Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv army chief says eastern front has ‘significantly worsened’ as Putin steps up attacks

Ukraine’s military chief General Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Saturday that Ukraine’s battlefield situation in the industrial east had “significantly worsened in recent days”, as warming weather allowed Russian forces to launch a fresh push along several stretches of the more than 1,000-kilometre (620-mile)-long front line.

In an update on the Telegram messaging app, Gen Syrskyi said Russian forces had been “actively attacking” Ukrainian positions near the cities of Lyman, Bakhmut and Pokrovsk, and beginning to launch tank assaults as drier, warmer spring weather made it easier for heavy vehicles to move across previously muddy terrain.

Ukrainian refugees fleeing the horrors of war to find sanctuary in British homes were sent to live with suspected gangsters under the government’s flagship Homes for Ukraine scheme, The Independent can reveal.

In the worst cases, Ukrainian families and individuals “just disappeared”, according to one council worker, while others were forced to work for their hosts or were charged rent. In one stark example, a couple with a young child were sent to live with a convicted paedophile.

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The first group of Ukrainian pilots being trained by the Royal Air Force have now graduated and are moving on to their second stage of training in France.

Washington-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) warned that delays in Western military assistance would increasingly hamper Ukraine’s ability to fight back against Russian advances.

With the war in Ukraine entering its third year and a vital US aid package for Kyiv stuck in Congress, Russia has used its edge in firepower and personnel to step up attacks across eastern Ukraine.

It has increasingly used satellite-guided gliding bombs – dropped from planes from a safe distance – to pummel Ukrainian forces beset by a shortage of troops and ammunition.

In its report, the ISW said that Russian forces were prioritising grinding, tactical gains with operational-level efforts focusing on the cities of Lyman, Chasiv Yar, and Pokrovsk.

“The Russian military command likely assesses that Ukrainian forces will be unable to defend against current and future Russian offensive operations due to delays in or the permanent end of US military assistance,” the think tank said.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday condemned Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel, calling for efforts to prevent a further escalation in Middle East conflict.

“Iran’s actions threaten the entire region and the world, just as Russia’s actions threaten a larger conflict, and the obvious collaboration between the two regimes in spreading terror must face a resolute and united response from the world,” he wrote on social media platform X.

More civilians died across Ukraine on Sunday as analysts warned that delays in US military assistance would see Kyiv struggle to fight off Russian offensives.

One man was killed when a Russian drone hit the truck he was driving in the Sumy region, the local prosecutor’s office said.

Officials in the Kharkiv region also said they had retrieved the bodies of a 61-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man killed by a Russian strike the previous day.

Ten Russian Shahed-type drones were shot down over the Kharkiv region overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, shelling in the Russian-occupied Kherson region killed two civilians on Sunday, said Moscow-installed leader Vladimir Saldo.

Two people were killed by Ukrainian strikes in a Russian-held area of Ukraine’s Kherson, the region’s top official said on Sunday.

One person was wounded, Vladimir Saldo wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Germany will supply a US-made Patriot air defence system and air defence missiles to Ukraine at a “critical time” as Kyiv struggles to defend its energy system from Russian bombardment, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said.

More than two years into its full-scale invasion, Russia has staged three massive airstrikes on power stations and substations in recent weeks, prompting Kyiv to issue desperate appeals for supplies of high-end air defences.

“Germany will deliver an additional Patriot air defence system to Ukraine,” Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz said on X, a reminder that Germany is now a key backer of Ukraine with US assistance stuck in Congress.

“We stand steadfast on the side of Ukraine,” Mr Scholz said, adding that Mr Zelensky had informed him in a telephone call on Saturday about “massive Russian air attacks on civilian energy infrastructure”.

Germany’s ambassador to Ukraine, Martin Jaeger, said on X: “Other international partners must follow quickly now.”

Mr Zelensky said on the Telegram messaging app that he was grateful to Mr Scholz for the decision to supply another, additional Patriot system, and missiles for existing air defence systems.

Later in his nightly video address, Mr Zelensky indicated talks were underway about expanding German transfers of another air defence system, though German officials did not reference this in their remarks.

“We are also working with Germany on an additional IRIS-T system, which is also a strong air defence system, and on missiles for our existing air defence systems,” Mr Zelensky said in his video address.

Ukraine’s air force today said its air defence systems destroyed all 10 attack drones that Russia had launched at the country.

The air force said on Telegram that Russia also attacked Ukraine with four missiles but did not say what happened to them.