Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow could annex more Ukrainian regions, says Medvedev

British troops will be sent to Ukraine for the first time as the defence secretary reveals plans for the UK to offer on-the-ground training and naval support in the Black Sea.

Grant Shapps told the Telegraph: “I was talking today about eventually getting the training brought closer and actually into Ukraine as well.

“Particularly in the west of the country, I think the opportunity now is to bring more things ‘in country’ – not just training, but also we’re seeing BAE [the UK defence firm], for example, move into manufacturing in country, for example.

“I’m keen to see other British companies do their bit as well by doing the same thing. So I think there will be a move to get more training and production in the country.”

He also shared the possibility of the British navy offering support in the Black Sea.

“We’ve seen in the last month or so, developments – really the first since 2014 in the Black Sea, in Crimea – and Britain is a naval nation so we can help and we can advise, particularly since the water is international water.

“It’s important that we don’t allow a situation to establish by default that somehow international shipping isn’t allowed in that water. So I think there’s a lot of places where Britain can help advise. [I] did discuss it with President Zelensky and many others this week,” Mr Shapps told the Telegraph.

Ukraine’s air defence systems shot down 16 out of around 30 drones that Russia launched on Ukraine’s territory overnight, Ukrainian Air Forces said on Sunday.

It said on Telegram messaging app that drones were launched from the southern, southeastern and northern directions.

Authorities said the central Ukrainian Cherkasy region was under the attack.

“At night, the enemy massively attacked our Cherkasy region with attack drones. Unfortunately, there were hits on industrial infrastructure in (the city of) Uman,” Cherkasy Governor Ihor Taburets said on Telegram.

“As a result, fires broke out in warehouses. In particular, where grain was stored,” he said, adding that one person was injured.

The Ukrainian presidential office said in a statement that civilian infrastructure and warehouses were also damaged in the southern Mykolaiv region and eastern Dnipropetrovsk region.

The reports could not be independently verified.

Voters in Slovakia cast ballots Saturday in an early parliamentary election that pits a populist former prime minister who campaigned on a pro-Russia and anti-American message against a liberal, pro-West newcomer.

Depending on which of them prevails, the election could reverse the small eastern European country’s support for neighboring Ukraine in the war with Russia, threatening to break a fragile unity in the European Union and NATO.

Former Prime MInister Robert Fico, 59, and his leftist Smer, or Direction, party have vowed to withdraw Slovakia’s military support for Ukraine in Russia’s war, if his attempt to return to power is successful.

Poland will find ways to address disagreements with Ukraine without the recent differences impacting its military support, said Nato’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.

The two neighbouring nations have encountered friction in their ties after Poland – that has been one of Ukraine’s fiercest allies through the course of Russian invasion – decided to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports.

Last week, Poland said it would only carry out previously agreed arms deliveries to Ukraine and choose to focus on rebuilding its own weapons arsenal.

“I’m expecting and I’m confident that Ukraine and Poland will find a way to address those issues without that impacting in a negative way the military support to Ukraine,” Mr Stoltenberg said in an interview in Copenhagen on Friday.

The announcement coincided with tensions peaking between the two neighbours after Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky said some countries were “feigning solidarity by indirectly supporting Russia” with a ban on grain imports.

The Russian president met Andrei Troshev, who is known by his nom de guerre “Sedoi” or “grey hair“, along with deputy defence minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov on Thursday night, the Kremlin said in a statement.

“At the last meeting, we talked about you overseeing the formation of volunteer units that can carry out various tasks, first and foremost, of course, in the zone of the special military operation,” Mr Putin was quoted as saying to Mr Troshev. Special military operation is what Russia calls its invasion of Ukraine.

“You yourself have been fighting in such a unit for more than a year,” the president said.

“You know what it is, how it is done, you know about the issues that need to be resolved in advance so that the combat work goes in the best and most successful way.”

The football association of Ukraine has written to Uefa’s member nations urging them to boycott matches against junior Russian teams.

England’s Football Association (the FA) had been among the national bodies that had said that they would not allow their sides to play Russia despite Uefa’s decision.

And the Ukrainian footballing body has now urged all members to do the same.

Ukrainian troops have this week pierced formidable Russian defences of concrete “dragon’s teeth” and mines in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, with Kyiv eager to play up the significance of the advances.

Some Ukrainian officials say the slow but steady gains made in the southern areas around Robotyne and Verbove are important developments in the eventual goal of the key road and rail route from Russia to Crimea, along the Azov coast.

But The Independent has spoken to military sources, including a senior officer involved in battlefield plans as well as officers and soldiers on the frontline, and some of them paint a less rosy picture.

While agreeing the counteroffensive is making gains, they told of large Ukrainian casualties and that the successes around Robotyne and Verbove have not resulted in a deep wedge into Russian forces, which are defending a triple layer of formidable defences.

However, there is an increasing amount of talk within Ukraine’s military, mostly privately, suggesting that Kyiv’s recent spectacular attacks on targets in Russian-occupied Crimea may be the prelude to a bold campaign to recapture the peninsula.Askold Krushelnycky

Askold Krushelnycky reports from Kyiv

The IPC wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that members voted 74-65 against a motion to fully suspend Russia “for breaches of its constitutional membership obligations.” Thirteen more members abstained.

Another vote is scheduled later Friday on whether to “partially suspend” Russia. That could mean Russia sends competitors to the Paralympics but that they have to compete as neutral athletes without national symbols.

Similar votes were also planned concerning Russia ally Belarus.

Athletes from Russia and Belarus arrived at the Winter Paralympics in Beijing in March 2022, about a week after Russian troops invaded Ukraine. They were excluded a day before the opening ceremony.

Read the full report here

Men in a poverty stricken Cuban community have been seduced to fight for Russia through Whatsapp, report Reuters.

Yamidely Cervantes, a seamstress from the small town of La Fedreral tells Reuters of how her husband Enrique Gonzales, left their home for Russia.

According to the seamstress, her husband was struggling to make ends meet do decided to join the Russian army to fight against Ukraine, report Reuters.

The bricklayer was paid 200,000 roubles in pesos ($2,040) days after he left on July 19 and now his wife is enjoying their new bump in wealth with a new mobile phone, a refrigerator and a sewing machine, say Reuters.

The Cuban government say they had arrrested 17 people for their involvement in a human trafficking ring luring Cubans to fight for Russia.

The seamstress says her partner could not take another day below the breadline and told Reuters: “One day, he said to me, ‘Mami, I just can’t take it anymore’.”

According to the report, atleast three men have left the 100 metre dirt road where Ms Cervantes lives since June.