Russia-Ukraine struggle dwell: UK troops might be despatched to Ukraine to coach its troopers, defence secretary suggests

Russian forces have taken management of the villages of Novyi Komar and Zelenivka in Ukraine’s japanese Donetsk area, the Interfax information company is reporting, citing the Russian defence ministry. We have now not been in a position to independently affirm this data but.

In complete, Russia, which continues to make incremental battlefield features, has captured and retaken about 2,350 sq km of territory (907 sq miles) in japanese Ukraine and in Russia’s Kursk area, the place Kyiv launched a shock incursion over the summer season, based on the BBC.

Zelenskyy says it’s ‘very tough to assist Ukraine with out US assist’

Jennifer Rankin

Jennifer Rankin is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has mentioned “it is very difficult to support Ukraine without American help”, casting doubt on Europe’s means to fill the hole if Donald Trump withdraws US navy assist.

Ukraine’s president additionally mentioned there wanted to be “very much unity between the United States and the EU and countries of Europe” to attain peace.

He was talking to journalists as he arrived at a summit in Brussels for talks with European leaders.

Formally, that assembly is more likely to deal with points comparable to Ukraine’s pressing wants to guard its power community and enhance weapons manufacturing, slightly than extra delicate questions of long-term safety ensures.

That challenge got here up on Wednesday evening, based on Zelenskyy, when he held talks with a smaller group of European leaders together with France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, the Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte, and the UK overseas secretary, David Lammy.

Zelenskyy was led into the assembly by the European Council president António Costa, who mentioned: “We want to welcome you some day here as a member of the European Union and we will work with you for this and to win a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.”

Ukraine has claimed accountability for placing the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Russia’s Rostov area in a single day. The nation’s navy mentioned that the assault prompted a hearth on the refinery which was used to produce Russian armed forces.

The Russian governor of the Rostov area, Yuri Slyusar, had earlier reported a hearth on the web site after a “massive attack by the enemy, who used more than three dozen drones and three missiles.”

The hearth on the refinery – which is 10 kilometres (six miles) from the worldwide border with Ukraine, however 200 kilometres from the closest Ukrainian positions (125 miles) – lasted for greater than six hours, based on posts on his Telegram channel.

British troops could also be despatched to Ukraine to coach up troopers in its struggle towards Russia, the UK’s defence secretary has steered.

John Healey, who has been in Kyiv to debate plans to offer extra assist to Ukraine, mentioned Britain must “make the training a better fit for what the Ukrainians need”. Defence sources have instructed the BBC that he has not dominated out sending UK troops to Ukraine to assist prepare. However no official resolution on this has been introduced.

Healey instructed The Occasions: “We [need to] make it easier for the Ukrainians to access and we [need to] work with the Ukrainians to help them motivate and mobilise more recruits.”

Requested if this meant extending coaching of Ukrainian recruits inside Britain to Ukraine itself, he mentioned: “We will look wherever we can to respond to what the Ukrainians want. They are the ones fighting.”

Britain is at the moment coaching Ukrainian troopers within the UK. However, together with different Nato members, Britain has not despatched any floor troops to assist Ukraine on the frontlines for worry of escalating the battle and being pulled instantly into it. The UK has, nevertheless, been offering each deadly and non-lethal weaponry, together with tanks, air defence programs and long-range precision strike missiles.

Howdy and welcome to the Guardian’s dwell protection of Russia’s struggle on Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned he had held a brand new dialogue together with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on the latter’s proposal to deploy troops in Ukraine as a way to assist obtain a steady peace.

“We share a common vision: reliable guarantees are essential for a peace that can truly be achieved,” mentioned Ukraine’s president, who was in Brussels on Wednesday for conferences with Nato’s chief and European leaders.

“We continued working on President Macron’s initiative regarding the presence of forces in Ukraine that could contribute to stabilising the path to peace.”

Macron’s workplace mentioned France was making strengthened assist for Ukraine its “absolute priority” and would proceed giving Ukraine “the means to defend itself and to make Russia’s war of aggression fail”.

The French president would keep a “tight dialogue with Ukraine and its international partners to work for a return to a fair and lasting peace”. Zelenskyy can be due to participate in an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday.

In February, Macron mentioned he refused to rule out sending floor troops to Ukraine, however mentioned no consensus existed on the step. Allies – together with the US and European nations comparable to Germany and Sweden – had been fast to rule out sending fight troops to Ukraine.

In different developments:

• At the very least 100 North Koreans deployed to assist Russia’s struggle effort in Ukraine have been killed since coming into fight in December, South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun instructed reporters on Thursday. Pyongyang has despatched 1000’s of troops to strengthen the Russian navy, together with to the Kursk border area, the place Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this yr. “In December, they [North Korean troops] engaged in actual combat, during which at least 100 fatalities occurred,” Lee mentioned, talking after a briefing by South Korea’s spy company. “The National Intelligence Service also reported that the number of injured is expected to reach nearly 1,000.” Regardless of these losses, the company additionally mentioned it had detected indicators North Korean chief Kim Jong Un was making ready to coach a brand new particular operations power to ship westward.

• Ukraine struck Russian territory with not less than 13 missiles and 84 drones, triggering a hearth on the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery within the southern Rostov area that burned for hours, Russian officers mentioned on Thursday. Russian air defences shot down 84 drones over Russian areas, together with 36 over Rostov area, based on the defence ministry.

• A Russian missile assault broken residential buildings and infrastructure in Ukraine’s Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk areas, the Ukrainian navy mentioned this morning. There have been no quick studies of causalities. Russia used two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and a Kh-59/69 guided missile in its assault, the air power mentioned. The assault broken infrastructure, two condominium buildings, a hospital, and a college in Dnipropetrovsk area, its governor Serhiy Lysak mentioned. A missile assault on the northeastern Sumy area broken 9 non-public residences, regional authorities mentioned.

• Britain has unveiled £225m (US$286m) in new navy help to Ukraine for subsequent yr together with drones, boats and air defence programs.

• The World Financial institution has authorized $2.05bn in funding for Ukraine that features the primary grant from a $20bn US mortgage fund for Kyiv that’s backed by revenue from frozen Russian sovereign property.