Overview
- Overnight on Tuesday, Russian air, rocket and drone strikes hit multiple Ukrainian cities including Kyiv and Dnipro, causing confirmed deaths, dozens of injuries and the partial collapse of a high‑rise in the capital.
- Romanian authorities released an expert finding that the drone which struck a house in Galați was a Russian Geran‑2, and Poland placed its air defences on alert and scrambled jets in response to the wider escalation.
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz proposed a temporary, limited EU status for Ukraine without voting rights and with participation in some EU bodies, a plan publicly backed by European People’s Party chief Manfred Weber.
- The EU reached agreement on a return/repatriation regulation to permit removals to third countries and the creation of return centres, and Germany’s interior minister Alexander Dobrindt said talks with willing partner states could yield deals this year.
- Parallel security and law‑enforcement developments include reports of French and partner forces detaining a Russian oil tanker and a developing large‑scale police operation in Dortmund after a man shot a police officer and reportedly barricaded himself with children.