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       About 200 people, including 26 children, were evacuated from the Velyka Pysarivka hromada in northern Sumy Oblast of Ukraine.

       The region borders with Russia, and has come under intensified Russian shelling in recent days.

       On Saturday, Russian attacks killed a civilian in the Donetsk Oblast and injured at least 3 people in the Kherson Oblast.

       Cyber-specialists from the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) have blocked the supply of enough spare parts to manufacture 1,600 shahed drones and 4,000 microcircuits for cruise missiles, according to local reports.

       Death toll from Friday's Russian attack on Odesa rises as firefighter died in hospital on Saturday, the number of fatalities now stands at at least 21, with at least 73 wounded.

       Odesa's former deputy mayor, Serhii Tetiukhin, and Oleksandr Hostishchev, the commander of the police special forces battalion Tsunami, were among those killed.

       The Russian military claimed to have repelled an attempt by Ukrainian forces to enter a village in the Belgorod region bordering with Ukraine.

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       Voters across Russia cast ballots on Saturday on the second day of an election set to formalise six more years of power for President Vladimir Putin, who faces no serious challengers after crushing political dissent over his nearly 25 years of rule.

       The election comes against the backdrop of a ruthless crackdown that has stifled independent media and prominent rights groups. Putin’s fiercest foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison in February, and other critics are either in jail or in exile.

       The 71-year-old Putin faces three token rivals from Kremlin-friendly parties, who have refrained from any criticism of him or his invasion of Ukraine. Putin has cast his war in Ukraine, now in its third year, as an existential battle against the US and other Western powers bent on destroying Russia.

       That war was visible on Russia's streets Saturday as Ukrainian drone and missile attacks once again hit the country.

       Two people were killed in Ukrainian shelling of Belgorod, close to the Ukrainian border, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. Dozens of people have been killed there since the war began.

       Elsewhere, a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at an oil refinery belonging to Russian oil giant Rosneft in the Samara region, 1,065 kilometres southeast of Moscow, the regional governor said.

       In spite of the attacks, analysts say the Kremlin is looking for a high turnout in the elections as a sign that Russians approve of the war to legitimise Putin for another term.

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       Stalled talks aimed at securing a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas are expected to restart in earnest in Qatar as soon as Sunday, according to Egyptian officials.

       The talks would mark the first time both Israeli officials and Hamas leaders joined the indirect negotiations since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. International mediators had hoped to secure a six-week truce before Ramadan started earlier this week, but Hamas refused any deal that wouldn’t lead to a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, a demand Israel rejected.

       In recent days, however, both sides have made moves aimed at getting the talks, which never fully broke off, back on track.

       Hamas gave mediators a new proposal for a three-stage plan that would end the fighting, according to two Egyptian officials, one who is involved in the talks and a second who was briefed on them. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal the contents of the sensitive discussions.

       The first stage would be a six-week cease-fire that would include the release of 35 hostages — women, those who are ill and older people — being held by militants in Gaza in exchange for 350 Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel.

       Hamas would also release at least five female soldiers in exchange for 50 prisoners, including some serving long sentences on terror charges, for each soldier. Israeli forces would withdraw from two main roads in Gaza, let displaced Palestinians return to north Gaza, which has been devastated by the fighting, and allow the free flow of aid to the area, the officials said.

       Nearly one in three children under two years old in the isolated north are suffering acute malnutrition, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF reported Friday.

       In the second phase, the two sides would declare a permanent cease-fire and Hamas would free the remaining Israeli soldiers held hostage in exchange for more prisoners, the officials said.

       In the third phase, Hamas would hand over the bodies it’s holding in exchange for Israel lifting the blockade of Gaza and allowing reconstruction to start, the officials said.

       Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the proposal “unrealistic.” However, he agreed to send Israeli negotiators to Qatar for more talks.

       Those talks were expected to resume Sunday afternoon, though they could get pushed to Monday, the Egyptian officials said.

       Netanyahu’s government has rejected calls for a permanent cease-fire, insisting it must first fulfill its stated goal of “annihilating Hamas.” Netanyahu’s office also said Friday he approved military plans to attack Rafah, the southernmost town in Gaza where some 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

       The United States and other countries have warned such an operation could be disastrous, but Israel says it plans to push ahead to destroy Hamas battalions stationed there.

       Many Palestinians fled to Rafah when Israel began attacking Gaza following the 7 October Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and left another 250 hostage in Gaza.

       Netanyahu's office said the Rafah operation would involve the evacuation of the civilian population, but did not give details or a timetable. The military said Wednesday it planned to direct civilians to “humanitarian islands” in central Gaza.

       U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday: “We have to see a clear and implementable plan” to safeguard innocent people in Rafah from an Israeli incursion.

       “We have not seen such a plan,” he said.

       The Gaza Health Ministry said Saturday that at least 31,553 Palestinians have been killed in the war. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

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       Israel’s offensive has driven most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes. A quarter of Gaza’s population is starving, according to the United Nations.