Latest news about Russia and the war in Ukraine

Ukraine’s capital Kyiv woke up to explosions and air raid sirens on Wednesday, according to reports from local officials who said the city had been attacked by Iranian-made Shahed drones.

Oleksiy Kuleba, the head of the Kyiv regional military administration, warned residents that the air alert was still in place and that civilians should take cover. “The air warning continues and the danger remains. Stay in shelters,” he said.

It is not known what structures the drone attacks were targeting, but Kuleba said that “Russia continues its energy terror in the country.”

In other news, surprise Belarusian military exercises that began on Tuesday raised concerns about an escalation of the war in Ukraine, although Ukraine’s armed forces said they had not yet seen signs of “hostile strike groups forming” along the border between Belarus and Ukraine.

Ukrainian and Polish military officials discussed “the security situation on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border” after checking the combat readiness of forces in Belarus, according to NBC News, and agreed to coordinate joint action in the coming days.

Belarus borders Ukraine to the north and Poland to the east. And while Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said repeatedly that his country will not join the war, Belarus is Russia’s ally and has allowed it to launch attacks on Ukraine from its soil.