Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin loses more than 8,000 troops as Zelensky warns Moscow trying to ‘intensify’ attacks – UK Times

A fuel reservoir ⁠in Russia’s Baltic Sea port of ⁠Primorsk ​caught ⁠fire after ⁠a drone attack this morning, said ​Alexander ⁠Drozdenko, ‌the governor of northwestern Leningrad ‌region.

He said 35 drones have been ‌shot down ​over ‌the ⁠region ⁠in recent attacks.

Kenyan nationals enlisted by Russia to fight the war in Ukraine will now be granted amnesty on their return home, Kenya’s foreign minister said.

“So far 44 Kenyans have been safely repatriated back home while 11 have been reported missing in action/killed in action, 38 are currently hospitalised in various Russian hospitals under restricted access, leaving 160 Kenyans officers still actively involved,” Musalia Mudavadi said in a statement.

The Kenyan foreign ministry said Mudavadi has negotiated a deal that allowed Kenyans currently on the front line and “unwilling to continue in the assignment disengaged and freed to travel back home”.

At least 1,000 Kenyans were recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine after being misled with false promises of jobs in Russia before being sent to the front lines, an intelligence report said.

Russia said its forces have captured Potapivka, a tiny village near the Russian border in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region.

“As a result of determined actions, units of the Northern grouping of soldiers established control over the village of Potapovka in the Sumy region,” the Russian defence ministry said, using a Russian name for the village.

Ukraine did not immediately respond to the Russian defence ministry’s claims.

The Russian army has been ramping up its efforts to establish a “buffer zone” in the Sumy region for months, but Ukraine has largely repelled these advances and says Moscow has struggled to establish a meaningful foothold in the region.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said he has a “very bad feeling” about the consequences of the conflict in the Middle East for his country.

“You see that our diplomatic meetings, trilateral meetings, are constantly postponed. There is one reason: war in Iran,” he said, speaking to the BBC in an interview.

“Putin will want a long war. For Putin, a long war in Iran is a plus,” he said.

Ukraine is working with Gulf countries everyday and providing expertise and “real” support, Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

”Other countries of the world should now also make their contribution to stabilisation,” he wrote on social media.

“We all need joint decisions and joint work so that there is more security for everyone. I thank everyone who contributes to coordination and shared results.”

Russian forces have attempted to intensify offensive efforts over the past ⁠week, taking advantage of more favourable weather conditions, although that ⁠resulted ​in an increase ⁠in its ⁠casualties, Volodymyr Zelensky ​said.

“In ‌the Donetsk region, our positions have ‌not significantly changed over the past week,” he said.

“In the Kharkiv region and in border communities of the Sumy region, we are observing attempts by the occupier to advance from the border – Russian units carrying out these attempts are being destroyed,” Zelensky said.

Poland’s prime minister Sunday said Poland “had our suspicions” in response to a Washington Post report that Hungary’s government has for years provided Russia with detailed information from EU Council meetings.

The Post, citing several current and former European security officials, found that the Hungarian government under Viktor Orban has long offered Moscow access to sensitive discussions within the European Union.

Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó regularly calls during breaks in EU council meetings to provide his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, with “direct reports on what was discussed” and possible solutions, according to the Post report.

“The news that Orban’s people inform Moscow about EU Council meetings in every detail shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone,” Polish PM Donald Tusk said on X.

“We’ve had our suspicions about that for a long time. That’s one reason why I take the floor only when strictly necessary and say just as much as necessary.”

Szijjártó called Tusk’s comments “fake news”.

The US and South Korean militaries are discussing moving some of the American Patriot missile defence systems based in South Korea to be used in the war against Iran.

South Korean foreign minister Cho Hyun on Friday was responding to a question at a parliamentary hearing and said the two nations were working closely together. The decision on the deployment of weapons and military personnel would be made on a case-by-case basis, he said.

Earlier reports said the US troops stationed in South Korea relocated their Patriot missile defence batteries to Osan Air Base from other US bases, in signs that US Forces Korea (USFK) could deploy part of its critical air-defence assets to the Middle East as the conflict escalates.

Ukraine destroyed two Buk air defense systems in a drone attack in Russia’s Bryansk Oblast on Sunday.

Footage shared by Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, shows its military striking the two systems.

Mr Brovdi said a Buk-M3 surface-to-air missile system and a transporter-loader vehicle of a Buk-M2 system were destroyed.