Ukraine Russia war latest: Zelensky says Putin’s troops now occupy 20% of country

After Britain pledged to send mid-range weapons to Ukraine, questions have emerged about what Kyiv will do with its expanded attack radius.

At a press briefing, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, was asked whether the country promised its Western partners not to use weapons systems provided by them to hit targets in Russia.

“Ukraine is fighting an exclusively defensive war, and we always state this,” she replied.

The UK, US and Germany have all promised to send anti-aircraft and anti-artillery weapons with a range of around 50 miles – a signifigant step-up from the artillery supplies the allies began sending in April after Russia turned its focus in the war to the Donbas.

Moscow had warned western countries against sending any weapons that would enable Ukraine to fire over the Russian border from a long distance.

While the latest round of weapons aid flies in the face of this warning, the US made clear it did not plan to send longer-range weapons.

Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation has filed a treason case against pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk.

Mr Medvedchuk, one of Vladimir Putin’s allies in Ukraine, faces up to 15 years in jail if convicted of treason and violating the laws and customs of war, the agency said in a statement.

A pre-trial report says Mr Medvedchuk provided the leadership of Russia with assistance in carrying out subversive activities against Ukraine, including by collecting information about the location of military units.

The Ukrainian politician, who heads the Opposition Platform — For Life party, denies wrongdoing. He was detained in April, having escaped house arrest days after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.

Mr Medvedchuk counts Mr Putin as a “personal friend” and godfather to his daughter.

Vladimir Putin granted a state honour to Russian chess grandmaster Sergey Karjakin – who was suspended by the game’s international governing body for publicly supporting Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The 32-year-old was given a medal of the order “For Merit to the Fatherland”, a distinction awarded to Russians who have made outstanding achievements in their fields, according to an official portal for legal information.

Mr Karjakin, who challenged Magnus Carlsen for the world title in 2016, is an avid Putin supporter and has furiously defended Russia’s decision to send troops into Ukraine on social media.

His comments prompted the International Chess Federation (FIDE) to suspend him for six months for breaching its code of ethics in March.

Russian forces are trying to assault the east Ukrainian village of Berestove that lies on a main road linking the Luhansk region’s city of Lysychansk to the rest of Ukraine, a Ukrainian general said on Thursday.

Russia is close to capturing all of Luhansk, one of two Ukrainian regions that make up the swathe of land known as the Donbas. Russian forces are also trying to attack the town of Sviatohirsk in the Donetsk region, General Oleksiy Gromov told a press briefing.

Manufacturer Baykar and Turkey’s Defence Industry Agency will donate a Bayraktar TB2 advanced combat drone to Lithuania for transfer to Ukraine, after Lithuanians crowdfunded nearly 6 million euros to buy it, Lithuania’s defence ministry said on Thursday.

Baykar will deliver the drone in a few weeks. It will be painted in the colours of the Lithuanian and Ukrainian flags, according to the ministry, which had said last week it would arrange to buy the craft.

“We came to Turkey to agree on conditions for the drone purchase, but they prepared the most pleasant surprise possible for us,” Deputy Defence Minister Vilius Semaska said in a statement.

Baykar confirmed its donation in a Twitter post that included photographs of Semaska with a drone at its premises.

“The people of Lithuania have honorably raised funds to buy a Bayraktar TB2 for Ukraine. Upon learning this, Baykar will gift a Bayraktar TB2 to Lithuania free of charge and asks those funds go to Ukraine for humanitarian aid,” the company said.

Russian lobbyists are barred from the European Parliament, the head of the chamber said on Thursday, adding that Europe had to protect themselves from the Kremlin’s influence and propaganda over the war in Ukraine.

Russia invaded Ukraine more than three months ago, attacking cities and civilian infrastructure, and triggering consecutive rounds of EU sanctions on Moscow.

“Effective immediately, Russian company representatives are no longer allowed to enter,” Roberta Metsola said on Twitter. “We must not allow them any space to spread their propaganda & false, toxic narratives about the invasion of Ukraine.”

The parliament’s liberal Renew faction welcomed the move as “a blow to the Russian state propaganda machine” that would “reduce the capacity of Russia’s warmongering lobbyists to influence EU politicians and policies.”

The UK has pledged to send sophisticated medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine, joining the United States and Germany in equipping the embattled nation with advanced weapons for shooting down aircraft and knocking out artillery.

Western arms have been critical to Ukraine’s success in countering Russia’s much larger and better-equipped military during the war, now in its 99th day.

But as Russian forces closed in on a key city in recent days, the Ukrainian government said its fighters needed better rocket launchers to prevail.

A Kremlin spokesman again warned of “absolutely undesirable and rather unpleasant scenarios” if the latest Western-supplied weapons were fired into Russia.

“This pumping of Ukraine with weapons … will bring more suffering to Ukraine, which is merely a tool in the hands of those countries that supply it with weapons,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

A video appears to show the moment a Russian soldier abandons his tank after as it is struck by a missile.

The incident reportedly took place in the Marinka area of the Donbas region, where intense fighting continues.

Earlier today Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, said Russia now controls about 20 per cent of his country’s territory.

Ukraine will not concede territory to Russia, the country’s first lady has said.

“You just can’t concede … parts of your territory. It’s like conceding a freedom,” Olena Zelenska told ABC News.

“Even if we would consider territories, the aggressor would not stop at that,” she sadded.

“He would continue pressing, he would continue launching more and more steps forward, more and more attacks against our territory.”

Some countries and international relations experts, including the US’s controversial former secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, have suggested that Kyiv could end the war by giving up some land.

Ukraine is working with international partners to create a United Nations-backed mission to restore Black Sea shipping routes and export Ukrainian farm produce, foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on Thursday.

Russia has captured some of Ukraine’s biggest seaports and its navy controls major transport routes in the Black Sea, blocking Ukrainian shipments and deepening a global food crisis.

“We call on countries whose food security may suffer more from Russian aggression against Ukraine to use their contacts with Moscow to force it to lift the blockade of Ukrainian seaports and end the war,” Nikolenko wrote on Facebook.