Ukraine Russia war latest news: Putin sanctions James Cleverly over war as German defence minister resigns

Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu visited Russian troops fighting in the war Ukraine, the ministry said today.

“Sergei Shoigu thanked the servicemen who courageously perform tasks in the special military operation zone, and presented state awards to the servicemen for their dedication and heroism,” the ministry said in a statement on its Telegram messaging app.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukrainian authorities in the security service have already started gathering information about Russian military involved in preparing and and carrying out this strike on an apartment building in Dnipro.

“This strike at Dnipro, as well as other similar strikes, falls, in particular, under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. And we will use all available opportunities – both national and international – to ensure that all Russian murderers, everyone who gives and executes orders on missile terror against our people, face legal sentences. And to ensure that they serve their punishment,” Mr Zelensky said.

He added: “There is no doubt: every person guilty of this war crime will be identified and brought to justice.”

The UN’s office of the high commissioner for human rights has totalled the civilian casualties in the Ukraine war to more than 18,000 since the first day of Russian invasion in its latest update.

As of Sunday, the top UN office has recorded 18,358 civilian casualties in the country, out of which 7,031 people have been killed and 11,327 injured.

“A total of 7,031 killed (2,784 men, 1,875 women, 177 girls, and 221 boys, as well as 35 children and 1,939 adults whose sex is yet unknown),” the UNHCR said yesterday.

It added: “A total of 11,327 injured (2,472 men, 1,764 women, 240 girls, and 325 boys, as well as 262 children and 6,264 adults whose sex is yet unknown)”

In Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the UN authorities have recorded 9,853 casualties (4,102 killed and 5,751 injured).

German defence minister minister Christine Lambrecht announced her resignation as her department steers the massive project of modernising the country’s military and oversees expanding weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

The minister said that she had submitted her resignation request to chancellor Olaf Scholz, adding that “months of media focus on my person” had stood in the way of a factual debate about the military and Germany’s security policy.

“The valuable work of the soldiers and many people in my department must stand in the foreground,” she said.

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Russia has asked British foreign secretary James Cleverly why he has supported “neo-Nazism” and the Kyiv administration just hours after sanctioning him.

“Dear James, you don’t understand. This is for the anti-Russian course and personal sanctions. But you still have to answer for the support of the Kyiv regime and neo-Nazism,” Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said yesterday.

Russia terms its invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation” aimed at fighting “Nazism” but has targeted the former Soviet territory’s civilian infrastructure and citizens by indiscriminately shelling and bombing the country with missiles.

Shakhtar Donetsk will donate more than £20million of the transfer fee received for Mikhailo Mudryk to Ukrainian soldiers, my colleague Ben Burrows reports.

The 22-year-old forward joined Chelsea for £88m on Sunday after the Blues moved late to hijack a move to Premier League rivals Arsenal.

Shakhtar held out in negotiations for the biggest possible fee with a portion now set to go to “soldiers, defenders and their families” in the ongoing defence against the Russian invasion.

British foreign secretary James Cleverly said he is the latest minister to have be sanctioned by Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

“I’ve been sanctioned by the Russian government. Good. If this is the price for supporting Ukrainian freedom, then I’m happy to be sanctioned #SlavaUkraini,” he said on Twitter.

Doubling down on British government’s support for Ukraine, Mr Cleverly said that he spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart after the UK promised military aid t Ukraine.

“I spoke to my friend @DmytroKuleba following the announcement that the UK will provide Challenger 2 tanks and further military support to Ukraine. Ukraine will win. We will support you for as long as it takes,” he said in another tweet.

Mr Cleverly will meet US secretary of state Antony Blinken today before travelling to Toronto for talks tomorrow with his Canadian counterpart, Melanie Joly.

He is expected to use his visit to urge the allies to go “further and faster” in their support for the government in Kyiv, arguing that, with the right equipment, the Ukrainians can prevail against Moscow.

Washington’s new and expanded training scheme for Ukrainian forces began in Germany on Sunday – with a goal of getting a battalion of some 500 troops back on the battlefield in the next five to eight weeks, General Mark Milley has said.

The director of the Central Intelligence Agency travelled to Kyiv before the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine in order to inform Volodymyr Zelensky of a Russian plan to assassinate him, reports my colleague Andrew Feinberg.

In a forthcoming book, author Chris Whipple reports that at the same time Mr Zelensky was publicly dismissive of warnings from US officials that Moscow would soon launch its land invasion, he was getting a clandestine briefing from CIA Director Bill Burns about the threat on his life.