An air raid alert is in place over three-quarters of the territory of Ukraine. Ukrainians have been warned to heed the signals and to promptly take cover in the air raid shelters. There are power outages in many parts of the country. 25 drones launched from the Russian shore of the Azov Sea have been downed during the night, 15 of the Iranian-made drones have been downed over Kyiv. Three missiles have been shot down over Mikolayv. Russia’s strategic aviation has been firing from the region of the Caspian Sea. Russian ships carrying Kalibr missiles in the Black Sea also stand in readiness to launch attacks, said Nataliya Gumenyuk,

spokesperson for Operational Command South of Ukraine. Two Turkish ships have been struck by missiles in the port of Kherson missiles, sparking a fire. They have been blocked there since the beginning of the war, Reuters reports.

Russia is increasing pressure in the battle for Bakhmut and Ugledar in Donetsk region, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defence Hanna Malyar said. Ukraine has admitted it has withdrawn its troops from Soledar to positions behind the town. According to Ukraine, unlike Bakhmut, Soledar can no longer be defended because it has been completely destroyed by Russian artillery which has superior fire power.

According to an Institute for the Study of War report, Russian forces may be engaging in limited spoiling attacks across most of the frontline in Ukraine in order to disperse and distract Ukrainian forces and set conditions to launch a decisive offensive operation in Luhansk region.

Spain is ready to send Leopards, offer training in the use of Leopards or help in their maintenance and upkeep, Spain’s Defence Minister Margarita Robles said. She did not specify how many tanks could be sent, but stated this would take place after coordination with the other NATO partners.

Frank St. John, Chief Operating Officer of Lockheed Martin, manufacturer of the F-16 fighter aircraft stated that the company was ready to transfer aircraft to the European countries which can, in exchange, send their old Soviet aircraft to Ukraine.  Lockheed is not directly involved in talks regarding the potential delivery of military aircraft to Kyiv, Frank St. John said, as quoted by The Financial Times, though it is “going to be ramping production on F-16s” so as “to get to the place where we will be able to backfill pretty capably any countries that choose to do third party transfers to help with the current conflict”. According to The Financial Times, the White House has rebuffed Ukrainian appeals for modern fighter jets such as the F-16 out of fear they could be used to strike Russian territory.