Britain Sanctions Russian Officials Over Chemical Weapons as Drone Strikes Hit Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Odesa

On Monday, in two waves, Russian Shahed drones came down on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. In the second wave, six struck within ten minutes. Mayor Ihor Terekhov said they were aimed "at residential streets, at cars, at people." Officials reported at least one person killed and 71 wounded. Apartment buildings, a kindergarten and the regional draft office were damaged.

Kharkiv was not the only city hit. In Zaporizhzhia, in the south-east, a morning drone strike wounded at least 20 people and damaged dozens of residential buildings along with a university building, according to governor Ivan Fedorov. Regional officials in Odesa reported one person killed.

Ukraine's military said two of Monday's targets were military recruitment centres, in Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Both sit in densely populated areas, which is why civilians were among the wounded. The attacks followed a Russian drone strike a day earlier on a recruitment centre in Kremenchuk. The week before, draft offices in Poltava, another regional capital, and in Kryvyi Rih were targeted.

Ukraine's national security and defence council said Russia was running an "information campaign" on social media about where draft offices are located, intended to destabilise mobilisation and sow panic among the population. A ground forces spokesperson said recruitment remained on track.

In London, Britain announced sanctions on two Russian individuals and one Russian entity over the transfer and use of chemical weapons in Ukraine. Asset freezes and travel bans were imposed on Aleksey Viktorovich Rtishchev and Andrei Marchenko, the head and deputy head of Russia's radiological, chemical and biological defence troops. The Joint Stock Company Federal Scientific and Production Centre Scientific Research Institute of Applied Chemistry was also sanctioned. Britain says it supplied the Russian military with RG-Vo riot control grenades, whose use in warfare contravenes the international chemical weapons convention.

In Washington, Donald Trump signalled a shift in arms policy. Speaking briefly to reporters at the White House, he said the US would resume shipments of primarily defensive weapons: "We're going to send some more weapons. We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves. They're getting hit very hard now." Last week the Pentagon under Pete Hegseth halted previously funded and promised shipments to Ukraine. Officials gave varying explanations, from Hegseth's claim of low weapons stocks, which has been seriously questioned, to the idea that the pause was part of a standard review of defence capabilities.

Ukraine also struck inside Russia. Its military general staff said it hit a chemical plant in the Moscow region that makes explosives, ammunition and thermobaric warheads for Shahed attack drones, reporting "a series of explosions" near Krasnozavodsk and fire trucks moving through neighbouring settlements. Ukrainian drones also hit workshops at the Ilsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, causing a fire and disrupting production. That account came from a Ukrainian security service source cited in national media; the BBC said its own security source confirmed it, and Russian local officials confirmed the attack.

What to watch now is whether Trump's remarks turn into actual shipments after the Pentagon's pause, and whether Ukraine's mobilisation holds up as draft offices keep being hit.