Czech and Slovak presidents arrive in Kyiv

Czech president Petr Pavel and Slovak president Zuzana Čaputová arrived in Ukraine early on Friday morning for a meeting with their Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.

The pair travelled together by train for the state visit, arriving in the city of Nemishaieve, 38 kilometres northwest of Kyiv, shortly after another round of Russian missile attacks had been launched on a number of Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, overnight. The airstrikes left at least five dead and several injured, the Czech News Agency reports.

In addition to their meeting with Zelensky, Presidents Pavel and Čaputová will also visit the towns of Borodyanka and Buča, where Russian war crimes took place last spring.

This is Mr Pavel's first trip to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion last February. The date of the visit was not announced in advance due to security concerns.