War between Russia and Ukraine live: Former British soldier Ryan Evans was killed when Kyiv asked Belarus to withdraw from the border

The Ukrainian military reported that Russia launched a drone attack on Kyiv early Monday, but preliminary information said there were no injuries or damage.

“Up to ten drones were destroyed while approaching the city,” said Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv military administration, on Telegram.

He noted that a full assessment of the extent of the attack would be available later.

During the incident, air raid warnings were in place across large parts of central and eastern Ukraine.

Falling debris from drones fired by Ukraine at Russia’s Saratov region damaged several houses in the cities of Saratov and Engels, the region’s governor said on Monday.

Roman Busargin announced on Telegram that all emergency forces had been deployed to the affected areas.

In Engels, one of the affected cities, there is a strategic bomber base of the Russian army.

The US State Department confirmed that a US citizen was among those injured in the Russian attack on a hotel in Kramatorsk, Ukraine. British security adviser Ryan Evans was also killed in the attack and two Reuters journalists were injured.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned the presence of American citizens at the hotel and said: “My condolences go out to the families and friends. This is a daily Russian terror that continues because Russia has the ability to continue.”

The identities of the injured American and other affected persons were not disclosed.

Ukraine called on Belarus to withdraw its troops and equipment from the shared border and warned the country against making “tragic mistakes” while under Russian influence.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stressed that Belarusian special forces and former Wagner mercenaries had tanks, artillery and air defense systems near the border.

The ministry’s statement said that Ukraine “has never taken and will not take any unfriendly actions against the Belarusian people.” Ukraine stressed that it has no hostile intentions towards Belarus.

Meanwhile, Belarus said on Monday it had sent planes, air defense forces and tanks to the border with Ukraine. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed that Ukraine had deployed over 120,000 troops along the border.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed his condolences on the death of a former British soldier who was killed in a suspected Russian missile attack on a hotel in Ukraine.

Ryan Evans, a security adviser to Reuters, was at the Sapphire Hotel in the eastern Zimbabwean city of Kramatorsk when it was hit on Saturday evening.

In a statement, the agency said it was “devastated” to learn of his death, adding that two of its journalists were injured, one seriously.

Mr Evans was part of a six-person team staying at the hotel while covering the war in Ukraine. Mr Zelensky said the hotel was hit by a Russian Iskander missile in a “deliberate” attack.

In his evening address on Sunday, he said: “A normal city hotel was destroyed by a Russian Iskander missile. Deliberately. Calculated. Seven people were injured, one person lost their life. My deepest condolences go out to the families and relatives.”

The Russian Defense Ministry said it had sent more artillery to the Kursk region, where Russian forces are battling thousands of Ukrainian soldiers who broke through the Russian border on August 6.

“Additional missile and artillery weapons were delivered to the group,” the ministry said in a statement about the deliveries to troops in the Russian border regions.

Pope Francis criticized Ukraine’s move to potentially ban the activities of Russian-linked religious organizations in the wake of the all-out war between Russia and Ukraine, saying that “the churches must not be touched by this.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed the law on August 24, after it was passed by parliament a few days earlier.

“I am concerned about the freedom of those who pray, because true prayer is always for everyone. You do not pray anything bad when you pray. If someone harms his people, he is guilty, but he cannot have done harm because he prayed,” said Pope Francis following his Sunday Angelus blessing.

“Whoever wishes to pray in the church which he considers his own should be allowed to do so.”

The Ukrainian Defense Forces have received a new type of offensive weapon called Palianytsia, described as a hybrid of a missile and an unmanned aerial vehicle.

Details about the Palianytsia rocket are largely secret.

The drone missile can reach more than 20 Russian military airfields and was developed in one and a half years.

It is launched from a ground-based platform and is equipped with a turbojet engine.