Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv ‘destroys military helicopter’ in latest long-range drone strike

Russian officials have taken to mocking Donald Trump’s feud with Elon Musk.

"Elon, don't be upset!" nationalist senator Dmitry Rogozin, who once ran Russia's space programme, wrote on Musk's X social media site. "If you encounter insurmountable problems in the US, come to us. Here you will find reliable comrades and complete freedom of technical creativity."

Dmitry Medvedev, a senior security official and former president, posted: "We are ready to facilitate the conclusion of a peace deal between D and E for a reasonable fee and to accept Starlink shares as payment. Don't fight, guys!"

The public feud between the U.S. president and the world's richest man was an easy target for Russian politicians who have a history of gloating over perceived turmoil in Washington.

Margarita Simonyan, one of Russia's most powerful state media executives, mocked it as an example of "modern US political culture" -- "Sort of like the English Industrial Revolution. Only in reverse."

Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, who has in the past tried to interest Musk in cooperating with Russia on flights to Mars, asked on X: "Why can't we all just get along?" He then asked Grok, X's AI chatbot, how Musk and Trump could reconcile.

• At least four people and over 40 injured in a massive aerial attack from Moscow, which targeted almost all of Ukraine.
• Russia fired over 400 drones and more than 40 missiles in the attack.
• The Kremlin said the strike was in response to Ukrainian “terrorist acts” against Russia.
• Ukraine’s national police has said investigators are documenting “the war crimes of the terrorist state” of Russia after three rescuers died in the attack.
• Kyiv completed its own drown attack on an industrial enterprise in the southern city of Engels, according to a regional governor in Russia, Roman Busargin.
• Busargin said a high-rise apartment block was also hit, but there were no casualties.
• Ukraine also reportedly destroed an Mi-8 military helicopter in a strike on Bryansk airport.

Russia’s ambassador to the UK has partly blamed Britain for Ukraine’s recent drone attacks.

The British Council has meanwhile been barred from returning to Russia, as tensions between Moscow and the West continue to deepen.

Andrei Kelin, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s man in London, warned that Kyiv was escalating the conflict with its recent attacks in an interview with Sky News.

He pointed to Operation Spider’s Web, the mass covert drone attack which struck long-range bomber planes at four airbases deep within Russian territory.

Western military aviation experts suggest it will take Russia years to replace the nuclear-capable bomber planes damaged in recent Ukrainian drone strikes.

These attacks have placed additional strain on Russia’s already delayed modernisation programme.

Satellite imagery of airfields in Siberia and Russia’s far north reveals significant damage, with several aircraft completely destroyed. While reports vary, U.S. officials estimate that up to 20 warplanes were hit, with approximately 10 destroyed.

This figure is about half the number estimated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

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Foreign secretary David Lammy has spoken out after Russia’s latest bombardment of Ukraine.

“Yet again, Putin is attacking cities, homes, and civilians”, he said on X. “These are not military targets but barbaric acts. Among those killed were members of the State Emergency Services who were working tirelessly to save and protect lives.”

Hardline Russian nationalist tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev has said there is benefit from the Musk-Trump feud, as it distracts Moscow from the war in Ukraine.

"We can just be glad that they won't have time for us," said Malofeyev, who said it was now "the best time to strike back" against Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked about the clash, said it was an internal matter for the US, though he was confident that Trump would handle it.

Russia is prepared to offer political asylum to tech billionaires Elon Musk after his public feud with US president Donald Trump, a Moscow official has said.

Dmitry Novikov, deputy chair of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told state-run news agency TASS on Friday: “I think Musk is playing a completely different game, that he won't need political asylum, although if he did, Russia could certainly provide it.”