𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Seven people have been killed in a Ukrainian strike in a Russian-controlled part of the Kherson region, a Russian official has said.

It comes after Ukraine’s emergency services reported two were killed and 15 were injured in Russian strikes on the Black Sea port city of Odesa overnight.

Late on Wednesday, the US Treasury announced a “reconstruction investment fund” for Ukraine, with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal describing it as “truly an equal and good international deal”.

Writing on X on Thursday, Mr Lammy said: The UK welcomes steps taken by the US and Ukraine to sign an economic partnership.

“The UK’s support for Ukraine remains steadfast. With our 100-year partnership, we are deepening economic and security ties for the future generations of both of our countries.”

Russia and North Korea have started building a bridge over a border river, a project hailed by both countries as the beginning of a road linking the two nations.

The bridge will be 1 kilometre (0.6 miles) long and is expected to take 1 year to build, according to Russian news agency Tass.

North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency said the bridge would expand cross-border travel of people, tourism and circulation of commodities.

North Korea and Russia held simultaneous ground-breaking ceremonies for the bridge in their respective border cities, according to the two countries’ state media agencies.

North Korean Premier Pak Thae Song and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin attended the ceremony via video links.

“This is a big milestone for Russian-Korean relation,” Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said, according to Tass.

Relations and exchange programs between the two countries have been flourishing in recent years, with North Korea supplying ammunition and troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.

US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has hailed the minerals deal signed between Washington and Ukraine as “historic”.

Kyiv and Washington have signed a deal to give the US preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals deals and fund investment in Ukraine’s reconstruction.

Ukraine is sitting on one of Europe’s largest deposits of critical minerals, which remains largely untapped, including lithium and titanium.

Here are some of the key mineral deposits across the country:

After two months of often testy negotiations, Ukraine and the United States have signed a mineral and profit-sharing deal.

Below, the Independent looks at what could be included in the deal now that it has been struck.

Two people have been killed and another 15 have been injured in Russian drone attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa.

The attack early on Thursday also sparked fires and damaged infrastructure, emergency services said.

“The enemy attack damaged residential high-rises, private houses, a supermarket, a school, and cars,” regional governor Oleh Kiper wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “Fires broke out in some places and are being extinguished by our rescuers.”

Ukraine’s state-owned railway Ukrzaliznytsia said the overnight attack also damaged its tracks, the contact network and three freight cars.

“Railway employees are carrying out rapid repair work to ensure that freight trains run to ports without interruption. They are currently following an alternative route.”

Passenger trains were running on schedule, it added on Telegram. One of the people killed in his home during the attack on Odesa was a railway worker, according to the company.

Firefighters have tackled blazes in Odesa after a Russian attack.

Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister has shared a photograph of the team of negotiators from the US and Kyiv who inked the new minerals deal between the countries in Washington.

“Thanks to the leadership and agreements between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessant and I signed the agreement between Ukraine and the United States to establish the United States–Ukraine-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund,” Yulia Svyrydenko said on X.

“I thank everyone who contributed to this Agreement and helped make it stronger. This document is capable of delivering success for both our countries — Ukraine and the United States.”