Ukraine-Russia struggle newest: Zelensky claims Putin desires Belarus to host his long-range drone bases | EUROtoday

Britain will proceed to help Ukraine and its individuals, the UK chargé d’affaires to the UN instructed a Security Council assembly yesterday.

“Russia is now firing over 5,000 drones per month in Ukraine, five times higher than in 2024. The burden on Ukrainian civilians is immense,” James Kariuki mentioned.

He mentioned there have been extra 50,000 Ukrainian civilian casualties and over 15,000 killed since Russia began its struggle.

“Mr President, the UK fully supports the diplomatic efforts of our US colleagues to secure a peace that guarantees Ukraine’s long-term security, sovereignty, and prosperity.

“We call on Russia to end its war of choice, immediately and without pre-conditions.

“The UK will not cease in our support for Ukraine and its people,” he mentioned.

Russian authorities are more and more turning to school college students to bolster its military, in keeping with a report within the Moscow Times.

At the Lunin College of Transport Technologies, school director Maria Kirsanova not too long ago addressed college students and urged them to “defend their Fatherland”.

“Who put the fear into you? Who will protect us?” she requested at a gathering with college students, which was recorded by one of many attendants and revealed on-line.

“Are you all cowards here sitting and being scared for your lives?” she mentioned, pulling up college students for what she known as a worry of returning house “in zinc coffins”.

Russia has struggled to maintain discovering new recruits for its grinding struggle of attrition in Ukraine, with its casualties rising into the a whole lot of hundreds.

The violence being meted out within the Ukraine struggle is “worse than ever” greater than 4 years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, in keeping with a UN official.

Rosemary DiCarlo, the pinnacle of UN political and peacebuilding affairs, mentioned the battle had triggered “nearly 1,500 days of death, destruction and despair”, as she repeated the UN’s long-standing demand for a ceasefire.

She mentioned a minimum of 15,364 civilians have been confirmed killed, together with 775 youngsters, and greater than 42,000 others injured, although precise numbers are prone to be larger, since Russian president Vladimir Putin launched his offensive in February 2022.

“The suffering and destruction caused by the war in Ukraine can never be justified. The longer the war exists, the deadlier it becomes, with growing risks to regional and international security,” she mentioned.

The official added that a minimum of 188 civilians have been killed in February alone, and 757 injured – a forty five per cent improve over the identical interval final yr.

Russian forces have suffered greater than 6,000 casualties within the final 4 days after Vladimir Putin’s military tried a renewed offensive to seize extra land in Ukraine, officers mentioned.

Ukrainian military commander Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi mentioned the Russian operations have been a “colossal pressure” and their forces have been crushed again.

“The enemy tried to break through the defensive formations of our troops in several strategic directions at once… In total, the enemy conducted 619 assault actions during these four days,” he mentioned.

The Russian command, he mentioned, threw tens of hundreds of troopers into the “meat assaults”.

“Over four days of intensive assault operations, the enemy lost more than 6,090 soldiers killed and wounded,” Syrskyi mentioned, including that Kyiv largely managed to repel the offensive.

Ukraine’s army intelligence has “irrefutable” proof that Russia continues to supply intelligence to Iran and such exercise can solely delay the struggle within the Middle East, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has mentioned.

“Russia is using its own signals intelligence and electronic intelligence capabilities, as well as part of the data obtained through cooperation with partners in the Middle East,” he mentioned on X after assembly the pinnacle of army intelligence.

Zelensky, later in his nightly handle, mentioned there was “growing evidence” of continued Russian efforts to funnel intelligence to Iran.

“This is clearly destructive activity and must be stopped as it only leads to further destabilisation. All decent states are interested in guaranteeing security and preventing a larger crisis,” he said.

“Markets are already reacting negatively and this is significantly complicating the fuel situation in many countries. By helping the Iranian regime survive and strike more accurately, Russia is effectively prolonging the war,” he mentioned.

The Kremlin last week dismissed a Wall Street Journal report that Russia was sharing satellite imagery and improved drone technology with Iran as “faux information”.

Russia plans to open four ground control stations for long-range attack drones in Belarus, president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, citing information from Ukraine’s military intelligence service.

Zelensky, who in recent months has repeatedly warned about Belarus becoming more involved in Russia’s war against Ukraine, added in comments on X that he had instructed the service’s chief to inform Kyiv’s partners about these plans.

Earlier in the now four-year-old war, Zelensky said Belarusian assistance had for a time intensified the damage inflicted by Russian attacks until Ukraine took action against it.

“We now have data from our intelligence that Russia intends to proceed utilizing the territory of Belarus and briefly occupied territory of Ukraine to construct floor management stations for long-range drones,” he mentioned.

“There can be responses to this. And they are going to be felt,” he mentioned.

Moscow’s cargo of modernised drones to Iran made Russian drone manufacturing websites reputable army targets, a prime Ukrainian diplomat mentioned, urging Western powers to equip Ukraine with weapons able to hitting these websites.

Ukraine’s everlasting consultant to the United Nations, Andriy Melnyk, mentioned Russia’s help of Tehran with modernised variations of its Iranian-designed Shahed drones and different army help, meant it was now Tehran’s principal confederate within the Middle East struggle.

Moscow has been utilizing the Shahed drones towards Ukraine since early in its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

“The recent conflict in Iran has revealed how intertwined this crisis is with Russia’s military invasion and the Kremlin’s malign, imperialistic goals,” he told a special Security Council session on the Ukraine war.

Russia’s shipments of modernised versions of Iran’s Shahed drones, using licences provided by Tehran, marked an unprecedented escalation that would allow Iran to attack Gulf countries and US forces in the region for a long period, destabilising the region and threatening the global economy, Melnyk said.

As a result, Russian drone production sites should be considered “legitimate targets for military strikes in the campaign against the mullah regime,” he said.

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.

There is “irrefutable evidence” that Russia is offering Iran with intelligence, Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed.

The Ukrainian president said on Monday night that Russia was using its own signals intelligence and electronic intelligence capabilities, as well as data obtained through cooperation with partners in the Middle East.

“There is growing evidence that the Russians continue to provide the Iranian regime with intelligence support. This is clearly destructive activity, and it must be stopped, as it only leads to further destabilisation,” Zelensky said.

“All decent states are interested in guaranteeing security and preventing a larger crisis. Markets are already reacting negatively, and this is significantly complicating the fuel situation in many countries.

“By helping the Iranian regime stay afloat and strike more accurately, Russia is effectively prolonging the war. There must be a response.”