The UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar are among the nations in the region that use sophisticated US-made air defences to intercept the relatively cheaply made, mass-produced drones fired by Iran.

With the conflict now in its seventh day, the US has turned to Ukraine, a country that shoots down Shahed-type drones fired by Russia every night, for assistance in defending its assets in the Middle East.

An American anti-drone system proven to work against Russian drones in Ukraine will soon be sent to the Middle East to bolster US defences against Iranian drones, two US officials said.

The system that is being sent, known as Merops, flies drones against drones. It is small enough to fit in the back of a midsize pickup truck, can identify drones and close in on them, using artificial intelligence to navigate when satellite and electronic communications are jammed.

Drones are hard to pinpoint on radar systems calibrated for spotting high-speed missiles and can be mistaken for birds or planes. The Merops system is designed to spot them and take them down. Crucially, the system also is cheaper than firing a missile that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars at a drone that costs less than $50,000.

While the US has used Patriot and THAAD missile systems to take down Iranian missiles successfully, there are limited effective anti-drone defences now in the Middle East, according to a US defense official, one of two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.

The US response to countering Iran’s Shahed drones has been “disappointing,” the other US official said, particularly because the drones fired by Iran are a much more basic version of the same drone that Russia is continuously refining and updating in its war in Ukraine.

At least four people were killed and 10 others were injured in Ukraine’s Kharkiv after Russia attacked Ukrainian cities with ballistic missiles and drones overnight, officials said.

Ukrainian officials also sounded a countrywide air raid alert in the early hours around 3am local time to caution locals across Ukraine against incoming Russian projectiles.

Kharkiv oblast governor Oleh Syniehubov said the region was targeted overnight and fires were reported as a result of a ballistic missile attack.

The attack killed four civilians and injured 10, including two children, the State Emergency Service said.

Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said the victims were found by the rescue services after a ballistic missile struck a multi-story residential building in Kharkiv’s Kyivskyi district, causing heavy destruction and a fire.

“A direct hit by a ballistic missile on a multi-story building in the Kyivskyi district has been confirmed. There is significant damage, a fire, and people may be trapped under the rubble,” Terekhov said.

Explosions were first reported in Kyiv around 1.30am local time, reported the Kyiv Independent, followed by more blasts reported around 1.40am local time.

Kyiv mayor Vitalii Klitschko asked people in Kyiv to take cover. “Air defence forces are operating in the capital. Stay in shelters,” he said.

At least four people were killed and 10 others were injured in Ukraine’s Kharkiv after Russia attacked Ukrainian cities with ballistic missiles and drones overnight, officials said.

Ukrainian officials also sounded a countrywide air raid alert in the early hours around 3am local time to caution locals across Ukraine against incoming Russian projectiles.

Kharkiv oblast governor Oleh Syniehubov said the region was targeted overnight and fires were reported as a result of a ballistic missile attack.

The attack killed four civilians and injured 10, including two children, the State Emergency Service said.

Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said the victims were found by the rescue services after a ballistic missile struck a multi-story residential building in Kharkiv’s Kyivskyi district, causing heavy destruction and a fire.

“A direct hit by a ballistic missile on a multi-story building in the Kyivskyi district has been confirmed. There is significant damage, a fire, and people may be trapped under the rubble,” Terekhov said.

Explosions were first reported in Kyiv around 1.30am local time, reported the Kyiv Independent, followed by more blasts reported around 1.40am local time.

Kyiv mayor Vitalii Klitschko asked people in Kyiv to take cover. “Air defence forces are operating in the capital. Stay in shelters,” he said.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said ⁠it summoned Hungary’s acting ⁠charge ​d’affaires ⁠in Kyiv ⁠over the detention ​of ⁠Ukrainian nationals ‌in Budapest.

A ministry ‌statement said ‌Ukraine reserves ⁠the right to respond, including via sanctions and other restrictive ‌measures against ​those ‌involved ⁠in “unlawful” actions.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that he had visited the eastern front line on Friday.

Zelensky gave awards to troops defending the positions near Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka, cities in the eastern Donetsk region where Russia has concentrated its forces. Moscow was preparing for a spring offensive there, he said.

“It is important not only from the point of view of defending our state on the battlefield, but it is also very important geopolitically,” Zelensky told soldiers from the 28th separate mechanised brigade in a video posted on his Telegram channel.

“The stronger we are in the eastern direction, the stronger we are in the talks process,” he said.

Under pressure from US president Donald Trump’s administration, Ukraine and Russia held several rounds of talks trying to find a diplomatic solution on how to end the war, now in its fifth year.

The Swedish coast guard said it boarded and took control of a suspected stateless vessel in Swedish ​waters of the Baltic Sea on Friday, and it ‌was carrying out investigations on the ship.

“At 3.50pm today, the Coast Guard took control of a vessel with unclear flag ​status and thus suspected of being a stateless vessel,” ​it said in a statement, adding that the ⁠boarding had taken place off the coast of the ​southern Swedish town Trelleborg.

The ship Caffa was sailing under a ​Guinean flag, but the coast guard said it regarded the vessel to be stateless “based on national and international legislation”. Swedish police said the ​ship was suspected of sailing under a false flag.

Sweden’s ⁠minister for civil defence, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, said in a post on X that the ship was a freighter on Ukraine’s sanctions list.

“The ownership structure is unclear and there are ​suspicions that the ​vessel is ⁠not insured. As recently as this summer, the ship is said to have changed from ​a Russian to a Guinean flag,” Bohlin ​wrote.

According ​to ship-tracking service Marine Traffic, Caffa is a 96-meter general cargo ‌ship.

The coast ⁠guard said it had launched a preliminary investigation into suspected violation of maritime law regarding lack of seaworthiness.

“The Coast Guard ⁠has personnel ​on board to gather information ​about the condition of the vessel and crew, conduct searches, and conduct interviews,” ​it added.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, who has maintained close relations with the Kremlin while escalating an aggressive anti-Ukraine campaign ahead of crucial elections next month, has called Ukraine Hungary’s “enemy,” and accused Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky of seeking to provoke an energy crisis in order to sway the 12 April vote.

“The best way for the Ukrainians to achieve their demands on Hungary is if they get rid of the national government and the prime minister who is standing in their way,” Orban said in statements to state radio on Friday.

While he did not directly mention the detention of the bank vehicles, Orban alluded to the incident, saying: “We will stop things that are important to Ukraine passing through Hungary until we get the approval of the Ukrainians for oil shipments.”

“The Ukrainians will run out of money sooner than we will run out of oil,” he added.

Trailing in most polls behind a popular center-right challenger, the populist Orban has staked the election on convincing voters that Ukraine poses an existential threat to Hungary’s security.

In office since 2010, the EU’s longest-serving leader has claimed that if he loses the election, the European Union will force Hungary into bankruptcy by cutting Russian energy imports, and that Hungarian youth will be sent to their deaths on the front lines in Ukraine.

Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armoured cars carrying tens of millions of euros (dollars) in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said.

The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money.

The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armoured cars that were carrying the money between Austria and Ukraine as part of regular services between state banks, Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said.

In a post on Facebook, Oschadbank board Chairman Yurii Katsion wrote that Hungary “groundlessly questions the source of the state bank’s funds, transported in accordance with international agreements and supported by all necessary documentation.”

The shipment seized by Hungary included $40m as well as €35m and 9kg (19.8 pounds) of gold — worth around $1.5m at current prices — according to a separate statement by Oschadbank.

After their detention, Hungary’s government said it would expel the seven Ukrainians, but did not give details on why they would be released if they were suspected of money laundering.

Later on Friday, Ukraine’s foreign minister announced on social media that the seven Ukrainians had been returned to Ukraine.

The UK is operating four facilities in Ukraine to carry out repair and maintenance work for armoured vehicles and other military equipment being used in the war with Russia, the British ministry of defence said this morning.

The facilities, which had not previously been ​divulged, were set up using both British ​and Ukrainian workers, operated under contracts issued ⁠by Britain’s defence ministry.

“From the factory floor ​to the frontline, the UK is standing with Ukraine,” ​Luke Pollard, defence readiness and industry minister said in a statement.

“Our pioneering facilities are helping keep Ukraine’s ​defiant armed forces in the fight against (Russian ​president Vladimir) Putin’s brutal attacks, and British firms are boosting ‌long-term ⁠industrial production in Ukraine and partnering with Ukrainian companies to benefit both our nations,” he said.

“Britain has been one of Ukraine’s closest allies since Russia invaded ​its neighbour in ​February 2022, having ⁠committed more than £21.8bn ($29.2bn) of support to Kyiv,” he said.

The British defence ​ministry said that as part of ​their ⁠work the four facilities in Ukraine were repairing CVR-T armoured vehicles, Husky support vehicles, L119 light guns ⁠and ​AS-90 artillery systems, which Britain ​had donated.

A fifth facility was also being planned, it said.