Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed Russia lost 6,000 troops during Kyiv’s cross-border incursion into Kursk last month.
Zelensky made the claim at the Ramstein Airbase in Germany, where he urged Western leaders to supply more air defence systems and long-range missiles to his embattled country.
It comes as Britain pledged £162million worth of air defence missiles to Kyiv as Vladimir Putin continued to order air attacks on the country.
Defence secretary John Healey, who is said to want to be known as the most pro-Ukrainian minister in the British government, will send 650 Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM) systems to Kyiv this year.
Russia has been ramping up its aerial attacks on Ukraine and launched 44 drones and two missiles overnight on Friday. Kyiv said it shot down just over half of the drones.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian husband and father Yaroslav Bazylevych lost his entire family when a Russian missile destroyed his house in the western city of Lviv.
Mr Bazylevych’s wife Eugenia and the couple’s three daughters, Yarya, 21, Daria, 18 and Emilia, seven, were all killed in the attack.
Chair of Ukrainian parliament meets with House of Commons speaker
The chair of the Ukrainian parliament has met with the speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle at the sidelines of a G7 summit in Italy for parliamentary leaders.
Ruslan Stefanchuk thanked the UK for its support for Ukraine and stressed the importance that this remains unchanged, as he highlighted the need for Ukraine to be granted permission to strike military targets in russia with Western weapons, according to a statement issued by Ukrainian officials.
Andy Gregory7 September 2024 08:28
MI6 and CIA warn ‘staying the course’ in Ukraine is more vital than ever
In their first ever joint statement, the heads of MI6 and the CIA have warned that “staying the course” in backing Ukraine’s fight against Russia was more important than ever and vowed to further their cooperation.
Writing in the Financial Times, CIA Director William Burns and Richard Moore, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, said: “The partnership lies at the beating heart of the special relationship between our countries.”
The agencies “stand together in resisting an assertive Russia and Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” they said, noting that their services marked 75 years of partnership two years ago.
“Staying the course is more vital than ever. Putin will not succeed in extinguishing Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence,” they said, adding that their agencies would continue aiding Ukrainian intelligence.
The spy chiefs said their agencies would keep working to thwart a “reckless campaign of sabotage across Europe by Russian intelligence” and its “cynical use of technology” to spread disinformation “to drive wedges between us.”
Andy Gregory7 September 2024 08:03
Russia launches 67 long-range drones in overnight attack on Ukraine
Ukraine’s air force has said that Russia launched a total of 67 long-range drones in a mass overnight attack, 58 of which it was able to shoot down.
The air force said in a statement on the Telegram app that air defence units were scrambled into action in 11 regions across Ukraine.
Andy Gregory7 September 2024 07:36
The Ukraine invasion has made the Russians more ferocious
Tom Watling7 September 2024 07:00
In Ukraine, a city grieves for a family killed in a deadly Russia missile attack
Tom Watling7 September 2024 06:00
Behind enemy lines with Ukraine’s troops in Russia
Behind enemy lines with Ukraine’s troops in Russia
On the main road to Russia, the combat vehicles – some of them British – trundle forward. In the Russian town of Sudzha, Ukrainian troops dig in and prepare for a counterattack. Askold Krushelnycky reports from Kursk
Tom Watling7 September 2024 05:00
How it felt to cross the Russian border on a Ukrainian tank
Tom Watling7 September 2024 04:00
Poland ‘has duty’ to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine
Tom Watling7 September 2024 03:00
Watch: Drone rains down molten thermite on Ukrainian battlefield
Watch: Drone rains down molten thermite on Ukrainian battlefield
A drone rained down molten thermite on the battlefield in Ukraine, setting alight a line of trees, footage shows. The unmanned aerial vehicle is seen moving from left to right across the position, leaving orange flames and rising smoke. Thermite, a mixture of metal powder and metal oxide, is used in the making of incendiary bombs. Both Ukrainian and Russian sources have claimed credit for a video circulating on social media which appears to show a first-person view drone being used. The Independent has not verified either of these claims.
Tom Watling7 September 2024 02:00
Wearing prosthetics, Ukraine war veterans take to the runway as fashion week returns
Tom Watling7 September 2024 01:00