Ukraine news latest: Putin vows to strengthen military ties with China as Kyiv drone attack forces residents into hiding

VLADIMIR Putin has vowed to strengthen Russia’s “military co-operation” with China as Kyiv was hit by a drone attack. Russian leader Vladimir Putin told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday he was keen to ramp up military cooperation and hailed the two nation’s efforts to counter Western influence. “We aim to strengthen cooperation between the armed forces of Russia and China,” Putin told Xi by video link as he hailed the efforts of Moscow and Beijing to counter “unprecedented Western pressure and provocations.” Meanwhile, residents in Kyiv were urged to head to air raid shelters as sirens wailed across the city, a day after Russia carried out the biggest aerial assault since it started the war in February. Ukraine’s air force has since said Russia launched 16 “kamikaze” drones overnight – but they were all intercepted and destroyed by Ukrainian air defence systems. Read our Ukraine war blog below for the latest news…