A WHO warehouse full of medical equipment and other humanitarian supplies has been struck and destroyed in a Russian strike on Ukraine.
The WHO's director-general said UN workers tried to evacuate health supplies from the Dnipro facility but some 170 pallets – more than half – were still inside when it was hit.
"I cannot say loudly enough: attacks on health care MUST STOP," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X.
"Otherwise, people are deprived of lifesaving healthcare. Even wars have rules. One of those is that health must be protected!"
It comes as Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky claimed North Korea was preparing to deploy as many as 50,000 soldiers to support Russia's war effort.
Zelensky said North Korea would benefit from "experience in modern warfare" as well as receiving licences to produce more advanced Russian technology.
He appealed to South Korea to respond by providing support "in an area where we have a shortage", referring to its air defence systems.
Earlier, UK defence secretary Wes Streeting urged allies to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences ahead of winter, warning that Vladimir Putin will seek to use the colder months as a “weapon” against Kyiv.
Ukraine are hitting deep inside Russia – but don’t expect Putin to capitulate yet
Russia’s war on Ukraine has entered its latest phase, with each side making use of increasing numbers of long-range munitions to strike deep into the other’s territory.
In the early summer of this year, there was a surge of optimism across the media when it became clear that Ukraine was stepping up its strikes at enormous ranges into Russia, and there was little that Moscow could do about it.
But that optimism needs to be balanced against the new reality that with anti-missile interceptor systems exhausted, there is not much Ukraine itself can do to blunt Russian missile attacks.
For now, those attacks sow misery and death by blasting residential areas with little warning: but next winter, they could once again target heating and power infrastructure and have an even more devastating effect on Ukraine’s ability to keep its people alive than last year.
Read our full report here.
Germany warns of daily 'hybrid warfare' after suspected drone attack
Germany faces daily hybrid warfare attacks from abroad, interior minister Alexander Dobrindt was quoted by a local newspaper as saying on Sunday, following a suspected attack attempt involving an explosive-laden drone at Leipzig/Halle Airport.
Dobrindt told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag that foreign powers wanted to subdue Germany politically and socially by stirring up fear. The newspaper Bild said the government planned to boost Germany's anti-drone capacity to meet the threat.
"We're not at war, but we are the daily target of hybrid warfare," Dobrindt said. "Espionage, sabotage, cyberattacks, or covert operations by foreign powers aimed at destabilising Germany or inflicting direct harm are a constant reality."
After the drone loaded with explosives was discovered at the airport in eastern Germany on Tuesday, some German lawmakers pointed the finger at Russia, which has been at war with Ukraine since its military invasion of the country in 2022.
The Russian embassy in Berlin on Friday dismissed the Leipzig event as a "fabricated provocation", saying it was another example of unsubstantiated accusations against Russia.
Citing government sources, Bild said Dobrindt's ministry wanted to double Germany's federal team of anti-drone experts to 300 from 150 and its network of related bases to eight from four. The ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Germany's armed forces on Saturday said two drones were spotted late on Thursday over a German military base site in Mechernich, in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Royal Navy warns of 25% surge in Russian ships near UK waters
The Royal Navy has warned of a significant increase in Russian naval activity near UK waters, having spent 21 days in July monitoring Moscow's vessels.
Naval operations to track Russian ships surged by 25 per cent in July compared to last year, with warships repeatedly traversing the Dover Strait and North Sea.
Read more here.
What are Patriot missiles and why do they matter?
Ukraine is urgently seeking more Patriot interceptors to defend against a nightly barrage of Russian ballistic missile strikes.
But the Iran war has drained arsenals in the US and the Gulf, and some European countries are holding onto missiles they may need for their own defence
So what are the Patriot interceptor missiles?
Patriot, short for Phased Array Tracking Radar for Intercept on Target, is a mobile surface-to-air missile defence system built by US weapons maker Raytheon Technologies that can be used in all kinds of weather and at long range.
Developed in the 1980s, the Patriot system has been modernised over the past decades, expanding its capabilities and reach. It is slated to remain in service through 2048.
A Patriot missile battery
A typical battery includes radar and control systems, a power unit, launchers, and support vehicles. The system can intercept aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, depending on the interceptor used.
The earlier PAC-2 interceptor uses a blast-fragmentation warhead that detonates in the vicinity of a target, while the PAC-3 family of missiles uses more accurate "hit-to-kill" technology to physically collide with the target.
Why do they matter?
Kyiv has repeatedly asked Western allies for more air defences to protect critical infrastructure and civilian areas from frequent Russian missile and drone attacks.
While effective at intercepting missiles and aircraft, Patriots are a costly way to shoot down low-budget drones. Patriot interceptors are estimated at around $4m per missile, CSIS says, while Russia can send hundreds of cheap drones a day.
Although not originally designed to intercept hypersonic weapons, in May 2023 the US confirmed Ukraine had used the Patriot system to shoot down a Russian Kinzhal missile, which Moscow claims is hypersonic.
What are the obstacles?
Russia has long said that giving Ukraine interceptors would amount to a direct escalation. They said it would delay the chance of peace.
But Donald Trump’s main line of argument is that the US needs its weapons and cannot afford to give them away to Ukraine. Indeed, the Patriots have been in short supply since the US went to war with Iran in February.
Trump in July offered Ukraine the right to make its own Patriot interceptors, but later reneged, saying the US has “not agreed” to such an arrangement.
Russia says air defences intercepted 285 Ukrainian drones over 12-hour period
Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that its air defence units had intercepted and destroyed 285 Ukrainian drones over a 12-hour period.
The ministry said the drones were downed between 8am and 8pm Moscow time (0500-1700 GMT), with most incidents reported over central and western Russian regions. The attacks also included Bashkortostan, a region between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that air defence units had destroyed five drones heading towards the capital, where such attacks have become a regular occurrence during the more than four-year war between Russia and Ukraine.
Pictures show street market in Kyiv
Street markets continue to operate in Ukraine despite the destruction and disruption caused by Russia’s war.
The market was damaged in the latest attacks as Russia continues its strikes across Ukraine.
Several killed after Ukrainian drone strike in Russia's Tatarstan, mayor claims
Ukrainian drones have carried out a deadly drone attack on industrial and civilian targets in the city of Nizhnekamsk in Russia's Tatarstan region which killed a number of people, Radmir Belyayev, the city's mayor said in a statement on Telegram.
Nizhnekamsk hosts a major oil refinery.
According to monitoring channels, Ukrainian forces launched strikes on a Russian oil refinery in Tatarstan overnight on Monday.
Eyewitnesses posted footage showing drones flying over the Russian city of Nizhnekamsk.
Ukraine accuses Unicef of failing to hold Russia accountable for children's deaths
The Ukrainian foreign minister has criticised Unicef for failing to condemn Russia over the deaths of children in Ukraine.
In the statement last week at the UN, Unicef called for Russia and Ukraine to follow obligations under international humanitarian law, but did not mention that Russia was behind deadly strikes that killed Ukrainian children in recent days.
It also did not recognise Russia's responsibility for starting its war against Ukraine.
"It is deeply deplorable that Unicef missed the essential point in its statement: All these children's deaths are a direct result of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. By presenting these casualties without this essential context, Unicef creates a false equivalence between the aggressor and the victim," Andrii Sybiha said in a post to X.
"Moreover, Unicef’s statement lacks basic fact-checking. It failed to mention that the casualties in Russia's Krasnodar were caused by a drone reportedly intercepted by Russian air defence. It also failed to verify the information on casualties in Ukraine: seven, not three, children from one family were killed in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast”, Sybiha said.
Six die in Ukrainian drone attack on Belgorod, Russian authorities say
Six people died in a Ukrainian overnight drone attack on the Russian city of Belgorod, the regional crisis centre said on Sunday.
Alexander Shuvayev, the acting governor of Belgorod region, earlier said three people were killed and 25 others, including two children, were injured.
The death toll later rose to six after officials said emergency crews combed an apartment building which had been set ablaze.
Shuvayev said the attack sparked fires in two apartment buildings and a large number of residential and non-residential buildings were damaged.
Russia's defence ministry said it had destroyed more than 150 Ukrainian drones over the European part of the country, as well as over Crimea, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
In Novorossiysk, a major Russian export port on the Black Sea, drone debris fell on two facilities, local mayor Andrei Kravchenko said, without identifying the sites.
The local crisis centre later said three residential buildings were damaged and one person was injured.
In Bashkortostan region, a Ukrainian drone struck a building under construction and a crane in the city of Ufa, state-run RIA news agency reported, citing local emergency services
WHO warehouse destroyed in Dnipro, Tedros says
A WHO humanitarian warehouse in Dnipro, Ukraine, was struck and destroyed last Friday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.No casualties were reported.
A WHO staff member and drivers had left the site earlier in the day after helping evacuate 130 of around 300 pallets of medical supplies intended for frontline health facilities.
“I cannot say loudly enough: attacks on health care must stop. Otherwise, people are deprived of lifesaving healthcare,” Mr Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted.
“Even wars have rules. One of those is that health must be protected!”
