony

Ukraine has experienced one of the deadliest attacks of the war after a Russian missile strike on the central city of Poltava hit a military training institute and a nearby hospital, killing at least 51 people and injuring more than 200 others.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in a video address that, according to preliminary information, two ballistic missiles had “partially destroyed” one of the buildings of the Poltava Military Institute of Communications, leaving people under the rubble.

Official says strike hit a house and a high-rise building, killing five young men

The US has decided against a proposal to deploy American contractors to Ukraine to maintain Western military equipment, including F-16 fighter jets.

A Wall Street Journal report carried by Euromaiden stated that the Biden administration elected not to send contractors due to safety concerns, after Ukraine lost the first F-16 fighter jet it received from Western allies earlier this month.

Mykola Oleshchuk’s dismissal thought to be linked to death of pilot and loss of plane newly delivered to Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has fired the head of Ukraine’s air force a day after it emerged that a recently delivered F-16 jet had crashed earlier this week, killing the pilot.

“I have decided to replace the commander of the air forces … I am eternally grateful to all our military pilots,” Zelenskiy said in his evening video address on Friday, without giving a reason for the dismissal of Mykola Oleshchuk.