Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy offers help to Saudi Crown prince on combatting Iranian drones

<p>Zelenskyy cites Ukraine expertise with ‘Shahed’ drones; deaths and casualties rise from Russian attack on Kharkiv. What we know on day 1,474</p><p><strong>Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday he had spoken to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman</strong> about the situation in Iran and the Middle East and restated Kyiv’s offer to help deal with Iranian drones. “Ukraine has been fighting against (Iranian-designed) ‘Shaheds’ for years, and everyone acknowledges that no other country in the world has such experience,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram of his conversation. “We are ready to help and expect that our people will also receive the necessary support.”</p><p><strong>Ukrainian manufacturers of cheap interceptor drones designed to knock out enemy unmanned aerial vehicles</strong><strong> say they have the capacity to export</strong> in large volumes, amid inquiries from the US and Middle East prompted by the Iran war. Hundreds of drones based on Iran’s Shahed model and now made in Russia fill Ukraine’s skies during frequent attacks, and many are downed by air defences including western missiles, fighter jets, truck-mounted guns and interceptor drones.</p><p><strong>Reported deaths and casualties from a Russian missile strike</strong> on a five-storey residential building in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv have risen to at least 10 people, including two children, and 16 others wounded, officials said. Zelenskyy condemned Saturday’s attack and called for an international response. He said Russia struck Ukraine overnight with 29 missiles and 480 drones, targeting energy facilities in Kyiv and other central regions, with damage reported in at least seven other locations.</p><p><strong>Police in Sweden have seized a false-flagged cargo ship off its southern coast believed to belong to Russia’s shadow fleet</strong> and suspected