KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A series of long-range Ukrainian attacks hit targets deep inside Russia on Wednesday, part of Kyiv’s efforts to raise the costs of the war for the Kremlin by striking energy facilities and military industries.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces struck several military and energy infrastructure sites, including a military factory that he said supplied components for Russian drones and missiles.

In a post on social media, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian FP-5 Flamingo long-range missiles had hit the facility in Cheboksary, located in the Chuvashiya region more than 900 kilometers (over 560 miles) from the front line.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 326 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Oleg Nikolayev, the head of Chuvashiya, confirmed that the missile attack but didn’t give details. The Astra online news outlet reported that the Ukrainian strike hit the VNIIR-Progress plant that produces antennas for drones.

Zelenskyy also said Ukrainian forces struck a refinery in Russia’s Samara region, where Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said that several industrial plants were damaged by drone strikes and three people were injured.

Fedorishchev didn’t name the facilities that were damaged, but Astra carried images of a large fire at the Samara refinery.

Zelenskyy added that Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) had also targeted two oil infrastructure facilities in Russia’s Vladimir region, about 700 kilometers from the front line.

In Russia-occupied Crimea, a Ukrainian drone hit the building housing a huge panorama painting depicting the defense of the city during 19th century Crimean War. Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Kremlin-appointed head of Sevastopol, said the painting by artist Franz Rubo was effectively destroyed.

As the more than 1,000-kilometer front line in the four-year war has remained largely static as swarms of drones hinder advances, both sides have increasingly relied on long-range strikes.

The increasingly deep and audacious Ukrainian strikes have cast a challenge to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, defying his claim that Moscow was winning the war now in its fifth year.

The attacks on St. Petersburg came as another embarrassment for the Russian leader, weeks after he pruned back an annual Victory Day parade in Moscow because of fears of Ukrainian drone attacks.

Ukraine’s Air Force says air defenses downed 181 of 207 Russian drones.

A barrage of 26 drones struck Kharkiv early Wednesday, injuring at least four people, according to regional administration head Oleh Syniehubov. He said one person was killed and 15 others were injured in the region over the past 24 hours.

In Zaporizhzhia and its region, 10 people were injured overnight in a series of Russian aerial attacks, according to regional head Ivan Fedorov.

In Odesa, a mother and two children, aged 8 and 10, required medical attention after Russian drones damaged two residential buildings, according to regional administration head Oleh Kiper.

He says there were ‘particular issues’ in the prison at the time of the killing of Bevan.

The prison was made up of 77 per cent vulnerable prisoners and 23 per cent ‘main prisoners’.

The main prisoners had become of a ‘different calibre’, Mr Pitter says, in that there were more prisoners involved in ‘more serious offences such as gangland offences and violence including murder’.

Jurors hear that vulnerable prisoners and main prisoners would mix at Wakefield prison, and that there was an ‘open door policy’ for cells during association times, in comparison to other cells which had a ‘closed door policy’.

Mr Pitter says that Bevan was killed in his own cell. He says there was ‘tension’ between vulnerable and main prisoners.

He says; “Main prisoners indicated that they didn’t want to be housed in the same wing as vulnerable prisoners, particularly those who were sex offenders or those who had committed offences against children. There was also bullying of vulnerable prisoners.”

He said there was an ‘element of fear’ among vulnerable prisoners.

Drivers heading south from the Lake District are facing major disruption this morning after the M6 was closed following a crash.

National Highways says a lorry has jack-knifed and a fuel spillage has been reported on the motorway.

It is affecting the southbound carriageway between junctions 35 at Carnforth and 34 at Lancaster.

Queues are building up in both directions approaching the crash scene.

The closure is expected to continue into the afternoon.

Further details are yet to be confirmed.

Updates will be posted in this blog when they are available.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday that four targets had been destroyed in “calibrated strikes” that had killed 26 militants. Afghanistan’s Taliban government earlier said 13 people, including 11 children, were killed in Pakistani strikes in three provinces.

‘Laser vaginas.’

A text came in from a friend yesterday that lit up my phone with the most unexpected two words, followed by a link to Madonna’s 10 minute musical film, featuring the first half dozen songs from her latest album Confessions II. 

I have never clicked on YouTube so quickly in my life. 

And there it was. Vaginas. With lasers shooting out of them. 

There are around 10 people in this video, wearing very little, posing acrobatically, with a thin green laser shooting out of each of their vulvas. I spotted some lasers coming from a bit further South too. 

It was marvelous, beautiful. Just the most unexpected art, yet somehow so wonderfully predictable from the sexually adventurous queen of pop, Madonna.

Mother has indeed returned, and she is quite literally pinpointing our desire with a beam of light. 

Despite this, some people are unable to come to terms with the visuals in her latest video, calling her ‘embarrassing and weird’ on X.

But there’s nothing wrong with laser vaginas, or the rest of the outrageously sexy short film, which includes a toilet scene, with men using urinals, Madonna herself simulating a sex act in one of the cubicles while Games of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie looks on, then joining Benedict Cumberbatch for a dance.

Sabrina Carpenter appears, as does Kate Moss, Richard E Grant, Odessa A’Zion – and we even see a young Madonna in Julia Garner, who cosplays as her.

Only a legend like Madonna could gather such a large group of icons for her video.

Personally, I think that if you can’t handle it, then there’s something wrong with you. We should all be liberated like Madonna, at 21 or 67. 

And I only mention her age because everyone else is. Only they are making disparaging comments like ‘she should retire’, or that ‘she is too old for the sexual stuff’.

But these people don’t seem to know who Madonna is, because the woman who liberated so many people in the 80s and 90s should absolutely not tone down her message with age.

Music lovers have been awaiting a Madonna release for a long time now, and after revealing in 2024 that she has begun working on something new, we sat down, crossed our legs and held our breaths.

Not least because last album, Madame X, released in 2019, leaving a lot to be desired. It was acclaimed by many as her strangest album, with the Associated Press calling it: ‘needy, trying-too-hard mess of an album that sounds like Madonna threw up on Madonna’.

I would agree. But Madonna has never bent to criticism, and has always remained uniquely herself. That is what makes her so important, I suppose – she is beyond critique. 

And so she shouldn’t be. If she had listened to any of the angry men back in the 80’s and 90’s, (possibly the same ones now online criticising her overt sexuality) we wouldn’t have any of the masterpieces she created.In fact, she is widely recognised as one of the first female musicians to have complete control over her music career.

And maybe that’s what is making people so angry now. Let’s not beat around the laser pointing bush here, we are talking about criticism mostly coming from men.

One horrible comment under her video on X reads: ‘Everything about this deranged, mentally-ill old woman is just gross’.

This comment, and many others that were similar, feel like an attack on her confident femininity, and, by extension, any women who embrace their sexuality. 

And she doesn’t deserve it for simply pointing a laser from someone’s vulva and proceeding to straddle it.

This woman has created some of the best music that we’ve ever had. Songs such as Like A Virgin changed the way women represented their desire – the Madonna look became a massive fashion trend, as did her oozing sexuality. 

And now, at 67, Madonna is still redefining what being a woman can look like. It can be laser pointers for vaginas. 

In fact, Madonna said it is so, so it shall be. 

I personally am glad she’s back, and that she’s illuminating conversations around our bodily autonomy.

It’s the ray of light we all need. 

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

Share your views in the comments below.

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Women ‘still in their care workers’ uniform’ were dragged to safety by Belfast heroes as their home was targeted by far-right rioters.

Jack McKee, 74, pushed through crowds of people throwing petrol bombs and setting homes on fire to reach two women trapped inside.

He spotted the pair, both African migrants, hiding in the corner as bricks were thrown through the windows of the property on Oakley Street.

Along with his daughter Paula, they were able to help carry them to safety as they were so scared ‘they were too weak to stand’.

Jack’s son Jonathan told Metro: ‘They had to carry them out the back door secretly because the rioters were shouting “where are the migrants”.’

The family, who run a local church, received a text at midnight saying the home of one of their congregation members was being targeted by the far-right.

On instinct, they went to the house and found the two women, both shaking with fear.

The neighbouring property had been set on fire, with the blaze slowly creeping towards the women’s home from behind.

And from the front, rioters threw anything they could find through the windows and doors, causing extensive damage.

Jack said: ‘My family helped carry them out with the fire service and laid one of the women in the back seat of my dad’s car.

‘This is life-changing for them. They can’t go home now. We are sending someone around the border up the windows but there are calls for more riots.’

Last night saw widespread disorder across Belfast, – with rioters throwing petrol bombs, setting homes alight, and burning buses to the ground.

In London yesterday, around 100 Tommy Robinson supporters stood in Parliament Square and ordered police to take the knee.

Protests were orignally organised after a man, named locally as Stephen Ogilvie, was allegedly stabbed in the face by Sudanese asylum seeker Hadi Alodid.

FOLLOW THE LATEST FROM BELFAST IN OUR LIVE BLOG

During his first court hearing today at Belfast Magistrates’ Court, Alodid was remanded for four weeks and charged with attempting to murder Mr Ogilvie, threatening to kill an NHS radiographer and possession of a knife.

Police and politicians have called for calm as more social media posts planning further protests circulate this morning.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

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Last week, Natalie’s partner was sentenced for her brutal murder which also claimed the life of her unborn son

The brother of Natalie McNally has slammed “patriots” following last night’s disorder and questioned where they were when his sister was killed.

Last week, Natalie’s partner Stephen McCullagh, was sentenced for her brutal murder which also claimed the life of her unborn son.

Violence erupted on the streets of Belfast and in other parts of Northern Ireland following protests in response to a knife attack in North Belfast on Monday evening.

The victim, a man aged in his 40s, has been named locally as Stephen Ogilvie and he is in a serious condition in hospital where he is being treated for wounds to his back, eye and face.

Taking to social media on Tuesday, Brendan McNally said: “From the sentencing remarks of a High Court Judge in Belfast not even a week ago: ‘a brutal and frenzied attack that involved the use of a knife”, so complex that the state pathologist couldn’t determine the fatal sequence.

“He adds that ‘the murder of women by a current or former partner is a grave and recurring phenomenon in our society…almost half of the murders in Northern Ireland in recent years have a domestic abuse motivation’.

“I didn’t see much of the same angry outcry and mobilisation from so called ‘patriots’ then, using the toxic mudslide of distortion and misinformation of their social media platforms. I wonder what the difference is?”

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

Roy Keane has cleared the air with Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes, with the pair having a “lovely chat” after he misquoted the Portuguese – which led to Fernandes accusing him of lying.

Former Republic of Ireland midfielder Keane also implied Fernandes was prioritising individual accolades over the team’s success.

Fernandes broke the record for the most assists in a single Premier League season on the final day of the 2025-26 campaign, setting up his 21st goal against Brighton.

Speaking on The Overlap podcast after the penultimate round of fixtures in May, Keane questioned Fernandes’ mindset and described him as being at the centre of a “circus act”.

He claimed the Portugal midfielder had said “I probably should have shot but I made them passes” in an interview following the 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest.

Fernandes subsequently accused Keane of telling a “lie”, pointing out that his actual post-match comments were: “There were probably moments today when I should have passed instead of shot.

“I’m very happy for the assist, but more than that, I’m happy for the win and to finish the season on a high.”

Fernandes said he was keen to meet the former Manchester United captain to discuss the issue, with Keane revealing on Wednesday’s Stick to Football podcast that a “nice, mature conversation” had taken place.

“There was a reaction after what we said on the podcast a few weeks ago and he reached out to me and wanted a chat – I called him and we had a lovely chat,” Keane said.

“It was nice because when we do podcasts or games, sometimes you think you say something afterwards and you communicate something and it doesn’t come across properly, so people get upset and he said he wanted to talk to me. We had a nice, mature conversation.

“I like having boundaries with players. I don’t want to be speaking to players every few weeks or their agents, I don’t want to go down that road, but every now and then a player might reach out, so I think it was important I spoke to him.

“There has been lots going on and lots reported. He’s obviously a big player for United, I’m an ex-United player and I think the idea of this communicating and having a proper conversation, I really enjoyed it. Hopefully I think he did as well. Nice chat about a bit of everything and I felt better afterwards.”

The moment of first contact with extraterrestrials is a staple of science fiction. It usually involves a frantic scientist having a Eureka moment, realising in a single dramatic instant that Earth is being visited by creatures from light-years away.

Aliens are in the public consciousness once again thanks to Steven Spielberg’s latest film, Disclosure Day, which follows a whistleblower’s attempts to reveal extraterrestrial visitations to the world.

In reality, the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence is far more likely to emerge as a faint anomaly in astronomical data, followed by a slow, painstaking process of verification, peer review and intense international deliberation. There might be no single Eureka moment, and no lone scientist with the answer.

As our telescopes have advanced, so too has the complexity of the world we live in. That is why a committee of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) has just voted to accept a major overhaul of the “post-detection protocols” – the scientific code of conduct for what happens after we find evidence of life beyond Earth.

The IAA body that has approved the changes is the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Seti) Committee. Seti is the collective term for scientific projects dedicated to searching for signs of intelligent alien life in the universe.

The previous version of these principles was adopted way back in 2010. To put that
in perspective, in 2010, the “fake news” era hadn’t quite arrived, social media was in its infancy, and the broader idea of “technosignatures”, looking for signs of alien technology such as waste heat from giant structures in space, was still largely on the fringes of mainstream astronomy.

Today, the field has exploded. We are no longer just listening out for artificial radio signals from a few select stars. Projects like Breakthrough Listen have globalised the search, and we now observe the entire electromagnetic spectrum for any sign of advanced technology.

Furthermore, the information landscape has become a minefield. In an era of deepfakes and instant global connectivity, a single unverified claim could trigger global panic or widespread misinformation before scientists have even had a chance to check their data.

At the heart of the 2026 update is a commitment to scientific rigour. The new
protocols make it clear: we do not shout “alien” the moment we see a strange blip in our data. If a researcher detects a candidate signal, which could be an artificial radio signal, or something else, such as a sign of alien technology, the first step isn’t a post on social media; it’s a quiet, rigorous attempt to prove themselves wrong. The discovery must be independently authenticated by multiple organisations using different instruments.

Only when a consensus is reached that the signal is truly credible is it brought to the world. This isn’t about secrecy for secrecy’s sake. There is no obligation to disclose verification efforts while they are ongoing, precisely to avoid embarrassing and damaging false alarms.

However, once a discovery is confirmed, the protocols demand full transparency. The data, the analysis methods, and the code used must be made open to the entire global scientific community and, indeed, the general public for replication.

Should we talk back?

One significant addition to the 2026 declaration is the focus on researcher safety.
We’ve seen in recent years how scientists at the centre of high profile news stories can become targets for harassment or “doxxing”, where malicious individuals post the scientist’s personal details online. The new guidelines urge institutions to protect their researchers from negative professional repercussions and physical or digital harassment.

The protocols also address the “trash” of our own making: radio frequency
interference (RFI). The radio frequency bands that Seti scientists use to listen for E.T. are increasingly polluted – from below by mobile networks, radar and poorly shielded electronics, and from above by the growth of satellite “mega-constellations” like Starlink.

The declaration calls for extraordinary international efforts to protect the frequencies where a signal is detected, ensuring our “communication channel” isn’t drowned out by our own technology.

The most controversial part of Seti isn’t the searching; it’s the messaging. Known as Meti (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence), the idea of intentionally sending signals to other worlds splits the community. As enshrined in the earlier declarations, the 2026 Declaration remains firm on one point: no response should be sent until there has been a broad, international consultation.

Deciding how to represent Earth to an alien civilisation is a choice that belongs to all of humanity, not a single institution or individual. These consultations
must take place through the United Nations or other broadly representative global bodies.

The discovery of intelligent life beyond Earth would stand as one of the most
transformative events in human history. To help manage the profound aftermath, the
IAA SETI Committee is establishing a permanent Post-Detection Sub-Committee.

This body will not simply be a room full of astronomers; it will include international experts in ethics, law, social sciences and communications to advise on the complex, long term societal implications of contact.

The new protocols themselves are designed to be living documents, supplemented by a separate Code of Conduct and Best Practices Guidelines that will be periodically reexamined and updated to reflect the “best practice” of the day.

The revised declaration has recently been formally adopted by the IAA Board of Trustees and over the rest of the year it will be filed with other appropriate organisations for their endorsement.

The next goal will be to present the finished framework to the wider scientific
community at the International Astronautical Congress in Turkey in August 2026. Beyond that, the Committee hope that the new protocols will also be reviewed and noted by the UN.

By establishing these rigorous rules now, we ensure that if, or when, that signal
finally arrives, the world is prepared to listen, verify, and respond as one planet.

In The Mixer’s World Cup special

Everything you need to know about the World Cup – England updates, the games to watch and stories you missed – in five minutes, at 1pm, every day.