Ukraine’s air defence units were trying repel a missile attack on Kyiv, the mayor said, after explosions shook the city just after 1am local time on Wednesday. A Russian ballistic missile attack killed three people including a child at Sumy in Ukraine and wounded 10 other people – most of them children, one of whom was in a severe condition, Ukrainian officials said.

A Ukrainian drone barrage forced Russia to close a dozen airports deep behind the frontline on Tuesday as foreign leaders began gathering in Moscow for a second world war “Victory Day” parade. Moscow said Ukraine had launched more than 100 drones targeting a dozen regions, including on the Russian capital. Kyiv, meanwhile, said Russia attacked with 136 drones.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked his government to seek help from Ukraine’s western allies to finance and develop interceptor drones to knock down attack drones such as Russia’s Iranian-designed Shaheds. “We will develop this direction as much as possible and each region will have its own responsibility specifically for this task,” said the Ukrainian president. Ukraine already has some capability, with videos regularly posted online showing Ukrainian UAVs pursuing and ramming Russian attack drones out of the air, while other interceptors can fire shotgun cartridges to shoot down enemy UAVs.

Catholic cardinals gathered in Rome ahead of the conclave to elect a new pope called on Tuesday for a ceasefire and negotiations without preconditions. Their statement “noted with regret that there has not been progress in promoting peace in Ukraine, the Middle East and many other parts of the world”, while offering their “heartfelt appeal to all parties involved to reach as soon as possible a permanent ceasefire and to negotiate, without pre-conditions” a longer-term peace.

Ukraine and Russia handed over 205 prisoners of war each in an exchange on Tuesday, both sides announced.