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Headlights illuminate a group of soldiers smoking and drinking steaming cups of coffee on the side of a road in northeastern Ukraine.

A fine sleet on another freezing night falls on the silhouetted barrel of a Soviet-era anti-aircraft gun mounted on an ancient, battered lorry.

These are the men of a mobile air defence unit, preparing for another night of tracking and attempting to shoot out of the skies the Russian drones heading for cities and power plants across Ukraine.

We joined the units over 48 hours in the southern sector of the city of Sumy, near the border with Russia.

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Captain Serhii, of the 117th Brigade, is a commander in charge of 160 of these men in eight mobile units protecting this area of northeastern Ukraine.

Commander Serhii looking for drones on his scanner
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Commander Serhii looking for drones on his scanner

We met up with him in an empty car park next to a high-rise apartment block in Sumy.

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Sitting in his 4×4 he squinted in concentration as his scanner showed a handful of drones on a flight path heading towards us from Russia.

Air raid sirens blared in the background.

He signalled for us to follow, and he sped off into the night weaving through checkpoints along empty, darkened country roads.

He had said the drone was near, but we were confused when he suddenly pulled off the road and jumped out of his cab.

Within moments the skies were lit up by mobile anti-aircraft batteries firing into the sky.

Tracers from the bullets flew over our heads and above us we could hear the monotonous sound of the drone as it passed overhead.

Searchlights reflected off a dank, dense fog that had enveloped the countryside criss-crossed in the sky as the units tried to spot the drone.

They didn’t spot or hit the drone, and slowly the sound of its motors grew dimmer and dimmer until there was silence.

“You can see the current weather conditions, it’s foggy, so we’re basically working off sound alone, as thermal imaging and other devices can’t pick them up,” Captain Serhii told me.

“A spotlight is completely pointless, the speed of these drones isn’t particularly high, so technically, we could hit them, but the weather makes it impossible,” he added.

Every night across Ukraine the tarpaulin covers are pulled off these Soviet-era anti-aircraft guns and prepared for action.

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On battered trucks they rumble into the night to take up defensive positions.

These old guns are the country’s main defence against an increasing number of drone attacks from Russia.

The units here say they mostly encounter two types of drones which are usually deployed at the same time: Gerberas and Shaheds.

Gerberas do not carry an explosive payload but instead are designed to confuse Ukraine’s air defence, while the Iranian-supplied Shahed drones carry explosives with pre-programmed targets.

One of the soldiers, Volodymyr, tracks the drones on a handheld tablet. All the men wait, watch the screen, and listen.

“They generally fly between 200-300m up to 3km,” Volodymyr tells me.

“If they’re flying lower than 300m above sea level, the radar won’t pick them up.”

The men start to gather around their anti-air battery unit as a drone flies closer towards our location.

Stuart Ramsay and Volodymyr
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Stuart Ramsay and Volodymyr

The gunner then jumps onto the truck and searches for the target on a radar attached to his weapon.

He will fire when it’s within a 10km range of his position.

The night-time silence in the middle of the field is suddenly shattered by the deafening sound of firing as the gunner goes for the drone.

Then in the fields all around us other units join the attack – it’s so dark we had no idea they were even there.

It’s absolutely relentless.

Captain Serhii tells me their critical job would be made easier with more sophisticated weapons like the American-made Patriot system.

“We need a stronger, more automated air defence system that operates independently of human involvement,” he said.

“Winter is approaching, and our guys who are on duty 24/7 will face incredibly tough conditions, they aren’t made of steel, so having an automated system would be ideal.”

Anti-air unit firing at drones from their truck
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Anti-aircraft unit firing at drones from their truck

He believes any political negotiations with Russia will just end badly for Ukraine.

“A frozen conflict is typically just a temporary pause, and you can’t trust [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, because any agreement made will likely work in Russia’s favour,” he told me.

“They’ll stockpile resources, more Shaheds, rockets, soldiers, even North Koreans, and then they’ll return, and they’ll come back stronger than they did in 2022.”

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We join another mobile unit, this time by the side of an empty road as they track another Iranian Shahed drone.

It’s flying in our direction and they’re waiting to see if it will come into range.

It does, and they too attack – firing powerful rounds at their target.

The red, orange, and yellow flashes of colour as the weapon fires light up an otherwise pitch-black sky.

In the 48-hour period we spent with the anti-aircraft units in this part of the Sumy region, Russia deployed a record number of drones into Ukraine.

Ukraine, for its part, deployed a record number of drones against Russia too, but the number is dwarfed by the Russian assault.

Night after freezing night these Ukrainian defenders, hundreds of them around this city, will man these guns.

The last line of defence – not good, but better than nothing.

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At least 20 reported dead in Israeli airstrike on Gaza school housing displaced people

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At least 20 reported dead in Israeli airstrike on Gaza school housing displaced people

At least 20 people have been killed and dozens more injured after an Israeli airstrike targeting a school in Gaza, health authorities have said.

Reuters news agency reported the number of dead, citing medics, with the school in the Daraj neighbourhood having been used to shelter displaced people who had fled previous bombardments.

Medical and civil defence sources on the ground confirmed women and children were among the casualties, with several charred bodies arriving at al Shifa and al Ahli hospitals.

The scene inside the school has been described as horrific, with more victims feared trapped under the rubble.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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Trump criticises Putin after deadly strikes across Ukraine

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Trump criticises Putin after deadly strikes across Ukraine

Donald Trump has threatened Russia with more sanctions after a series of deadly strikes across Ukraine, as he said of Vladimir Putin: “What the hell happened to him?”

The US president appeared aghast at the conduct of his counterpart in the Kremlin after drone and missile attacks in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities left 12 people dead and dozens more injured.

Trump criticises Putin – latest updates

Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey ahead of a flight back to Washington, Mr Trump said: “I’m not happy with Putin. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”

“He’s killing a lot of people,” he added. “I’m not happy about that.”

Mr Trump – who said he’s “always gotten along with” Mr Putin – told reporters he would consider more sanctions against Moscow.

“He’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” he said.

Ukraine said the barrage of strikes overnight into Sunday was the biggest aerial attack of the war so far, with 367 drones and missiles fired by Russian forces.

It came despite Mr Trump repeatedly talking up the chances of a peace agreement. He even spoke to Mr Putin on the phone for two hours last week.

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Hundreds of drones fired at Ukraine

‘Shameful’ attacks

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is ready to sign a ceasefire deal, and suggested Russia isn’t serious about signing one.

In a statement after the latest attacks on his country, he urged the US and other national leaders to increase the pressure on Mr Putin, saying silence “only encourages” him.

Mr Trump’s envoy for the country, Keith Kellogg, later demanded a ceasefire, describing the Russian attacks as “shameful”.

Three children were among those killed in the attacks, explosions shaking the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, and Mykolaiv.

Ukrainian siblings Tamara, 12, Stanislav, eight, and Roman, 17, killed in Russian airstrike. Pic: X/@Mariana_Betsa
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Ukrainian siblings Tamara, 12, Stanislav, eight, and Roman, 17, were killed in Russian airstrikes. Pic: X/@Mariana_Betsa

Before the onslaught, Russia said it had faced a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday. It said around 100 were intercepted and destroyed near Moscow and in central and southern regions.

The violence has escalated despite Russia and Ukraine completing the exchange of 1,000 prisoners each over the past three days.

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Donald Trump says he will postpone 50% tariffs on EU until July

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Donald Trump says he will postpone 50% tariffs on EU until July

Donald Trump says he will delay the imposition of 50% tariffs on goods entering the United States from the European Union until July, as the two sides attempt to negotiate a trade deal.

It comes after the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a post on social media site X that she had spoken to Mr Trump and expressed that they needed until 9 July to “reach a good deal”.

The US president had last Friday threatened to bring in the 50% tariffs from 1 June, as European leaders said they were ready to respond with their own measures.

But Mr Trump has now said that date has been put back to 9 July to allow more time for negotiations with the 27-member bloc, with the phone call appearing to smooth over tensions for now at least.

Speaking on Sunday before boarding Air Force One for Washington DC, Mr Trump told reporters that he had spoken to Ms Von der Leyen and she “wants to get down to serious negotiations” and she vowed to “rapidly get together and see if we can work something out”.

The US president, in comments on his Truth Social platform, had reignited fears last Friday of a trade war between the two powers when he said talks were “going nowhere” and the bloc was “very difficult to deal with”.

Mr Trump told the media in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday that Ms Von der Leyen “just called me… and she asked for an extension in the June 1st date. And she said she wants to get down to serious negotiation”.

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“We had a very nice call and I agreed to move it. I believe July 9th would be the date. That was the date she requested. She said we will rapidly get together and see if we can work something out,” the US president added.

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Shortly after, he wrote on Truth Social: “I agreed to the extension – July 9, 2025 – It was my privilege to do so.”

On his so-called “liberation day” last month, Mr Trump unleashed tariffs on many of America’s trade partners. But since then he’s backed down in a spiralling tit-for-tat tariff face-off with China, and struck a deal with the UK.

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12 May: US and China reach agreement on tariffs

Much of his most incendiary rhetoric on trade has been directed at Brussels, though, even going as far as to claim the EU was created to rip the US off.

Responding to his 50% tariff threat, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said: “EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.

“We stand ready to defend our interests.”

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