Ukraine Russia war latest news: Kyiv fighting ‘for every metre’ as France says it’s open to sending fighter jets

A Russian-backed official has made fresh claims of capturing Ukraine’s territory in the eastern region, but added that its troops were facing fierce resistance from Ukrainian soldiers who are fighting for “every metre”.

Denis Pushilin, head of the occupied eastern Donetsk province and installed by Russia, claimed that the Ukrainian fighters were countering the Russian offensive with reinforcements in Bakhmut, Maryinka and Vuhledar — three towns placed in eastern Ukraine’s north to south strip.

Russian forces were making advances there, but “not clear-cut, that is, here there is a battle for literally every metre”, he said, reported Russia’s state news agency TASS.

US president Joe Biden said the US will not send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, just hours after France said it was open to such a move.

Ukraine recently denied reports that it was seeking two squadrons of 12 fighter jets from allies but French president Macron said yesterday that France could yet send jets with conditions.

Russia has likely developed its probing attacks around the towns of Pavlivka and Vuhledar into a more concerted assault in the last three days, the British defence ministry said today.

This could be planned by the Russian commanders who are likely aiming to develop a new axis of advance into Ukrainian-held Donetsk Oblast, and to divert Ukrainian forces from the heavily contested Bakhmut sector, the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.

It added that these settlements lie 50km south-west of Donetsk city, and Russia previously used the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade in an unsuccessful assault on the same area in November 2022.

“Elements of the 155th are again involved as part of an at least brigade sized force which has likely advanced several hundred metres beyond the small Kashlahach River which marked the front line for several months,” the British MoD said.

The defence ministry pointed out that there is a realistic possibility that Russia will continue to make local gains in the sector.

But it is unlikely that Russia has sufficient uncommitted troops in the area to achieve an operationally significant breakthrough, the ministry added.

The war in Ukraine should trigger a “massive wakeup call” for how the UK government looks to fund the British Army, former soldiers and military historians have warned amid criticism over its ability to defend the UK and its allies.

Former soldier Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a British Army officer from 1988 to 2012, told The Independent: “We thought the artillery was in good shape but that was before the Ukraine conflict, a lot of money was spent. But having been playing Star Wars [with focus on cyber and space security] the Ukraine war has shown that to be successful on the battlefield you need to focus on that.”

The Rishi Sunak administration has come under fire from veterans and members of his own party after a US general said the army could no longer defend the UK. The army is currently 76,000 strong but would shrink to 73,000 if downsizing plans go ahead. It is already half the size it was in 1990 and the smallest it has been since Napoleonic times.

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Russia has turned two maternity hospitals in Luhansk Oblast into field hospitals, the Ukrainian general staff said today, reported The Kyiv Independent.

He added that the medical facilities were taken over by Russian soldiers and it is now only possible to give birth at the Luhansk Regional Perinatal Centre “where there is a catastrophic lack of places and risks for childbirth”.

Boris Johnson has claimed that Russian president Vladimir Putin threatened to kill him in a missile attack, saying “it would only take a minute” in a call ahead of the invasion of Ukraine (Adam Forrest writes).

The former prime minister said the “extraordinary” conversation took place in February after he had visited Kyiv in a last-ditch attempt to show Western support for Ukraine amid growing fears of an assault.

Mr Johnson, who would emerge as a staunch backer of Volodymyr Zelensky’s government, made the claim in a new three-part series for BBC Two looking at how the West grappled with Mr Putin in the years leading up to the invasion.

The former PM, who left No 10 in September after being forced from office, made the visit to Kyiv in early February to warn Russia that an invasion would prove disastrous and lead to tough Western sanctions.

Russian forces have shelled a dozen settlements in the Bakhmut sector over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian army general staff said last night.

The Russian troops also trained tank, mortar and artillery fire on towns near Avdiivka to the south, the Ukrainian army official said.

More than 40 settlements came under Russian shelling in central Zaporizhzhia region and in southern Kherson region.

In Kherson, the Russians shelled Kherson city and towns on the left bank of the Dnipro River that they abandoned in November, Kyiv said.

Officials said some casualties have been reported.

Despite the heavy fighting which has picked pace in January, the front line in the eastern sector has not changed, according to Ukrainian military analyst.

The Russians also launched four rocket attacks on Ochakiv in southern Mykolaiv, the army said, on the day Zelensky met Danish prime minister in Mykolaiv city, to the northeast.

A shipment of military aid that includes more than 60 Bradley fighting vehicles is on its way to Ukraine and will soon be received by Kyiv, US officials say.

The update was provided by US Transportation Command, a branch of the US military responsible for its significant transport logistics needs.

The shipment departed from South Carolina last week, a statement said.

“The shipment — containing more than 60 Bradleys — left the shores of North Charleston, South Carolina, last week, and will provide the Ukrainian forces with additional offensive and defensive capabilities to protect their borders against Russia’s illegal invasion,” US Transportation Command said.

US president Joe Biden said on Monday he will visit Poland but does not know when.

NBC News reported last week Mr Biden was considering a trip to Europe, including possibly Poland, to coincide with the 24 February anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The former Downing Street incumbent made the claim in a new three-part series for BBC Two looking at how the West grappled with Mr Putin in the years leading up to the war in Ukraine.

Mr Johnson, talking about a phone call between the two leaders ahead of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, said: “He sort of threatened me at one point and said: ‘Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile, it would only take a minute,’ or something like that.”