Ukraine-Russia war latest: UK intelligence suggests almost half a million Russian soldiers have died in Putin’s invasion – UK Times

Ukraine faces a critical six-month window to seize the battlefield initiative from Russia and strengthen its position for potential peace negotiations, a senior commander has said, predicting an imminent “turning point” in the conflict now in its fifth year.

Russian forces have made incremental gains since their full-scale invasion in February 2022, but their advances have slowed this year. Ukrainian troops are now intensifying pressure on the frontline in an effort to push back the invaders.

Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky, who commands Ukraine’s Third Army Corps – one of the nation’s most respected fighting formations – told Reuters in an interview that he believes Russia’s military is exhausted and incapable of achieving significant breakthroughs.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said she discussed Ukraine’s path to ⁠EU membership with president Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Air defence ⁠and drone and counter-drone capabilities ⁠are among Europe’s most urgent defence priorities. And ‌Ukraine ​will be fully integrated ‌into these efforts,” she ​said in a post on X yesterday.

“The coming weeks will be important to take decisive steps forward in the accession process,” she said.

German chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier this ⁠month suggested permitting Ukraine “associate” membership in ​the ⁠bloc, allowing it to ‌participate in EU meetings and institutions without a vote, as an interim ‌step toward full membership – a proposal ‌that Zelensky has labelled as unfair.

Zelensky has said Ukraine has pressed ahead with reforms needed for EU membership, with an opportunity for substantive progress on talks following the electoral defeat of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, a staunch opponent of Ukraine’s EU membership.

Von der ‌Leyen added that Europe continues ​to support Ukraine amid its war ‌with Russia.

The Russian defence ministry has claimed its troops have ​taken control of one village in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region and another in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region yesterday.

But the claims were swiftly denied by Ukraine’s military and the country’s most widely read military blog.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had taken control of Hraniv in Kharkiv region on the border with Russia and Vozdvyzhivka in ⁠a highly contested part ​of ⁠Zaporizhzhia region.

Ukraine’s 14th Army dismissed the Russian report, saying Hraniv was under the control of the Ukrainian military.

“Units of the Defence Forces of Ukraine are ​reliably ⁠holding designated defensive lines, effectively repelling ‌enemy offensive actions, and inflicting significant losses on them in personnel and equipment,” it said on Facebook.

DeepState, a Ukrainian war blog that tracks the two sides along the 1,250-km (775-mile) front line using open sources, said the Russian report of Vozdvyzhivka’s capture was untrue.

It said a group of Russian ⁠servicemen had briefly entered the village earlier this month but had been evicted or killed.

On Tuesday, the 14th Army also denied the capture of one of two villages the Russian military claimed to have seized in Sumy region, a border area where Moscow says it wants to expand a buffer zone.

The visit by Ms Tsikhanouskaya followed a significant diplomatic exchange the previous day, when French President Emmanuel Macron held a phone conversation with President Alexander Lukashenko. Mr Lukashenko has governed Belarus with an iron fist for more than three decades, maintaining close ties with the Kremlin.

During their call, the French leader “underscored the risks for Belarus of allowing itself to be dragged into Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine,” according to a presidential aide in Macron’s office.

You can read the full report below:

Ukraine faces a critical six-month window to seize the battlefield initiative from Russia and strengthen its position for potential peace negotiations, a senior commander has said, predicting an imminent “turning point” in the conflict now in its fifth year.

Russian forces have made incremental gains since their full-scale invasion in February 2022, but their advances have slowed this year. Ukrainian troops are now intensifying pressure on the frontline in an effort to push back the invaders.

Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky, who commands Ukraine’s Third Army Corps – one of the nation’s most respected fighting formations – told Reuters in an interview that he believes Russia’s military is exhausted and incapable of achieving significant breakthroughs.

You can read the full report below:

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday she had discussed Ukraine’s path to ⁠EU membership with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“The coming weeks will be important to take decisive steps forward in the accession process,” ⁠she said in ​a ⁠post on social media platform X.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier this ⁠month suggested permitting Ukraine “associate” membership in ​the ⁠bloc, allowing it to ‌participate in EU meetings and institutions without a vote, as an interim ‌step toward full membership – a proposal ‌that Zelenskiy has labelled as unfair.

Zelenskiy has said Ukraine has pressed ahead ⁠with reforms needed for EU membership, with an opportunity for substantive progress on talks following the electoral defeat of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, a staunch opponent of Ukraine’s EU membership.

Ms Von der ‌Leyen added that Europe continues ​to support Ukraine amid its war ‌with Russia.

“Air defence ⁠and drone and counter-drone capabilities ⁠are among Europe’s most urgent defence priorities. And ‌Ukraine ​will be fully integrated ‌into these efforts,” she ​said.

President Zelensky has sent President Trump an urgent letter warning of UKraine’s critical missile defence shortages, reports have suggested.

The letter, as seen by the Kyiv Independent, reads: “When it comes to air defence against missiles, we rely on our friends.

“When it comes to defending against ballistic missiles, we rely almost exclusively on the United States.”

It comes as Russia steps up its mass aerial strikes on Ukraine and has threatened a new wave of long-range strikes on Kyiv.

Nearly 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed over the course of the Ukraine war, new intelligence from GCHQ suggests.

The agency’s director Anne Keast-Butler revealed the figures during her inaugural public speech on Wednesday as she set out the biggest threats facing the UK.

She said Russia is “targeting critical infrastructure, democratic processes, supply chains and public trust”.

Ms Keast-Butler added: “In the face of such aggression and chaos, GCHQ is working tirelessly with intelligence and defence partners to degrade and reduce the Russian threat.”