Russia’s defence ministry said early on Thursday it had downed 11 Ukrainian drones near Crimea overnight, as well as 2 drones flying toward Moscow. It said 2 Ukrainian drones were shot down near Sevastopol on the Crimean coast, and “another 9 were suppressed by means of electronic warfare and crashed in the Black Sea”.

Ukraine claims to have shot down 7 of 10 “Shahed” drones launched at it overnight by Russia. Air defence was said to be active in Kyiv region and Khmelnytskyi.

Ukraine’s navy has said a new temporary Black Sea “humanitarian corridor” had started working on Thursday and that the first ships were expected to use it within days. Oleh Chalyk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian navy, said the corridor would be used by commercial ships blocked at Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and for grain and agricultural products.

3 people are now known to have died after a Russian missile attack on Zaporizhzhia late on Wednesday. 2 young women and a man were killed and 9 other people were wounded, Ukrainian officials said. 6 residents of Bilozerka in the Kherson region have been hopitalised after Russian artilerry fire hit people receiving humanitarian aid, according to regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin.

Russian drones destroyed a fuel depot in Ukraine’s western Rivne region, governor Vitaly Koval wrote on Telegram. There were no casualties from the attack, he said, standing in front of the burning site in a video.

Ukrainian forces have made an attempt to cross the Dnipro river dividing liberated and occupied Kherson, potentially breaching what has for months served as the frontline in the south of Ukraine. Russian military bloggers reported that up to seven boats, each carrying around six to seven people, landed near the settlement of Kozachi Laheri, east of Kherson city, and broke through Russian defensive lines.