One person was killed and at least nine others injured in Kharkiv; a 14-storey apartment building in Kyiv was set on fire after Russia strikes. What we know on day 859

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One person was killed and nine others including a baby were injured in a Russian strike on a post office in Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv, local authorities said. “A man, a post office employee, was killed,” the head of Kharkiv’s regional administration, Oleg Synegubov said on Telegram. The city of Kharkiv has been regularly targeted by Russian troops in recent months, but military analysts say the frequency has dipped since the US authorised Ukrainian use of its weapons on certain Russian targets.

In Kyiv’s Obolon suburb, the local military administration said falling fragments from a Russian missile started a fire and damaged balconies on a 14-storey apartment building. Emergency services, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said five female residents were treated for stress, and mayor Vitali Klitschko said 10 residents had been evacuated. The head of the military administration of Kyiv region said missile fragments had also fallen outside the capital, causing injuries and damage, though no details were provided.

Drone footage from Ukraine’s military has shown what appears to be bodies in a civilian area in the embattled eastern town of Toretsk, which has come under heavy Russian bombardment in recent days. The attacks in the war-torn Donetsk region have prompted a scaled-up evacuation effort by Ukrainian rescue services. Local officials said that powerful Russian glide bombs have also been used in the town. Glide bombs are heavy Soviet-era bombs fitted with precision guidance systems and launched from aircraft flying out of range of air defences.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a post on Telegram, said Russia had used more than 800 glide bombs on Ukrainian targets in the past week. He issued a fresh plea in his nightly video address for better weapons systems. “The sooner the world helps us deal with the Russian combat aircraft launching these bombs, the sooner we can strike – justifiably strike – Russian military infrastructure … and the closer we will be to peace,” he said.

Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church on Sunday elected Metropolitan Daniil – who experts see as pro-Russian in a church traditionally considered very close to Moscow – as its new leader. Daniil supported the Kremlin in a lengthy video message published in 2023. The Bulgarian patriarch is elected for life unless he himself decides to step down.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report

Donald Trump claimed he could end the war in Ukraine, while his political rival Joe Biden said Trump had ‘no idea’

Russia has taken control of village of Shumy in the Donetsk region, Russian-state media reports.

Citing the country’s ministry of defence, Russian state-owned news agency Ria reported on Saturday that the army had seized control of the settlement, which is near the city of Toretsk.

This is why we constantly remind all of our partners: only a sufficient amount of high-quality of air defense systems, only a sufficient amount of determination from the world at large can stop Russian terror,” he said.

As a new recruitment drive looms, some are turning to online handlers and forgers to escape the horror of war

The autumn cannot arrive soon enough for Dmytro, when his handlers have promised to get him out of Ukraine.

For the past month, the 31-year-old photographer from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, has been holed up in his flat, rarely stepping outside, to avoid being conscripted into the army. “I want to leave the country. My mind can’t take being trapped here any more,” Dmytro said.

Estonia’s PM, Kaja Kallas, set to become the EU’s top diplomat, while former Portuguese PM António Costa takes over as president of the European Council

Ursula von der Leyen has clinched the nomination to serve a second term as president of the European Commission, despite Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s complaints of a “wrong” process.

Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, is set to become the EU’s top diplomat, representing the bloc on the world stage for the next five years. The former Portuguese prime minister António Costa has been elected to take over as president of the European Council, putting him in charge of finding compromises between the 27 heads of state and government.

Ukrainian president signs military agreement with EU and says ‘fulfilment of every promise’ of support is important

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has told EU leaders that Russia’s spring offensive in Kharkiv showed that international pressure on the Kremlin was “not enough”, as he signed a military agreement with the bloc.

Vladimir Putin had tried to “expand the war” in May with a new offensive in eastern Ukraine, Zelenskiy said on Thursday, referring to relentless attacks on the Kharkiv region.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, revealed the tactics and traits that help him face the daily frustrations of leading a country at war for more than two years.

Within a ceremonial room inside Kyiv’s presidential compound, Zelenskiy spoke for nearly an hour with a Guardian team, including the editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner. The interview took place during perhaps the toughest time for Ukraine since the early days of the war. Russia is on the offensive in Kharkiv, an advance that follows months of delay in the US Congress over the passing of a major support package, limiting Ukraine’s battlefield capabilities